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Robert Rund Joins CelloBello as Executive Director

Please join us in welcoming Robert Rund to our team as CelloBello's new Executive Director! Robert has spent his career at the intersection of business, education and the arts, having led organizations in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. He brings to CelloBello extensive fundraising, product development, arts management and music education experience. He received his undergraduate degree in music education from Westminster Choir College, a master of arts in arts administration from Goucher College and an MBA from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Finally, he was one of 50 arts leaders internationally, chosen by National Arts Strategies for a fellowship at Stanford Graduate School of Business in their Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders in the Arts. "I am thrilled to be coming on board with CelloBello. The [...]

By |2021-04-12T15:48:50-04:00March 30th, 2021|Categories: News|Tags: , , |
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CelloBello Seeks to Hire a Director of Development and Communications

Job Title: Director of Development and Communications Background Launched in March of 2010, CelloBello.org (a website), has been led by its Founder and Artistic Director, cellist Paul Katz, and Director of Operations Jussi Reijonen, who serves as webmaster and efficiently supervises a small part-time paid staff, volunteers, and 3 work-study students from New England Conservatory. CelloBello seeks a Director of Development and Communications, a dynamic, creative, and highly organized professional to work as a strategic and creative partner with the CelloBello Artistic Director with the goal of short-term growth and long-term financial sustainability. The Director of Development and Communications reports to the Artistic Director with regular written reports to the Board of Directors (e.g. monthly). Our board of Directors is an active and committed group of experts from the fields [...]

By |2019-06-22T09:12:12-04:00May 20th, 2019|Categories: News|Tags: , , , |
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The Bach Suites, A Deep Mirror — by Lluís Claret

I am posting today some thoughts regarding my upcoming performance of all the cello suites of Bach, in Barcelona, next October 6th. A "3 hour conversation with Bach," by which I mean playing all the 6 Suites in one evening, is a rare privilege, and at the same time, an opportunity to devote months of work gazing, probing, until their is transparency in this greatest of all music given to us by the Kantor of Leipzig. In this period of reflection, the performer's goal and intention should be to imbue his own spirit into the depths of the pieces, and become inspired and elevated by this music of such extraordinary dimensions. After a concert a few years ago, somebody who had never heard my playing said,  "I can feel the [...]

By |2024-01-03T14:07:00-05:00March 30th, 2019|Categories: Artistic Vision, Repertoire, Self Discovery|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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The Bach Suites as You Have Never Seen Them Before — by Antonio Lysy

Hundreds of scholars have studied and written about the Bach Suites, yet we can only speculate about how or when they were first performed. The original manuscript is lost, leaving us with various facsimiles to decipher, and there are no written accounts by Bach’s contemporaries. The one advantage of this predicament is the wide spectrum of artistic decisions on which a cellist is compelled to ruminate, in order to make them “their own.” Apparently the suites were not intended to be performed as a cycle, although this approach has become increasingly common in the last couple of decades. My current perspective, developed over many years of performing and teaching the suites, is that each of the six tells a distinctive story. And, like a series of books or films, each [...]

By |2023-06-26T14:15:42-04:00March 30th, 2019|Categories: Artistic Vision, Baroque, Beyond the Traditional, Performance, Repertoire|Tags: , , , , , |
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A Letter from Tim Janof, Editor for the Internet Cello Society, December 2018

Dear ICS Friend, As you may already know, after more than twenty glorious years, the Internet Cello Society is saying good-bye: We now believe it is time to hand the reins over to somebody else, and CelloBello seems to be the perfect match. CelloBello has taken things to the next level, with videos and live presentations, in addition to publishing its own wonderful articles by acclaimed artists. It has been my view for quite some time that CelloBello has taken the baton from the ICS, but now it's time to make it official. —Tim Janof, Internet Cello Society   CelloBello salutes ICS Founders John Michel and Tim Janof for their pioneering use of the internet, and for beginning a global community of cellists and cello lovers that thrives to this [...]

By |2019-08-06T21:17:28-04:00December 22nd, 2018|Categories: Internet Cello Society Archive, News|Tags: , , , , |
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CelloBello Hires First Executive Director

CelloBello is proud to announce that Greg Evans has been appointed the inaugural chief executive of CelloBello.com, an educational website and social hub for the cello world. Paul Katz, our founder (Cleveland Quartet, New England Conservatory…) will continue as Artistic Director with Greg taking over the day to day operations and development efforts, increasing CelloBello’s presence on the international scene as the one-stop destination for all things cello. With expertise in organizational structure, web experience and a wide knowledge of the repertoire, Greg will work with Paul to expand CelloBello’s global impact, offering educational advancement, inspiration and information to a worldwide cello community. A graduate of Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music, Greg began his professional life as a horn player in New York City participating in almost every [...]

By |2018-11-14T16:28:21-05:00November 13th, 2018|Categories: News|Tags: , , , |
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Travels with Ima – by Robert Jesselson

This year my cello is celebrating its 300th birthday. Made in 1716 by Jacques Boquay, I call her Ima, as in “I’m a Cello” because whenever I fly with her I book the ticket as Ima Cello. That way I collect the frequent flyer miles and get a free meal! When I was younger it was a lot easier to travel with a cello—in fact when I lived in Germany, I used to fly with Swiss Air and they usually just let me take Ima on the plane without paying for a seat. Later I bought a big Kolstein travel case—it is huge and bulky, but it has an inflatable “balloon” that surrounds the cello inside the case and is made out of Kevlar so you can shoot a gun at it and it won’t pierce the [...]

By |2018-08-05T06:32:03-04:00March 9th, 2017|Categories: Luthiers|Tags: , , , |
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If it Ain’t Baroque, Don’t Break It? Thoughts About Playing Bach Today…. — by Inbal Segev

When I decided to record the Bach cello suites a couple of years ago, I started not by playing but by reading. I read Bach's biography, and then a few Baroque practice books (extremely dense and quite boring) and then I became inspired to change almost everything about the way I played Bach. I eventually came back to doing things the way that had been a part of my DNA after years of playing Bach the "modern" way (but improved), and I'd like to share some of my experiments with you. I never played from a manuscript copy before. The notes are difficult to decipher and so the work is slow and cumbersome. Worth it! Playing from copies of the surviving manuscripts by Anna Magdalena and Kellner taught me so much. There is really no way of [...]

By |2021-06-21T15:10:16-04:00February 13th, 2017|Categories: Artistic Vision, Baroque, In the Practice Room, Performance|Tags: , , , , |
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17 (not so) Random Tips for Practicing the Bach Cello Suites — by Inbal Segev

1. First play the bass line. Then add the top voice. 2. Think about voicing. 3. Sequences. 4. Find circles of fifths and enjoy them! 5. Gestures on slurs—the Baroque bow is heavier at the frog and lighter at the tip and sometimes it's beautiful to show the tapering of sound towards the tip. 6. Show where codas happen. 7. Interrupted cadence? 8. Sigh figures. 9. Be aware of the underlying harmony. 10. Echo effects (not too much!). 11. Vary bow pressure—Baroque bow is heavier on the down bow, lighter on the up bow. This can shape a passage of descending eight notes for example. They are not all equal in length and strength. 12. Gigue—breathe more. Feel like you are about to skip before the start. 13. When playing [...]

By |2022-08-15T14:17:31-04:00February 9th, 2017|Categories: In the Practice Room, Performance, Playing Healthy, Teaching|Tags: , , , , , , |
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B A C H S U I T E S — by Colin Carr

Bowings, beats, bass, bowings and fingerings fit together, bow distribution, bible? Articulation and Anna Magdelena Chords, cadences. common themes within each suite, comfort? Harmony, harmonics? Slurs, scales, sequences, spontaneity Understanding direction of phrases. Up bow or down bow? Intonation Tension from dissonance. tempo choices, trills Extremes? Surprise I was asked to choose a Bach related topic for this live Facebook chat, but I couldn’t think of just one. Instead I thought I would try to cover as many issues as I can think of, using this (gimmicky) chart as a starting point. I will talk about each of the sub-headings, and in doing so hope to answer a lot of questions before they have been asked! I have been playing and teaching the suites all my life. There have been [...]

By |2022-09-19T13:46:10-04:00February 2nd, 2017|Categories: Artistic Vision, Baroque, Performance, Repertoire, Teaching|Tags: , , , , |
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Cellist Taeguk Mun wins $25,000 János Starker Foundation Award

Reprinted from The Strad 12/14/2016 South Korean cellist Taeguk Mun has won the János Starker Foundation Award, worth $25,000. Granted to cellists under the age of 30 ‘who have already begun a significant career in music’, the prize was created in memory of legendary Hungarian-American cellist and pedagogue János Starker, who died in April 2013 at the age of 88. Candidates submit an unedited video recording of six works, representing Pre-Classical, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century and Contemporary eras of Western music. A former Juilliard School student, Mun is currently a pupil of Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He won the Pablo Casals International Cello Competition in 2014, and the Andre Navarra International Cello Competition in 2011.

By |2017-10-30T04:28:29-04:00December 14th, 2016|Categories: Competition, Janos Starker, News|Tags: , , , , , |
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Jules Eskin, Principal Cellist at Boston Symphony Orchestra, Passes at Age 85

Reprinted from the Boston Symphony Orchestra 11/17/2016 Jules Eskin, the legendary principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 53 years, passed away at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, after a long struggle with cancer. Mr. Eskin began his more than half-century tenure as BSO principal cello in 1964 and since 1969 occupied the Philip R. Allen Chair, endowed in perpetuity. He played for five different music directors, including Erich Leinsdorf, William Steinberg, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, and the BSO's current music director, Andris Nelsons, and performed as soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions. He was featured as soloist with the orchestra in Richard Strauss's Don Quixote, Ernest Bloch's Schelomo, Brahms's Double Concerto, Beethoven's Triple Concerto, William Schuman's Song of Orpheus, and cello concertos of Samuel Barber, Antonín Dvořák, Franz Joseph Haydn, Camille [...]

By |2017-10-30T04:39:46-04:00November 17th, 2016|Categories: Artistic Vision, Interpersonal Relationships, Interviews|Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Preparing for Cello Auditions as a High School Senior — by Drew Cone

Applying and auditioning for schools can be really scary at times, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ve been working on my repertoire for auditions for well over a couple of months now and throughout that time, I’ve learned a few things when it comes to preparing for college. Now, just to clarify, I’m no expert on this stuff; I just thought that maybe if someone if my position had any questions needing answering, it might be nice to hear from another person in the same situation, especially since I’ve already recorded most of my prescreenings and have that experience under my belt. Even if it’s a tiny tip that helps, I hope that this could help out people my age with the same aspirations! Prescreenings The nice thing about [...]

By |2023-11-06T13:44:43-05:00October 31st, 2016|Categories: Auditions, High School Blogs|Tags: , , |
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How Music and Cello Changed My Life — by Nathan Chan

Hey CelloBello readers! My name is Nathan Chan and I’ve been playing the cello for over 17 years. Throughout this time period, my relationship with the cello has been an ongoing evolution in the way I see music as an incredibly powerful tool of expression and creativity. What started as a hobby in the beginning of my musical learning initially evolved into a battle for technical mastery and now has begun to blossom as a freeing medium for spontaneity and exploration. As a child born and raised in the 90s, my parents were very supportive of me. My father, a Hong-Kong born cardiologist who emigrated to the states for college, represented the discipline and detail-oriented leader in my early life. My mother, a Chinese-Canadian who is a Juilliard-educated pianist, was [...]

By |2021-02-01T17:35:05-05:00October 4th, 2016|Categories: Artistic Vision, Interpersonal Relationships, Self Discovery|Tags: , , , , , , , |
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Announcing CelloStream Master Classes 2016 – 2017

Streamed live from Pierce Hall at New England Conservatory in Boston COMING 2016 - 2017: YO-YO MA Monday, October 24th 2016 2:00 - 4:30 pm ET LAURENCE LESSER Sunday, November 13th 2016 7:00 - 9:30 pm ET ANDRÉS DIAZ Tuesday, December 6th 2016 7:00 - 9:30 pm ET PAUL KATZ Sunday, February 19th 2017 7:00 - 9:30 pm ET JOEL KROSNICK Friday, March 31st 2017 1:30 - 3:30 pm ET To tune in for a live-viewing of a CelloStream Artist Master Class, please navigate to the CelloStream page at the appropriate time. To read bios of previous CelloStream master class artists, please see below. PREVIOUS MASTER CLASSES JOEL KROSNICK TRIBUTE Mar 23rd 2016 7:30 pm EDT  Joel Krosnick has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician around the world. As a member of the Juilliard String [...]

By |2017-06-15T16:21:12-04:00September 27th, 2016|Categories: Artistic Vision, CelloStream, Interpersonal Relationships, Self Discovery, Teaching, Videos|Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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