Don Quixote Archives

CelloChat: Christopher Costanza – Perspectives on the Performance of Strauss’s Don Quixote

For over three decades cellist Christopher Costanza has enjoyed a varied and exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. A winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and a recipient of a prestigious Solo Recitalists Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mr. Costanza has performed to wide critical acclaim in nearly every state in the U.S., and in Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, and Hungary.

By CelloBello Webmaster|2023-01-20T07:39:42-05:00January 20th, 2023|Categories: CelloChats, Virtual Events|Tags: christopher costanza, Don Quixote, Strauss, performance, stanford university, st. lawrence string quartet|

Cello Concerto Overview: The Should Haves (Part II)

Reprinted with permission from Interlude. Rostropovich Here are six more cello concertos a cellist should have in their repertoire. Robert Schumann studied the cello as a youngster and although he was unable to continue due to an injury to his right hand he developed a deep affinity to the instrument. Schumann’s Cello Concerto departs from traditional structure. Initially intended as a “Conzertstück”, each of the three movements meld seamlessly into the next. Perhaps the structure is due to Schumann’s aversion to interruptions from the audience. In any case the work breaks with tradition. Written late in his life, it is deeply lyrical, almost enigmatic and mystical in its sparse use of thematic material, which returns throughout the piece. It is best regarded as a one large-movement work. Two unusual features [...]

By Janet Horvath|2024-07-05T20:10:22-04:00April 24th, 2022|Categories: Repertoire|Tags: Don Quixote, Richard Strauss, Leonard Rose, Schumann, Janos Starker, Ernest Bloch, Saint-Saëns, Shostakovich, Sol Gabetta, Rostropovich, Alban Gerhardt, Maria Kliegel, prokofiev, Schelomo|

A Biography of Gregor Piatigorsky (August, 2000)

by Robert Battey One of the pre-eminent string players of the 20th century, Gregor Piatigorsky was born in Ukraine in 1903, and died in Los Angeles in 1976. His international solo career lasted over 40 years, and especially during the 1940's and early 1950's he was the world's premier touring cello virtuoso -- Casals was in retirement, Feuermann had died, and the three artists who were to succeed Piatigorsky (Starker, Rose, and Rostropovich) were still in their formative stages. His one true peer, Fournier, was limited in his travelling abilities by polio. Thus, Piatigorsky had the limelight almost to himself. He was gregarious, loved to travel and perform anywhere, and he hobnobbed as easily with farmers in small towns as he did with Toscanini, Stravinsky, rubinstein, and Schoenberg. It [...]

By Robert Battey|2024-07-05T20:12:09-04:00March 16th, 2022|Categories: Biography, Historical, Internet Cello Society Archive|Tags: Artur Rubinstein, Internet Cello Society, Don Quixote, ICS, USC, Biography, Carl Flesch, Gregor Piatigorsky, Vladimir Horowitz, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Robert Battey|