What is on your music stand? What is the first thing you do on the cello every day? Why do you practice? What drives and motivates you? Anything that helped during the pandemic? When do you feel the most inspired in the practice room? How do you stimulate creativity and imagination in the practice room? In your mind, what is it that makes an effective practice session? Is there a particular practice method that you swear by? What are the best ways to prevent injury? How do you manage lots of repertoire at the same time? With such a big workload, how do you avoid burnout and maintain b ..read more

Spoken in Waves is a new piece for cello and string quartet by Chris Beroes-Haigis, commissioned by cellist Cicely Parnas. The video performance was premiered in December of 2023. In this blog post, Cicely and Chris tell us a bit about the backstory of the piece, the journey to recording the piece, what it’s like to perform the piece and more. The video performance can be found below. In 2019, I was on tour with my cello rock band and found myself in El Paso, TX, the city where my good friend Chris Beroes-Haigis lived. We had met two years earlier as fellows at the Sitka International Cello ..read more

Introduction At the tender age of ten, Ernest Bloch wrote a vow that he would become a composer. He then built a mound of stones in the shape of an altar and burned the paper over the stones in ritual fashion. Before age 15, he made good on his vow, having composed both a string quartet and an Oriental Symphony. However, it was with the composition of his epic Schelomo: Rhapsody for Violoncello and Large Orchestra, that he proved to the world that he had indeed become a composer of world class ability. After a performance in November of 1923, the San Francisco Chronicl ..read more

In the world of classical music, reputation is part of what determines the relationships a musician has with the people and organizations that can move their career forward.  A reputation is “the opinion that people in general have about someone or something, or how much respect or admiration someone or something receives, based on past behavior or character” (Cambridge Dictionary). People form opinions about another person early on—they notice if you show up on time to the first rehearsal, and they register the tone of your emails and how you respond to constructive feedback. Each inter ..read more

In 2001, I found myself sharing a taxi with Dutch cellist, Anner Bylsma, who was perhaps best known and loved for his performances and recordings of the Bach Cello Suites. We were on our way to the Royal Northern College of Music’s Cello Festival in Manchester, which was the première cello celebration in the world at the time. As we discussed what his detractors were saying about his book, Bach, The Fencing Master, I couldn’t help but note how surreal it was that this was actually happening – that I was spending time with one of my cello idols. It had been 15 years since my cello professor an ..read more

One of the challenges of fundraising for Ukrainian musicians internationally is conveying the experiences of actual people going through the war while refraining from “war porn.” Wrecked tanks and dead bodies scattered around the once peaceful city streets; entire apartment blocks torn down by Russian missiles; women, men, and children, shell-shocked and with blood and soot on their faces, trying to escape this hell—these graphic images certainly travel fast and get instantly carved in memory. This is what Ukraine has come to be associated with over the past year. All these images show the re ..read more

CelloBello is very excited to begin a new partnership with Together with Classical, an organization that strives to empower people of diverse musical backgrounds to learn and share their experiences with classical music, through online community engagement, grant-giving, interviews and educational videos. Today we begin with CelloBello founder Paul Katz interviewing the founder of Together with Classical, pianist Tiffany Poon. Be sure to check out the Together with Classical Blog for Tiffany’s interview of Paul Katz! PK: Tiffany is the founder of Together with Classical. She’s a pianist with ..read more

What is the first thing you do on the cello every day? What is on your music stand right now? What do you enjoy the most about practicing? What inspires you? How do you stimulate creativity and imagination in the practice room? What is your favorite way to change things up/get new ideas? How do you go about deepening your musical imagination? In your mind, what is it that makes an effective practice session? How many hours a day should one practice? Quality or quantity? What are the best ways to prevent injury? What is your balance between technique and repertoire? How has your prac ..read more

In our third installment of this series, we get an inside look into how Edward Arron approaches practicing. What is the first thing you do on the cello every day? What is on your music stand right now? What do you enjoy the most about practicing? What inspires you? In your mind, what is it that makes an effective practice session? How has your practicing evolved over the years, or even recently? How do you stimulate creativity and imagination in the practice room? How do you manage lots of repertoire at the same time? The post In the Practice Room with Edward Arron appeared first on C ..read more

Welcome to our second installment of In the Practice Room! This week we have Anssi Karttunen with a few very interesting answers on how he approaches practicing. Why do you practice? What drives and motivates you? Is there anything that helped during the pandemic? What is on your music stand right now? Are there other genres you find particularly inspiring or motivating? The post In the Practice Room with Anssi Karttunen appeared first on CelloBello ..read more