Steven Isserlis

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Steven Isserlis CBE (born December 19, 1958 , London ) is a British cellist and author . His grandfather is the Russian composer Julius Isserlis . According to his own information, his family tree can be traced back to Felix Mendelssohn , Karl Marx and Helena Rubinstein . In 1998 he was honored for his work as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Life

Steven Isserlis began his studies with Jane Cowan at the International Cello Center between 1969 and 1976 . During his studies he came into contact with written works such as Goethe's Faust in order to better understand and express the music of the respective epoch (in this case Beethoven ).

Between 1976 and 1978 Isserlis studied cello at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin with Richard Kapuscinski . During his studies he made his debut in London in 1977.

His wife Pauline Mara, also a musician (flautist), died in June 2010 of breast cancer . His son Gabriel Mara Isserlis (* 1990) studies film and animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology .

Act

Steven Isserlis has performed with many different orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra , the Berlin Philharmonic , the Philadelphia Orchestra , the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra , collaborating with conductors such as John Eliot Gardiner , Alan Gilbert , Michael Tilson Thomas , Christoph Eschenbach , Roger Norrington , Vladimir Ashkenazy and Colin Davis . In the 2018/2019 season he will also be artist in residence at the Potsdam Chamber Academy .

In addition, Isserlis is also active as a chamber musician. In 1991 he founded a trio with violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Olli Mustonen . He also plays many concerts with well-known musicians such as Melvin Tan , Stephen Kovacevich , Tabea Zimmermann , Pamela Frank and Stephen Hough .

Isserlis was under contract for a long time with Virgin Records and after it was taken over by EMI , but switched to BMG Classics to publish contemporary works for cello.

Isserlis currently mainly plays the Stradivari cello known as Marquis de Corberon from 1726, which was previously played by Zara Nelsova . In addition, he has played several different cellos in the course of his career, including the De Munck from 1730 by Stradivari, as well as a Montagnana cello from 1740 and a Guadagnini from 1745.

His performances and sound recordings with a trench cello ( trench cello ), a collapsible instrument that was played by a previous owner in the trenches near Ypres during World War I, are exceptional . In contrast to other instruments that were built directly on the front, this instrument is originally a traveling cello from peacetime, with the body also serving as a transport container for the dismantled parts of the instrument and the bow.

For his numerous recordings (including Elgar's cello concertos, Britten's symphony for violoncello, Bloch's Schelomo and Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations ) Isserlis has already won a Gramophone Award (for a recording of the piece The Protecting Veil composed for him by John Tavener ). In 1992 he won the Piatigorsky Prize and was named Musician of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society . In 2000 he won the Robert Schumann Prize and in 2008 he was awarded the Critics' Prize of the Classical BRIT Awards .

In addition to playing the cello, Isserlis also devotes himself to writing. He is the author of several children's books, all of which are related to classical music.

List of works

  • Why Handel peddled court gossip. And many other stories about the lives of famous composers , translated from English by Kathrin Balmer-Fisch, Rüffer & Rub, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-907625-36-1 .
  • Why Beethoven threw goulash around. And many other stories about the life of famous composers , translated from the English by Kathrin Balmer-Fisch, Rüffer & Rub, Zurich 2005, ISBN 978-3-907625-26-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Biography of Steven Isserlis at: answers.com, accessed April 13, 2011.
  2. ↑ Interview with Steven Isserlis on: thejc.com, accessed June 25, 2015.
  3. ^ Website of the Potsdam Chamber Academy
  4. ↑ Hans Ackermann: Steven Isserlis: "The Cello in War Times" on www.kulturradio.de
  5. ↑ Trench cello from WW1 played for 'first time' , BBC , February 20, 2015
  6. ↑ This cello was played in the trenches of the First World War on www.classicfm.com, November 7, 2017
  7. ^ Letters from London: The Trench Cello , October 1, 2014
  8. ^ Winner of the RPS music awards . On: rpsmusicawards.com, accessed April 13, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Isserlis, Steven
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English cellist
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH London