Steven Isserlis | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Isserlis in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1958-12-19)19 December 1958 (age 66) London, England |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupations |
|
| Instrument | Cello |
| Years active | 1977–present[1] |
| Labels | |
| Website | stevenisserlis |
Steven John IsserlisCBE (born 19 December 1958) is aBritishcellist. An acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, educator, writer and broadcaster, he is widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation.[2][3][4][5] He is also noted for his diverse repertoire and distinctive sound which is deployed with his use ofgut strings.[6][7]
Isserlis is the recipient of numerous awards including theRoyal Philharmonic Society Music Award in 1993, theRobert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau in 2000, and both the Wigmore Hall Medal andGlashütte Original Music Festival Award in 2017.[8][9] His recordings have garnered twoGramophone Awards, aClassical BRIT Award, aBBC Music Magazine Award, and twoGrammy Award nominations among others.[10][11][12] He is also one of the only two living cellists inducted into theGramophone Hall of Fame.[13]
Isserlis currently plays on the 1726Marquis de Corberon cello made byAntonio Stradivari on loan from theRoyal Academy of Music.[14]
Isserlis was born into a musical family inLondon. His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a keen amateur musician. One of his sisters Annette is a viola player, and his other sister Rachel is a violinist. Isserlis has described how "playing music, playing together", was an integral part of his early family life.[15] His grandfather,Julius Isserlis,[16] who was a Russian Jew, was one of 12 musicians allowed to leave Russia in the 1920s to promote Russian culture, but he never returned.[17]
On theMidweek programme in January 2014, Isserlis revealed that on arrival inVienna in 1922, his pianist grandfather and father found a flat, but the 102-year-old landlady refused to take in a musician, because her aunt had a previous musician tenant who was noisy and would spit on the floor—this tenant wasLudwig van Beethoven.[18]
Isserlis went to theCity of London School, which he left at the age of 14 to move toScotland to study under the tutelage of Jane Cowan.[17] From 1976 to 1978 Isserlis studied at theOberlin Conservatory of Music[19] with Richard Kapuscinski. Ever since his youthDaniil Shafran has been his cello hero, of whom Isserlis has described how "his vibrato, his phrasing, his rhythm all belonged to a unique whole... he was incapable of playing one note insincerely; his music spoke from the soul."[20]
The name Isserlis is one of many European variations of the Hebrew name 'Israel'.[21]
Isserlis's major career breakthrough came in 1988, when he askedJohn Tavener to write a work for cello and orchestra. The result of this wasThe Protecting Veil, and Isserlis premiered it at theBBC Proms with theBBC Symphony Orchestra andOliver Knussen. The piece and also Isserlis’ subsequent recording of itwere met with both critical and public acclaim.[22] The recording became a classical bestseller.[22]
Since then, Isserlis has had an active solo career and regularly appears with many of the world's leading ensembles. He has performed with orchestras such as theBerlin Philharmonic,Vienna Philharmonic,Gewandhausorchester Leipzig,Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich,Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin,London Symphony Orchestra,London Philharmonic Orchestra,Philharmonia Orchestra,Boston Symphony Orchestra,Chicago Symphony Orchestra,Cleveland Orchestra,Los Angeles Philharmonic,New York Philharmonic,Philadelphia Orchestra, and theNHK Symphony Orchestra.[23][24] He has also curated concert series forWigmore Hall,92nd Street Y in New York and theSalzburg Festival.[25]
Isserlis is committed to authentic performance and also frequently performs withperiod instrument orchestras. He has performedBeethoven withfortepianistRobert Levin in Boston and London, and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with theOrchestra of the Age of Enlightenment withSir Simon Rattle. He has also published several editions and arrangements, principally forFaber Music, and was an advisor on new editions of Beethoven's cello works, as well as the cello concertos of Dvořák andElgar.
On the other end of the spectrum, Isserlis has premiered works by composersJohn Tavener,Lowell Liebermann,Carl Vine,David Matthews,John Woolrich,Wolfgang Rihm,Mikhail Pletnev andThomas Adès. He also commissioned a new completion ofProkofiev’s Cello Concertino from theUdmurt musicologistVladimir Blok, which was premiered in 1997 with theBBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted byMark Wigglesworth.[26]
Isserlis has presented a number of festivals with long-term collaborators such asJoshua Bell,Stephen Hough,Mikhail Pletnev,András Schiff,Dénes Várjon,Olli Mustonen,Tabea Zimmermann, and actorsBarry Humphries[27] andSimon Callow.[28] He is artistic director of the International Musicians Seminar,Prussia Cove in WestCornwall, where he both performs and teaches.
Isserlis currently plays on the 1726Marquis de Corberon cello made byAntonio Stradivari on loan from theRoyal Academy of Music. The instrument was previously owned byZara Nelsova andHugo Becker.
He also part-owns aDomenico Montagnana cello from 1740 and aGiovanni Battista Guadagnini cello from 1745, which he played exclusively from 1979 to 1998. Previously, he also performed on theDe Munck-Feuermann Stradivarius which was loaned from theNippon Music Foundation.[29]
Isserlis is the author of two books for children on the lives of famous composers: the first isWhy Beethoven Threw the Stew (Faber, 2001), and the second isWhy Handel Waggled His Wig (Faber, 2006). He has also written three stories that have been set to music by Oscar-winning composerAnne Dudley. The first of the seriesLittle Red Violin (and the Big, Bad Cello) received its first performance in New York in March 2007, followed byGoldipegs and the Three Cellos, andCindercella.
In September 2016, Isserlis's book targeted towards young musicians,Robert Schumann's Advice to Young Musicians Revisited by Steven Isserlis, was published byFaber & Faber.[30]
In October 2021, Faber & Faber published Isserlis's bookThe Bach Cello Suites – A Companion,[31] a volume entirely devoted to the history and music of Bach's Suites for unaccompanied cello.
Isserlis’ wife Pauline Mara, a flautist, died of cancer in June 2010.[32] They have a son, Gabriel, who was born in 1990.[22]
Isserlis lives in London.[33]
Isserlis's recordings reflect the breadth and eclecticism of his repertoire. His most recent release ofreVisions forBIS includes arrangements and reconstruction of works byDebussy,Ravel, Prokofiev andBloch.[32] ForHyperion Records,[34] Isserlis has recordedSchumann's music for cello and piano (Dénes Várjon), and the complete solo cello suites byBach, which has won many awards, including Listeners' Disc of the Year onBBC Radio 3's CD Review,Gramophone's Instrumental Disc of the Year,[35] and "Critic's Choice" at the 2008 Classical Brits. Other releases include two recordings withStephen Hough: theBrahms sonatas, coupled with works by Dvořák andSuk; a highly acclaimed disc of children's cello music for BIS Records; and a recording withThomas Ades of his new piece 'Lieux retrouvés'. Recent releases included a disc in 2013 of Dvořák's Cello Concerto withDaniel Harding and theMahler Chamber Orchestra on Hyperion andMartinu's complete cello sonatas withOlli Mustonen on the BIS label in 2014 which received a Grammy nomination.
In 2017, Isserlis's recording of Haydn's Cello Concertos was nominated for a Grammy Award.[36]
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