Maya Beiser (born 31 December 1963) is an Americanmusician,cellist,performing artist andproducer who lives in New York City. Beiser was raised on akibbutz inIsrael by herFrench mother andArgentine father, and graduated fromYale University School of Music. She has been described by theBoston Globe as "a force of nature",^[1] "a cello goddess" byThe New Yorker^[2] and "the reigning queen of the avant-garde cello"^[3] byThe Washington Post. Beiser is a 2015United States Artists Distinguished Music Fellow^[4] and the Inaugural Mellon Distinguished Visiting Artist at the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology.^[5]

Maya Beiser was born 31 December 1963 inGazit, a kibbutz in Israel.^[6] Her mother was French, her father Argentinian.^[7]As a child, she played the piano before switching to the cello.^[6][7] At age twelve, she was discovered by the violinistIsaac Stern and embarked on a solo career. Beiser graduated fromYale University School of Music in 1987. She collaborated with composersLouis Andriessen,Steve Reich,David Lang,Tan Dun,Brian Eno,Philip Glass,Osvaldo Golijov,Michael Gordon,Michael Harrison,Julia Wolfe,Mark Anthony Turnage, visual artistsShirin Neshat, andBill Morrison, dancerWendy Whelan and choreographerLucinda Childs. Beiser was aspeaker at the 2011 TED conference in Long Beach California. Her TEDtalk^[8] performance has been watched by over a million people and translated to 34 languages.

Beiser has conceived, performed and produced three multimedia concerts forCarnegie Hall:World To Come;^[9]Almost Human^[10], a collaboration with visual artistShirin Neshat and composerEve Beglarian; andProvenance,^[11] which forms the basis of her album of that name. Her production,Elsewhere: a CelloOpera,^[12] which premiered atBrooklyn Academy of Music in 2012, is an imaginative retelling of the Biblical legend of Lot's wife, created with theater director Robert Woodruff, with original text byErin Cressida Wilson and music byMissy Mazzoli.All Vows, a show that reimagines rock classics such as Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" and Nirvana's "Lithium",^[13] premiered at the San Francisco'sYerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2014^[14] and was presented at BAM Next Wave Festival in 2015.^[15] In July 2017, she performed a reimagining ofDavid Bowie's album "Blackstar", arranged for her by the composerEvan Ziporyn with theBarcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra and Ziporyn conducting.^[16] In August 2018, Beiser premieredMark Anthony Turnage cello concerto "Maya" atThe Proms in London'sRoyal Albert Hall.^[17]

Maya Beiser's discography includes fourteen solo albums, multiple studio recordings and film music collaborations. She has collaborated with film composerJames Newton Howard and is the featured soloist on several films' soundtracks includingThe Happening,The Great Debaters,Blood Diamond,Snow White and the Huntsman andAfter Earth.

Beiser was one of the founding members of theBang on a Can All Stars.^[when?]

• THE DAY^[18]
• Spinning^[19]
• Films For Cello^[20]
• Uncovered^[21]
• All Vows^[22]
• Elsewhere: A CelloOpera^[23]
• Provenance^[24]
• World To Come

• 1994The Cello Music of Gubaidulina and Ustvolskaya (KOCH International Classics)
• 1999Oblivión (KOCH International Classics)
• 2000Caught by Sky with WireThe Maya Beiser / Steven Schick Project (oodiscs inc)
• 2000Kinship (KOCH International Classics)
• 2003World to Come (KOCH International Classics)^[25]
• 2007Almost Human (KOCH International Classics)
• 2010Provenance (Innova)^[26]
• 2012Time Loops with Michael Harrison (Cantaloupe Music 21086)
• 2014Uncovered (Innova)
• 2016TranceClassical (Innova)^[27]
• 2018The Day, withKate Valk (spoken voice)^[28][29]
• 2019delugEON^[30]
• 2020Bowie Cello Symphonic: Blackstar^[31]
• 2021Maya Beiser x Philip Glass^[32]
• 2023Maya Beiser: InfInIte BachMaya Beiser | Infinite Bach Chapter 1 - Cello Suite No 4 in E♭ major, Prélude^[33]
• 2024Maya Beiser x Terry Riley: In C^[34] (Islandia Music Records)

• 1995Industry, (Sony Classical) album byBang On a Can All Stars, as solo electric cellist^[35]
• 1996CHEATING. LYING. STEALING. (Sony Classical)^[36]
• 1998BRIAN ENO: MUSIC FOR AIRPORTS
• 2002BANG ON A CAN CLASSICS (Cantaloupe)
• 2005You Are (Variations)/Cello Counterpoint (Nonesuch Records), album bySteve Reich, as solo cellist
• 2021The Brandenburg Project

Beiser contributed to the soundtrack of several films:

• Blood Diamond (2006), directed byEdward Zwick
• The Great Debaters (2007), directed byDenzel Washington
• The Happening (2008), directed byM. Night Shyamalan^[37]
• Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), directed byRupert Sanders
• After Earth (2013), directed by M. Night Shyamalan, soundtrack byJames Newton Howard
• La grande bellezza (2013), directed byPaolo Sorrentino^[38]

• Official website
• Maya Beiser atIMDb
• Maya Beiser on NPR Tiny Desk Concert
• Maya Beiser atTED
• bbc.com culture story: making classical sexy and smart
• San Francisco Chronicle Review: Maya Beiser Cellist Casts A Rockin Spell

• Living people
• American people of Argentine-Jewish descent
• American people of French-Jewish descent
• American people of Israeli descent
• American women classical cellists
• American classical cellists
• Jewish American classical musicians
• 21st-century American women musicians
• 1963 births
• 21st-century American Jews
• Yale School of Music alumni
• 21st-century American cellists

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from May 2019