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Guest Artists visit SFCM to share their expertise with student musicians.

Program

Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Piano and Cello No. 2 in F Major, Op. 99
     II. Adagio affettuoso
Constantine Janello, cello
Jenny Ma, piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Sonata in G Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 19
     I. Lento – Allegro moderato
Calvin Kung, cello
Jenny Ma, piano

Dmitri Shostakovich: Cello Sonata In D Minor, Op. 40
     I. Allegro agitato
Zofia Sabee, cello
Amy Chiu, piano

Edvard Grieg: Sonata for Cello and Piano in A Minor Op. 36
     I. Allegro agitato
Frèdèric Renaud, cello
Amy Chiu, piano

About Steven Isserlis

British cellist Steven Isserlis CBE enjoys an international career as a soloist, chamber musician,
author, educator, and broadcaster. Equally at home in music from baroque to the present day,
he performs with the world’s greatest orchestras, including period ensembles, and has
given many world premieres, including Sir John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil, Thomas Adès’s
Lieux retrouvés, four works for solo cello by György Kurtág, and pieces by Heinz Holliger, Jörg
Widmann, Olli Mustonen, Mikhail Pletnev and many others.

His vast award-winning discography includes most of the cello repertoire, including the JS
Bach suites (Gramophone Instrumental Album of the Year), Beethoven’s complete works for
cello and piano, and the Brahms double concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St
Martin in the Fields. He has received two Grammy nominations, for his recordings of Haydn’s
cello concertos, and Martinů’s cello sonatas with Olli Mustonen. Premiere recordings include
late works by Sir John Tavener (BBC Music magazine Premiere Award). His latest recording,
A Golden Cello Decade 1878 – 1888, was released in November 2022.

As an author, his latest book is a critically-acclaimed companion to the Bach cello suites, while
his two books for children about music are among the genre’s most popular ever written and
have been translated into many languages. He has also authored a commentary on
Schumann’s famous Advice for Young Musicians. As a broadcaster, he has written and
presented two in-depth documentaries for BBC Radio, on Robert Schumann and Harpo Marx.
An insightful musical explorer and curator, he has programmed imaginative series for
London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s 92nd St Y, and the Salzburg Festival. Unusually, he also
directs orchestras from the cello, including Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in 2019 with Radu
Lupu in his final public performance.

He was awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998, in recognition of his services to music.
International recognition includes the Piatigorsky Prize (USA) and the Glashütte Original
Music Festival Award (Germany). Since 1997, he has been Artistic Director of the International
Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove, Cornwall.

He plays the 1726 ‘Marquis de Corberon’ Stradivarius, on loan from the Royal Academy of
Music.