Steven Isserlis
“This recital was the stuff of legend... The Isserlis sound is heart-stopping.”
The Independent, 31 January 2007
Steven Isserlis is a cellist whose passion for music transcends conventional divisions. He is equally at home drawing the audience into his circle of friends for chamber music or in recital; delving into the historical archives to emerge with a forgotten gem; or on the concert platform with the world's leading orchestras, which this season will include the Philadelphia Orchestra under Dutoit, the Orchestre de Paris under Eschenbach, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Boyd, and the Israel Philharmonic under Masur and Mehta.
The chamber concerts of Isserlis' devising are renowned for the ingenuity and innovation of their programming. This season, Isserlis presents his own Russian series of at the Wigmore Hall, and is featured artist at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, and at the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
Musical education is another major interest for Isserlis; he has written two books for children, Why Beethoven Threw the Stew (Faber & Faber, 2001) and Why Handel Waggled his Wig (2006), both published by Faber Books. Last year, he launched his own concert series for children in New York. He regularly gives masterclasses all over the world, and is Artistic Director of IMS Prussia Cove (Cornwall), one of Europe's leading musical seminars. He has also published several editions and arrangements, principally for Faber Music.
As well as appearing regularly with period-instrument ensembles, he is a keen exponent of contemporary music. He gave the world première of Wolfgang Rihm’s Cello Concerto at the 2006 Salzburg Festival, and future plans include the première performances of works written for him by Mikhail Pletnev and Thomas Adès.
Isserlis’ most recent release, which has won extraordinary worldwide acclaim, is of the complete Solo Cello Suites by Bach on the Hyperion label.
His honours include the CBE in recognition of services to music (1998), and the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau, Schumann's birthplace (2000).
Steven Isserlis plays the ‘Feuermann’ Stradivarius of 1730, kindly loaned by The Nippon Music Foundation of Japan.
