We started with his own composition for piano and strings called “the silk road” a very effective piece of music that depicts a journey through Asia to Turkey, it involves a series of drones and recurring prologue that connects all the movements into one big piece of music. I particularly like the prepared piano effects, it really expands the ranges of colours that Fasil looks for in order to portray some very powerful moments in the music, imitating Asian like type instruments.

It s always nice to discover a new exciting work , and I always enjoy a little bit of a rhythmical challenge like in the second movement….I recommend it to everyone.

After a while I came across a small square that had been temporarily converted into a small ice skating ring. Having done a fair amount of skating in my youth I could not help the urge to go and try it. Half an hour into my enjoyment some rather reckless idiot started to mess around and without realizing was speeding backwards towards me…only to crashed into me and send me straight to the floor, I tried to break the fall with my hands and did hurt my left hand and more specifically my left thumb.

He apologized, the pain was not bad, so I decided it was time to call it a day and go back to the hotel to get dressed and make my way to the concert hall.

This Hall had one little problem, there were no dressing rooms and basically no back stage area to warm up, we could not play a note because it could be heard loudly into the hall.

So the first notes I played that evening were on stage. Everything was going well until I started the variations that involves heavy use of the left hand thumb positions…only to discover a world of pain that I had not noticed before…something had happened, at the time I thought I had twisted my thumb or something…anyway, I carried on the concert, with a lot of adrenaline pumping into my veins, but this was not enough and I could not help but be in real pain…it was agony and my face was showing it, I was rather red and I had tears of pain coming down my cheeks.

Concert went very well and I had great review, I especially liked the paragraph of the critic about how sensitive I was during my performance, feeling the music to the point of crying on stage……

The diagnosis once I came home was…..broken thumb ! But nothing that did not heal quickly!

We had been matched by Vladimir Mendelssohn to perform a series of concerts together in Kuhmo, amongst those solos was the famous “Quartet for the end of time”.  A very powerful piece of music that is very dear to me and always reminds me of my origins.

This is not only a masterpiece, it is also an extremely difficult and complex piece of chamber music, each  instrument having its own dedicated solo movement but also grouped together  in the other movements.  We were opening the festival with this piece and because of tough scheduling issues, we only had a few hours to rehearse, a rather brave challenge to take on. To clarify how little we had, until about an hour before the concert, the wonderful pianist ( Andrea Ruccli ) and I did not have a chance to actually play once the gorgeous and very slow cello/piano movement.

The outcome was a team of passionate chamber music players, focused on the moment and ready to defy any difficulties together…..this created a very beautiful, intense and memorable performance.

This wonderful work sets out in distinctive seven parts the seven last words of Christ.

This concerto for Cello, Bayan and Chamber Orchestra is a poignant reminder of the influences that certain institutions have on the art form and specifically on classical music.

The result is a heavy and deeply meaningful masterpiece.

The collaboration between the cello and Bayan produces some incredibly exciting, varied waves of colors of sounds. The breathing effects being produces by the Bayan ( not unlike another type of Accordion, the Bandeon a German instrument that was produced in mass near Stuttgart and later adopted with open arms in Argentinia becoming the leading instrument for Tango music ) has a deep impact on the performance and on the listener and almost hypnotic feeling comes over us and takes us into a world where the cello line often floats above as if to portray the heavens.

Yet again another wonderful work that needs to be performed more often.

I set about to discover in greater detail a piece that I only knew by word of mouth and soon became intoxicatedly passionate about. My initial first day was spent only reading the score, with its intricate use of quarter sharps, quarter flats accidentals and complex rhythmic combination, this demanded a lot of concentration in order to be as accurate as possible with the “text”.

The following few days, I little by little discovered the circumstances and ideas behind this masterwork, the struggle between the lone voice ( the solo cello line ) and its rhetorical “partner” (the orchestra ).

This concerto was composed in the less traditional one movement form even though in my opinion it is actually divided into four clear sections.

The beginning of this concerto, commissioned for M.Rostropovitch by the Royal Philharmonic Society, starts with a massive solo cello cadenza type part ( or as I refer to it as the first movement ) a drone line repeated D natural  constantly repeating ( as the composer wrote it in the score between 17-23 times ), a sort of heartbeat sound effect only to be interrupted by violent outburst of fast and vigorous short impulses, but always coming back to this repeated D natural drone.
This thematic material keeps going on, with every time the interrupting outburst to become more and more intense and prominent…until it actually takes over completely and nearly seems like improvised.

This first part develops only to return suddenly to the original opening of the repeated D natural…but this time the interruption comes form the trumpets followed by the brass sections leading into the second part of this concerto. A much more melodious section involving this time the whole orchestra.

A very slow and melancholic section ( or as I call it slow movement ) develops and nurture some wonderful sound effects of lament and sadness…only to once again lead straight into a fast and virtuosic last part involving heavy use of  a wide range of percussion instruments.

This piece is very close to my heart, it is not only a wonderful challenge to tackle on a purely technical aspect but its musical interpretation has to be impeccable in order to really convey the message that the composer tries to put across….a very effective masterpiece in my opinion. If only it was performed more often!

I wanted to choose something unusual, exciting and with a wow factor….it came to me when I discovered the S.Baber cello concerto, straight away I knew that this piece was a winner.

My teacher was less convinced then me…” too hard “ , “ too complicated….technically, musically and to put together with the orchestra…it’s a mine field for the solo instruments like bassoon, clarinet, oboe etc…” I was very stubborn and I persisted in convincing him.

Once I knew I had made it to the final, the task was to enthuse as many of the musicians playing in the orchestra about the piece, sometimes a task that can be tricky especially with unknown and difficult work.

I worked very hard with the orchestra and the conductor, not to just sort out the ensemble problems but to try and inspire the key players in this adventure as much as I was inspired. I spent more time rehearsing the orchestral tutties than time I could have spent on my solo parts (which were far from easy).

The overall effect was a stunning performance from the orchestra, I was so very proud of the level of commitment and dedication they gave to this work and this gave me wings during the performance, I immersed myself in the moment and played like there was no tomorrow….I guess that’s why I was rewarded at the ceremony.

Thank you guys, still a very fond memory for me!

A little panic over took everyone as only about a quarter of the orchestra was there, no conductor, no soloist ( Midori ) and we were all supposed to start the performance very shortly

The management turned to me and asked if I would consider buying the orchestra some time by playing some solo Bach and anything else that might pass through my mind…never turning down a good challenge, I jumped on stage, made a little speech about my colleagues being on their way and offered some light entertainment by playing some of J.S.Bach finest solo suites, this followed with a more contrasting piece of classical music, Paganini, which I always accompany with the entertaining back ground story on this particular piece ( most of you who have heard me play, know what I am talking about ).

I managed to buy just enough time for about half of the orchestra to make it, for the librarian to miraculously find some Bach violin concerto and for Midori to arrive just in time to perform it…so in other words I was the supporting act for Midori….

I will try not bore you to death ( at least I will try my very best not to).

I hope you find my website  interesting , easy to use and useful in your search for up to date information that you seek.

As you can gather from this website I am and try to be as versatile as possible as a musician, I love adventures, new experiences and thrive on challenges being thrown in my direction. It is my goal to keep an open learning mind in order to grow as cellist as well as a musician. ( oh my god that sounded so cheesy…)

Anyway, but I really do welcome any advice, criticism and ideas anyone might have in order for me to try and excel in my field as a solo artist….so don’t hesitate to contact me! ( I apologies in advance if I don’t respond immediately to your email, I will try my very best to get back to you as soon as possible!)

I hope you can come and hear me live in one of my concerts soon or perhaps you might want to check out one of my CD’s or Youtube videos.
DC

The scenery was poetic, Bantry House ( the main venue where all the concerts took place and where we also spend a large amount of time rehearsing eating and generally running around from one concert to another) the stewards were adorable ( always looking after us well ) and the repertoire for the concerts were really great.
All the works I performed during that week were new to me, The Grieg and Mendelssohn cello sonata ( both virtuosic and energetic pieces ) and the grandiose Faure Piano Quartet Number 2…..about this piano quartet…let me tell you a little back ground to it.

When the wonderfully talented Polina Leschenko ( a good friend of mine ) asked me to take part in this festival and told me of the program ( four weeks before it started) I searched for the Faure piano quartet music in the library in Belgium…only to find the piano part and not the other parts…..I decided to take it anyway and read it on the train ( I remember thinking that I will ask Paulina to bring the cello part to the festival….only to forget later).

On the day I flew to west cork….I realised that I had forgotten to double check that Paulina was going to bring the cello ( this completely my fault…I should have not assumed and should have been a little more responsible) and after a few frantic phone calls…and checking on the festival web site which piano Quartet we were doing cuz I had a little doubt……….I managed to organise for the cello part to be faxed to me by the time I arrived over there….this plan turned out to be extremely successful ( thanks to the amazing help of two of my friends from London who basically saved me on this one).

Anyway, after much stress, I was more than relieved to have my part and decided there was no need to mention this to anyone…until on the second day when Polina and I were rehearsing …we started talking about the Faure only to realise that we were talking about two different piano quartets……a little panic came over me as I thought that perhaps I had gotten the wrong piece, we did not know what to do….because learning the piano part of that piece in one day while having many other concerts to do between that was just very tight…doable but difficult …..so we went to lunch.
When at lunch we meet the Viola player ( Hartmund ) and told him what was happening and a sigh of relief came over both of us because, he had somehow also misunderstood which piece we where playing and had the wrong one also.
Now two out of the four players had the right piece.

In the end we got the viola part faxed…..I had the piano part of the correct quartet in my suitcase ( that I borrowed from the Belgium library) and Sasha Menlikov took over ( as he had played it before) and the concert was really amazing……( I am sure it would have been as amazing with Polina ) it has been a long time since I had so much fun on stage.  The moral of this story , perhaps it is best to actually read the contracts a little more carefully in the future!
Stay in tune