Program 2020

The Next Generation – The Cello Takes Over!

In this first concert of the Cello Biennale Amsterdam Online, the important keys of the original festival program are immediately addressed: Next Generation and The Cello Takes Over. It will not have escaped anyone’s notice that the 2020 Biënnale will be even more dominated by the countless young masters who are eager to emulate or […]

Bach, Schumann & Schubert

Yassir Bousselam &
Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra

The young Moroccan cellist Yassir Bousselam joined forces with the Dutch cellist Jan Bastiaan Neven (Netherlands Chamber Orchestra) and violinist Abderrahim Semlali and his Amsterdams Andalusisch Orkest to create a new programme, especially for the Cello Biennale. It comprises a blend of early and contemporary Arabic music. Yassir Bousselam studies traditional Arabic music and translates this […]

Metrocelli

The cellists of Metropole Orchestra

Chopin, of course!

If ever there was a composer whose melancholic melodies simply screamed to be played on the cello, then it would have to be Frédéric Chopin. His close friendship with cellist Auguste Franchomme led to several wonderful chamber concert works for cello. Many cellists, including Gregor Piatigorsky and Karl Davydov, later ‘borrowed’ many of his waltzes, nocturnes and mazurkas. Continuing […]

Score Collective

Henriëtte Bosmans’ Nuit calme and Alphons Diepenbrock’s Berceuse are perhaps two of the most beautiful early-20th-century Dutch works for cello. And Jules Massenet arranged many of his own orchestral songs for cello, piano and voice. It’s works such as these that are some of cellist Pieter Wispelwey, mezzo-soprano Cora Burggraaf and pianist Ed Spanjaard’s favourites. We’ll also be hearing a very different […]

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Cello Band

The Cello Takes Over The Beatles and not just any Beatles number, but perhaps their most revolutionary work. Cello Octet Amsterdam will be rising to the challenge and performing an arrangement of one of the most influential albums of all time. In 1967, it broke just about every ‘law’ of rock & roll imaginable – no singles, but a […]

National Cello Competition
1st and 2nd Round

10.00–10.50: Theodoor Heyning  Charlotte Brussee – cello, Noriko Yabe – piano Padding, Boccherini, Fauré, Schumann, Poulenc 10.50–11.40:  Nil Domenech Fuertes Alice Andreani – cello, Daniël Kramer –  piano Boccherini, Padding, Fauré, Schumann, Britten 11.40–12.30: Pedro Silva  Charlotte Gulikers – cello, Noriko Yabe – piano Boccherini, Padding, Fauré, Schumann, Poulenc ——– 13.15–14.05: Julia Barahal  Charlotte Gulikers […]

CELLOFEST
Sehnsucht – Katharina Gross

Sehnsucht, Katharina Gross (Austria) Austrian cellist and performer Katharina Gross is a source of inspiration for many contemporary classical composers. Now, she’s put together a new performance, Sehnsucht, comprising her own music and soundscapes – played, spoken and sung. Sehnsucht is a word used to describe thoughts and feelings that can lead to depression, but could equally fuel creativity. […]

Elegy
for Anner Bijlsma

On July 25 2019 our friend and mentor, the unforgettable cellist Anner Bijlsma, died. The eighth Cello Biennale is the first in which Anner Bijlsma no longer looks over our shoulders, and with his critical eye warns us against overconfidence and at the same time feeds us with small and large, nonsensical and brilliant ideas […]

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s cellists

Mahler, Verdi, Wagner … they all course through the veins of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – most of all, those of its cellists. Very much in keeping with the theme ‘The Cello Takes Over’! Led by principal cellist Gregor Horsch, the RCO’s cellists will be playing gems from the orchestra’s repertoire arranged for twelve cellos by Adrian […]

Rituals

A program about Rituals by Maya Fridman. Originally, the Dutch-Russian cellist would play this program within the intimate setting of a traditional, nomadic yurt – eight times, with an audience of only 16 people each time. Today Maya shows that the stage of the Muziekgebouw, with the camera very close by, can be just as […]

CELLOFEST
Yassir Bousselam Trio

Yassir Bousselam Trio (Morocco, the Netherlands, Germany) To say that the Moroccan cellist and composer is a versatile musician would be putting it mildly. Classically trained as a cellist at conservatories of music in Rabat, Paris and Brussels, he loves the classical repertoire, delves into the ethnomusicological roots of Andalusian classical music, puts together programs […]

We’ll never let you down

Cellist Doris Hochscheid created a new opera in collaboration with pianist Frans van Ruth, baritone Mattijs van de Woerd and OT rotterdam’s artistic directors Mirjam Koen and Gerrit Timmers. The music was written by René Samson, Mathilde Wantenaar and Max Knigge. It examines Jacqueline du Pré’s incredible musical talent, her multiple sclerosis, public opinion and fake news. But, above all, it addresses the indignation and powerlessness of those she […]

The Martijn Padding Show!

Festival composer Martijn Padding will we presenting this program in which he will guide us through his universe. Martijn Padding is also a much sought after teacher for young and talented composers form all over the world. At his suggestion, the young Georgian composer and producer Alexandre Kordzaia composed a new work for cello solo […]

Amsterdam Sinfonietta

Two Iranian grandmasters will be joining forces with their performance of jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs’ new double concerto – Kayhan Kalhor on kamancheh and Austrian-born Kian Soltani on cello.

Remember me

For this Cello Biënnale, a celebration was plannend of the ten-year partnership with the Kronberg Academy, featuring the stars of the German top institute. The Dutch Alexander Warenberg and Ella van Poucke studied at the Academy and represent in this new, online program the many other top talents who cannot travel now. They will play […]

CELLOFEST
Kayhan Kalhor, Kian Soltani & Rembrandt Frerichs Trio

Due to a technical malfunction, this livestream is delayed. The concert is postponed, keep an eye on the website for updates. Kayhan Kalhor, Kian Soltani, Rembrandt Frerichs Trio (Austria, Iran, The Netherlands) This set’s line-up alone would make for a legendary concert. World-famous Iranian kamancheh player Kayhan Kalhor will be sharing the stage with Iranian-Austrian cello star Kian Soltani and the […]

National Cello Competition
Final

For the participants of the National Cello Competition it was, of course, a loss not to be able to play William Walton’s Cello Concerto in front of a full concert hall. By rearranging the program the Finale is still varied and not only with piano accompaniment. The Adagio from Haydn’s 13th symphony is nothing more […]