What's Cooking

Julie and Denise met as students at The Cleveland Institute of Music, I have known about Denise for a long time by reputation in Canada, and we all have many mutual friends, so we were thrilled when she moved to Boston, making our collaboration logistically possible. We are thrilled that she is a part of CELLO’s diverse performing endeavours, as not only was she a powerhouse presence for our concerto, but we all loved working and travelling together.

Stretched on the Beauty – a concerto for 4 cellos and orchestra

by Laura Bontrager

Daniel Hege, Denise Djokic, Laura Bontrager, Caroline Stinson, Andrew Waggoner and Julie Albers

Highlighting our 2007/08 season was our world premiere of Andrew Waggoner’s Stretched on the Beauty, concerto for 4 cellos and orchestra which we performed with the Syracuse Symphony November 16th–19th. This was the culmination a project that the members of CELLO and Andy started in 2004 with a sketch he wrote for the cello quartet alone. We performed it wherever we went, enjoying performing it as a piece on its own and looking forward to the expansion of it, which would be the 4 movement concerto. The lyrical writing along with the dynamic pitch range and innovative textures gave us a unique piece that added richness to our programs. But more about Andy’s writing later!

We got booked for the premiere and our concerto became a reality. The four of us got to work learning the piece, and we were glad to get to work with Andy a few times during the process. Then we were off to Syracuse and rehearsing with Daniel Hege, SSO’s wonderful music director, and then with the excellent orchestra, with two radio interviews thrown in to publicize the concerts, then there we were premiering.

Andy’s writing is haunting. Yes, there are haunting moments in the music itself, but his ability to write the way he does for cello, and for that matter, other instruments, is haunting. I wonder how he can invent these colors and melodies, the chords and textures, in his imagination and then create them for an entire orchestra. The cello writing itself is so unusual. Technically challenging at times, and purposefully, well, not pretty. There are dramatic arpeggios that have a multi-octave range, natural harmonic “licks”, clusters, and also, lots and lots of just plain notes – just plain beautiful cello notes. The concerto has both individual cello voices in the quartet’s parts, including four completely individual cadenzas, and then there’s the Supercello writing – a term Andy coined after hearing us playing these sections of his piece – all four parts playing a devilishly difficult opening to the final movement, in unison. Another supercello section is the four of us alone in four close-range voices, moving as a unit, to play a chordal melody. All of it has to be impeccably in tune, there’s tonal architecture to be brought out, even if there’s dissonance, it’s not simply dissonant, there’s consonance in there, too.

One of the things I keep appreciating over and over is the Supercello writing. What Andy has done is realize what the possibility of four cellos playing together can sound like. It’s the concept CELLO is built on. It’s exactly why CELLO is worth something in the world, there’s a powerful tonal energy that is truly unlike anything else out there.

Thank you, Andy, from all of us!

The Red Barn Cello Academy

by Julie Albers

CELLO is excited about hosting a weekend of cello fun for students of high school age at our Red Barn Cello Academy in the beautiful Berkshires!

What will be the workshop, rehearsal and performance space. With beautiful wood floors and walls, and big windows and doors for breezes, it's an ideal space for playing and performing alike.

We have so much fun playing in a quartet of cellos that we want to be able share the incredible experience with aspiring cellists around the world. The unique sound of a cello ensemble cannot be matched by any other combination due to the incredible variety of color and texture that can be achieved! The weekend will consist of various activities including master classes, tons of cello ensemble playing and a collaboration between students and the four of us in concert. Since we are still in the planning process for this event we would love to hear your ideas about what would make this an ideal experience!