Maya Beiser
Maya Beiser is an Israeli-born American cellist, performing artist, producer and activist who lives in New York City. A brilliant cellist with a stunning command of her instrument, she has an international career as a performer and recording artist. Beiser was raised on a kibbutz in Israel by her French mother and Argentine father, and graduated from Yale University School of Music. The New Yorker magazine described her as a "cello goddess" [1] and the San Francisco Chronicle called her "the queen of contemporary cello".[2][3]
Biography
Maya Beiser has has been known worldwide for her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire, and relentless quest to redefine her instrument’s boundaries. The Boston Globe declares, "With virtuoso chops, rock-star charisma, and an appetite for pushing her instrument to the edge of avant-garde adventurousness, Maya Beiser is the post-modern diva of the cello."
“Maya Beiser has etched a bold career path that marries classical to rock, starched collars to casual dress, and tradition to unorthodoxy,” reports AllMusic.com. Throughout her adventurous and versatile career she has reimagined the concert experience, creating new music for the cello, commissioning and performing many works written for her by today’s leading composers. She has collaborated with composers Louis Andriessen, Douglas J. Cuomo, Tan Dun, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Harrison, Steve Reich, Simon Shaheen, and David Lang among many others. A featured performer on the world’s most prestigious stages, Maya appeared as soloist at the Sydney Opera House, New York’s Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and BAM, London’s Barbican Centre, Royal Albert Hall, and the Southbank Centre, and the World Expo in Nagoya, Japan. In 2011, Maya was invited to present at the exclusive TED conference. Her TEDtalk performance has been watched by close to a million people and translated to 33 languages.
Beiser has conceived, performed and produced her critically acclaimed multimedia concerts, including World To Come, which premiered as part of the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall; Almost Human, a collaboration with visual artist Shirin Neshat; and Provenance, which forms the basis of her best selling album. Top New York critics have consistently chosen her Carnegie Hall concerts on their “Best Of The Year” lists. Maya’s latest production, Elsewhere: a CelloOpera, premiered in October 2012 at Carolina Performing Arts followed by a sold-out run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival. ELSEWHERE is an imaginative retelling of the Biblical legend of Lot’s wife, created by Beiser with theater director Robert Woodruff.
Maya Beiser’s recent US tours include performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., UCLA's Royce Hall, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, the Mondavi Center, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Celebrity Series in Boston and International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven. Other recent performances include major venues and festivals in Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Torino, Tokyo, Taipei, Athens, Mexico City and Bogota. She has appeared with many of the world’s top orchestras performing new works for the cello including the BBC Concert orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, The Boston Pops, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony, China Philharmonic, and Shanghai Symphony among many others.
Her vast discography, released on Sony Classical, Nonesuch, Koch (now E1) Innova and Cantaloupe labels, include seven solo albums and many studio recordings and film music collaborations. Beiser's 2010 album Provenance topped the classical and world music charts on both Amazon and iTunes. Her 2012 recording, Time Loops, was selected among NPR’s top 10 recordings of the year.
Collaborating with renowned film composer James Newton Howard, Maya is the featured soloist on several film’s soundtracks including M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters, Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond, Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman and M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth.
Beiser was the founding cellist of the new music ensemble, the Bang on a Can All-Stars.
Projects
Discography
- 2012 Time Loops (Cantaloupe Music)
- 2010 Provenance (Innova)
- 2008 [[The Happening (2008 film)]] Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- 2007 [[Almost Human (Maya Beiser album)|Almost Human]] (KOCH International Classics)
- 2005 [[Steve Reich]] You Are (Nonesuch Records)
- 2003 World to Come (KOCH International Classics)
- 2000 Caught by Sky with Wire The Maya Beiser / Steven Schick Project (oodiscs inc)
- 2000 'Kinship' (KOCH International Classics)
- 1999 Oblivión (KOCH International Classics)
- 1994 The Cello Music of Gubaidulina and Ustvolskaya (KOCH International Classics)
Filmography
- Featured soloist on M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening (2008 film)[4]
- Featured soloist on Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters
- Featured soloist on Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond
References
- ^ Tommasini, Anthony (2003-11-01). "New York Times Review". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
- ^ "Coca-Cola Artist Residencies". Retrieved 2008-05-01.
- ^ Hurwitt, Robert; Kosman, Joshua. "San Francisco Reviews". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-05-01.
- ^ Dan Goldwasser (2008-03-15). "James Newton Howard scores * M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening". ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved 2008-03-15.