Early Life and Studies
Isserlis was born in London on 19 December 1958 into a musical family. His grandfather, Julius Isserlis who was a Russian Jew, was one of 12 musicians allowed to leave Russia in the 1920s to promote Russian culture, but he never returned. His mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a keen amateur musician. His sister Annette is a viola player, and his other sister Rachel is a violinist. Isserlis has described how playing music, playing together, was an integral part of his early family life.
He went to the City of London School, which he left at the age of 14 to move to Scotland to study under the tutelage of Jane Cowan. From 1976 - 1978 Isserlis studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Richard Kapuczinsky and was much influenced by the great iconoclast of Russian cello playing, Daniil Shafran, of whom Isserlis has described how His vibrato, his phrasing, his rhythm all belonged to a unique whole... He was incapable of playing one note insincerely; his music spoke from the soul.
Read more about this topic: Steven Isserlis
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