Steven Isserlis - Professional Life

Professional Life

Isserlis is renowned for his performances, whether they be solo, in chamber concerts or with orchestra. He is a staunch advocate for lesser-known composers and for greater access to music for younger audiences. Isserlis is committed to authentic performance, and frequently performs with the foremost period instrument orchestras. He has performed Beethoven with fortepianist Robert Levin in Boston and London, and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Sir Simon Rattle. He has also published several editions and arrangements, principally for Faber Music, and was an advisor on new editions of Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas and Cello Variations, as well as the Cello Concertos of Dvořák and Elgar. He commissioned a new completion for Prokofiev's cello concertino from the Udmurt musicologist Vladimir Blok which was premiered on 11 April 1997 in Cardiff, with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. At the other end of the spectrum, Isserlis has premièred works by composers John Tavener who wrote The Protecting Veil especially for the cellist, Lowell Liebermann, Carl Vine, David Matthews, John Woolrich, Wolfgang Rihm, Mikhail Pletnev and Thomas Adès.

Isserlis plays the De Munck Stradivarius, on loan from The Nippon Music Foundation. He also part-owns a Montagnana cello from 1740 and a Guadagnini cello of 1745, which he played exclusively from 1979 to 1998 and part-owns with David Waterman, cellist of the Endellion Quartet. Isserlis made his debut directing from the cello in February 2008, with the Irish Chamber Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

He has organized a number of festivals with long-term collaborators such as Joshua Bell, Stephen Hough, Mikhail Pletnev, Andras Schiff, Denes Varjon, Olli Mustonen and Tabea Zimmermann, and actors Barry Humphries and Simon Callow. He is artistic director of the International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove in West Cornwall, where he both performs and teaches.

Isserlis' recordings reflect the breadth and eclecticism of his repertoire. His most recent release of reVisions for BIS includes arrangements and reconstruction of works by Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev and Bloch. Prior to reVisions, Isserlis recorded Schumann’s music for cello and piano (Dénes Várjon), and the complete Solo Cello Suites by Bach, which has won many awards, including Listeners’ Disc of the Year on BBC Radio 3’s CD Review, Gramophone’s Instrumental Disc of the Year, and “Critic’s Choice” at the 2008 Classical Brits. Other recent releases include two recordings with Stephen Hough: the Brahms sonatas, coupled with works by Dvořák and Suk; and a highly-acclaimed disc of children's cello music for BIS Records.

He is also the author of two books for children on the lives of famous composers: the first is Why Beethoven Threw the Stew (Faber & Faber, 2001), and the second Why Handel Waggled His Wig (Faber & Faber, 2006). He has also written 3 stories that have been set to music by Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley: The first of the series Little Red Violin (and the Big, Bad Cello) received its first performance in New York in March 2007, followed by Goldipegs and the Three Cellos, and Cindercella (Published by Universal Edition, Vienna). He has also made several additions for Faber Music and sheetmusicnow.com.

He was awarded a CBE in 1998, and collected his award with his father, as his mother died earlier that week. He was awarded the Schumann Prize 2000 by the city of Zwickau.