Steven Isserlis

British cellist Steven Isserlis, who was born in London in 1958, studied with Jane Cowan at the International Cello Centre and with Richard Kapuscinski at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician for some 40 years. Highlights of recent seasons have included concerts with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Mozart Week, and the London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski at the Dresden Music Festival. Isserlis regularly collaborates with such renowned chamber orchestras as the Mahler, Australian, Scottish, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, often taking on the musical direction as well. He performs chamber music with Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Janine Jansen, Tabea Zimmermann, Jeremy Denk, Steven Hough, Alexander Melnikov, Olli Mustonen, and Dénes Várjon, among others. Isserlis’ repertoire and interpretations reflect the diversity of his interests, which range from historically informed performance practice and Romanticism — in particular, the works of Robert Schumann — to contemporary music. He has premiered new works by John Tavener, Thomas Adès, Wolfgang Rihm, David Matthews, and György Kurtág. Isserlis also devotes himself with great passion to special concerts for children; he wrote the children’s books Why Handel Waggled His Wig and Why Beethoven Threw the Stew. He is also a contributing writer for daily newspapers, trade journals, and radio stations. His rich discography includes music ranging over three centuries, from Bach to the present. His most recent album, No Longer Mourn for Me, features works by Tavener and won the 2021 BBC Music Magazine Award. Steven Isserlis is a recipient of the Robert Schumann Prize; in 2017, he received the Glashütte Prize of the Dresden Music Festival.

Debut on 17 March 2002, when he performed the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées under Philippe Herreweghe.

July 2021