MAYA BEISER

Described by the The New Yorker as a “cello goddess” and by The Washington Post as “the diva of the cello,” Maya Beiser has captivated audiences worldwide with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire, and relentless quest to redefine her instrument’s boundaries.

Over the past decade, she has created new repertoire for the cello, commissioning and performing many works written for her by today’s leading composers. She has collaborated with composers Tan Dun, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen, and Mark O’Connor, among many others. Beiser is
a featured performer on the world’s most prestigious stages, having appeared as soloist at the Sydney Opera House, New York City’s Lincoln Center, London’s Barbican and the World Expo in Nagoya, Japan. Beiser was a featured speaker and performer at the 2011 TED conference; her TEDTalk has since garnered nearly half a million views online.

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 premiered at Carnegie Hall in October 2008 and forms the basis of her latest recording. Her sold-out concerts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall have been chosen by The New York Times critics as among the “Best Of The Year.” Beiser is currently at work on her newest project Elsewhere, a CELLoOpera, which will premiere in fall 2012. Elsewhere is an imaginative retelling of the Biblical legend of Lot’s wife, created by Beiser with director Robert Woodruff, composers Missy Mazzoli and Eve Beglarian, writer Erin Cressida Wilson, and choreographer Karole Armitage.

Highlights of Maya Beiser’s recent US tours included performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Mondavi Performing Arts Center, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Celebrity Series in Boston and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven. Other recent performances include major venues and festivals in Barcelona, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Athens, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. She has appeared with many of the world’s top orchestras performing new works for the cello. Her recent appearances with orchestras included the St. Paul Camber Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony, and the China Philharmonic, among many others.

Beiser’s latest recording, Provenance, has been one of the year’s top-selling classical and world music CDs since its release in May 2010. Her performance of Steve Reich’s Cello Counterpoint is featured on the Nonesuch disc You Are, which was chosen by The New York Times as one of the top albums of the year. She is also the soloist on the Sony Classical CD release of Tan Dun’s Water Passion, and has performed his Academy Award-winning score Crouching Tiger Concerto with orchestras around the globe. She has released four solo CDs with Koch Entertainment label including Oblivion, Kinship, World To Come, and Almost Human.

Beiser has been a featured soloist on several film soundtracks. Collaborating with renowned film composer James Newton Howard, she is the featured soloist on M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters, Edward Zwick’s Blood Diamond, and Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman (to be released in June 2012).

Raised on a kibbutz in Israel by her French mother and Argentinean father, Maya Beiser is a graduate of Yale University. Her major teachers were Aldo Parisot, Uzi Weizel, Alexander Schneider, and Isaac Stern. Beiser was the founding cellist of the new music ensemble, the Bang on a Can All-Stars. For more information, visit www.mayabeiser.com.

Press Quotes:

“The hot, young, cello-diva of the avant-garde” — The Washington Post

“Exceptional…Gorgeous…Haunting… Not only does her warm, golden sound permeate even the most searing and challenging passages of music she plays, but she appears to have the ease of a hip-hop turntable spin-meister when it comes to interacting with technology, so the music consistently remains the most crucial message…” – The Chicago Sun-Times

“Maya Beiser has striking, powerful presence… she is an exceptional cellist… A virtuoso. Her deeptoned, concentrated playing can always be counted on to enhance the mystical effect of whatever she performs.” – The Los Angeles Times

“Sensual…with rock-star magnetism… It was an important night!” – The Philadelphia Inquirer