Pieter Wispelwey | Cello

Pieter Wispelwey is among the first of a generation of performers who are equally at ease on the modern or the period cello. His acute stylistic awareness, combined with a truly original interpretation and a phenomenal technical mastery, has won the hearts of critics and public alike in repertoire ranging from JS Bach to Elliott Carter.

Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, Wispelwey’s sophisticated musical personality is rooted in the training he received: from early years with Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam to Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in Great Britain. In 1992 he became the first cellist ever to receive the Netherlands Music Prize, which is awarded to the most promising young musician in the Netherlands.

Highlights among future concerto performances include return engagements with the Boston Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Liège Philharmonic, Yiomiuri Nippon Symphony, debuts with the Dallas Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Württembergisches Kammerorchester, Madrid Communidad Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic as well as extensive touring with the Basel Kammerorchester and Academy of Ancient Music.

Forthcoming recital appearances include the Montecarlo Printemps des Arts, Aldeburgh, Brinkburn, English Haydn, Besançon and Flanders festivals, Bordeaux’s Grand Théâtre, London’s Indigo2 Concert Hall, as well as tours of Germany, Japan, Korea and North America. In 2009 and 2010 he will also be touring in a trio with Viktoria Mullova and Kristian Bezuidenhout.

Wispelwey’s career spans five continents and he has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including Sydney Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, St Paul’s Chamber Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon, Tokyo Philharmonic, Sapporo Symphony, London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Symphony, BBC Scottish Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Danish National Radio Symphony and Camerata Salzburg, collaborating with conductors including Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jeffrey Tate, Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Philippe Herreweghe, Vassily Sinaisky, Paavo Berglund, Louis Langrée, Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman, Libor Pesek and Sir Roger Norrington.

With regular recital appearances in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (Châtelet, Louvre), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw), Brussels (Bozar), Berlin (Konzerthaus), Milan (Societta del Quartetto), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Sydney (Utson Hall), Los Angeles (Walt Disney Hall) and New York (Lincoln Center), Wispelwey is establishing a reputation as one of the most charismatic recitalists on the circuit. Recent recital highlights include Amsterdam’s Robeco Series, and appearances at the Quebec, Lanaudière, Wroclaw, Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein and Stresa Festivals.

Pieter Wispelwey’s discography, available on Channel Classics and now ONYX, displays an impressive line up of over twenty recordings, six of which attracted major international awards. His most recent release (Spring 2009) is Walton’s Cello Concerto, recorded live in concert with the Sydney Symphony and Jeffrey Tate, and next will be Prokofiev Symphonie Concertante op,125 (Rotterdam Philharmonic/Vassily Sinaiski).

Pieter Wispelwey plays on a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710 Rombouts baroque cello.

For upcoming concert dates, see links below:
www.pieterwispelwey.com
www.askonasholt.co.uk