Acclaimed worldwide for his profound musicianship and technical mastery, British cellist Steven Isserlis enjoys a distinguished career as soloist, chamber musician, educator, author and broadcaster.

As a concerto soloist he appears regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic, National Symphony and London Philharmonic orchestras, and plays with many of the world’s foremost chamber orchestras. His interest in authentic performance has included collaborations with period-instrument ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

He has recorded the Chopin Cello Sonata with Dénes Várjon for Hyperion using one of Chopin’s own pianos. Recent seasons have featured a performance with Sir Andras Schiff at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, using Beethoven’s own cello; and performances and recordings with Robert Levin (selected for the Deutsche SchallplattenPreis) of Beethoven’s complete music for cello and piano using original or replica fortepianos. With harpsichordist Richard Egarr, he has performed and recorded the viola da gamba sonatas of J.S. Bach as well as sonatas by Handel and Scarlatti.

Mr. Isserlis is also a keen exponent of contemporary music and has premiered many new works including John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil, Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés, and Stephen Hough’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Left Hand (Les Adieux). In 2016, he gave the UK premiere of Olli Mustonen’s Frei, aber einsam at the Wigmore Hall.

His recording of J.S. Bach’s complete Solo Cello Suites for Hyperion met with the highest critical acclaim and was Gramophone’s Instrumental Album of the Year and Critics’ Choice at the Classic BRITS. Other recent releases include a Grammy-nominated album of sonatas by Martinů, the Brahms Double Concerto with Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and concertos by Haydn and CPE Bach, with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. His recent recording Cello in Wartime is a WWI-inspired disc performed on a travel cello (now known as “the Trench Cello”) like the one played in the trenches by WWI soldier Harold Triggs.

Mr. Isserlis’s many honors include a CBE in recognition of his services to music, and he is one of only two living cellists featured in Gramophone’s Hall of Fame. He gives most of his concerts on the Marquis de Corberon (Nelsova) Stradivarius of 1726, kindly loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music.

Website: https://stevenisserlis.com/