Anima Mundi Productions presented ‘Cello Day’ for students prior to Sunday’s concert

By Julia Sommer for Ashland.news

Internationally acclaimed Israeli-American cellist Amit Peled, in town to perform a sold-out concert at Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall on Sunday, Feb. 2, gave a lively, entertaining and highly instructive master class at Ashland High School on Friday, Jan. 31.

Both the concert and “Cello Day” at the school were presented by Ashland-based nonprofit Anima Mundi Productions.

In attendance on the AHS auditorium stage were 30 high school and middle school cellists and five bass players. The largest contingent of cellists, 13, came from Grants Pass High School. Others came from North Medford, South Medford, and Ashland high schools.

Will Boldon and Kate Galli, seniors from Grants Pass High School, performed part of the Vivaldi Concerto for Two Cellos.

“The most important thing is to have confidence in your playing,” said Boldon, who plans on becoming a music educator. “Being timid is the biggest mistake.” He takes lessons from Ashland cellist/teacher Lisa Truelove.

AHS cellist Rowan Chenoweth and South Medford bassist Jordan King also received spot-on coaching in front of their peers. “Rule #1: Sing your music! Preferably in the shower!” Peled advised, along with penetrating advice on bowing (“jellyfish wrist”), vibrato (playing the cello should be comfortable!”), shifting, and fingering (“like you’re holding a strawberry!).

Peled rehearsed the entire group in Bach’s “Sarabande,”arranged for cello choir by Laszlo Varga, ate lunch with the students in the upstairs commons area, gave an entertaining Q and A, and played portions of Bach’s Cello Suite 1 on his circa 1780 Storioni cello on loan from the Roux Family Foundation. He noted that his cello, which requires its own seat next to him on plane trips, is gathering plenty of frequent flyer miles.

Peled grew up on a kibbutz in Israel, starting the cello when he was 10 and commuting three hours to Tel Aviv for lessons by the time he was 14. Throughout high school he juggled cello/music and basketball.

Peled is a cello professor at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and has performed in and presented master classes around the world, including at the Marlboro and Newport Music Festivals and the Heifetz International Music Summer Institute.

Ethan Gans-Morse, executive director of Anima Mundi Productions, says of Cello Day: “Part of the mission of Anima Mundi Productions is to bring the best concert musicians in the country to Southern Oregon, and to make their work — not only their artistic work, but also their personal stories and their very humanity — approachable to those in our community who otherwise might not have access to these exceptional artists. We’re deeply touched that Amit Peled has approached our Cello Day event with such generosity, humility, and grace.”

Email freelance writer Julia Sommer of Ashland at juliamsommer@gmail.com.

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