On this cello day

** 1713 - birth of Pierre Jélyotte (Lasseube, France) d.1797
tenor singer, guitarist, cellist, violinist & composer

** 1743 - birth of Thomas Jefferson (Virginia, USA) d.1826
American president…and amateur violinist, cellist & harpsichord player

** 1784 – birth of Elis Chiewitz (Stockholm, Sweden) d.1839
A Swedish musician and artist, playing cello. Also, a painter.

** 1868 – in a Löwenberg Orchestra Concert, David Popper contributed some solo items; he arranged the Mozart Adagio from the String Quintet, K.516 for cello, played the F. Kletzer: Ungarische Rhapsodie, Op.7, and his own Gavotte, Op.10.

** 1891 - birth of Cedric Sharpe (London) d.1978
cellist & composer

** 1897 - cellist Rosa Brackenhammer performed in an unusual trio concert, to good critical acclaim; this was reported on the press:
“A concert in Stuttgart, which took place on April 13th, presented a remarkable rarity: a trio for piano, violin and cello, which was played by three graceful ladies, from Mrs. Grossler-Heim, Mrs. [Paula] Ehrenbacher-Edenfeld  [singer, violinist] and Miss Rosa Brackenhammer was played charmingly. [...] Miss R. Brackenhammer plays the cello, as demonstrated in two solo performances by D. Popper and L. Hegyesi, with outstanding technical skill” 

** 1904 – birth of Elsa Hilger (Trautenau, Austria – today in the Czech Republic) d.2005
Austrian-American cellist. At the age of 12, Hilger made her orchestral debut with the Vienna Philharmonic performing Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. The following year, Grümmer gave Hilger the Guarnerius cello that she used for most of her career. In 1920, following her studies in Vienna, Hilger’s family left Europe for America.  For much of the 1920s and early 1930s, the three sisters travelled together around the United States and South America as the Hilger Trio, performing solo and ensemble recitals.
She has an important claim to fame – she was the first woman other than a harpist to become a member of a major symphony orchestra! Stokowski auditioned Hilger privately. Although Stokowski was convinced of her talent, at the second audition she had to sight-read orchestral excerpts for two hours! Her skill won over the sceptics, and she secured a position in the orchestra in 1935. During her 35-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra, much of which she sat on the first desk and occasionally as principal cello, she missed only one concert.
Cello teacher at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music Academy (now the University of the Arts). She was a cellist’s cellist! Pablo Casals referred to her as a “genius of the cello” and even Mstislav Rostropovich himself brought flowers to her backstage room!

** 1905 - first performance of Saint-Saëns - Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major, Op.123
Joseph Hollman/cellist - composer at piano (at the home of Alphonse Blondel, director of the Érard Piano Company, Paris)

** 1912 - birth of Miloš Sádlo (Prague, born as Miloš Zátvrzský) d.2003
cellist and teacher
In 1929 he started to gain recognition as a soloist, while also performing as a member of the Prague (Zika) Quartet and the Czech Trio. At the end of the 1950s, he was also a member of the Suk Trio. In 1950 he started teaching at the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Per form ing Arts in Prague, where three years later he was appointed Professor. He also taught at universities in the USA. He was an absolute Martinu expert!

** 1915 - cellist May Mukle recorded Alice Verne-Bredt - Lullaby for violoncello and piano, and Ethel Barns - Idyll for violoncello and piano with Mary Miller Mount (piano), in New York

** 1938 - birth of Keith Harvey (Liverpool, England) d.2017
cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician

** 1951 - birth of Alexander "Sasha" Zhiroff (Ishim, USSR)
cellist (classical & cross-over)

** 1958 - cellist Tibor de Machula performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Schumann - Cello Concerto, Op.129. Two concerts, in Düsseldorf (12th April) and Bad Godesberg (13th April), conducted by Eduard van Beinum

** 1980 – birth of Soo Bae (Seoul, South Korea)
Korean-Canadian cellist, chamber music interpreter and teacher in New York

** 1984 – on the 12th, 13th, 14th and 17th of this month, cellist Lorne Munroe performed as invited soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Davis), in the Avery Fisher Hall (New York)

** 1991 – premiere recording of Lyell Cresswell’s Cello Concerto (written 1984), featuring cello soloist Roman Jablonski, with the CSR Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Bernas. The orchestra also recorded vocal soloist works on the recording dates, which started 8th April and finished the 13th April of 1991.

**1994 - birth of Héctor Pirir (San Juan Sacatepéquez, Guatemala)
cellist, orchestral (became the youngest professional musician of the National Symphony Orchestra - OSN - of Guatemala at just 18 years old!)