Emmanuel Feldman (born 1965)Karissa S. Wang, "Husband-wife duo's music is really deep," The Patriot Ledger, June 1, 1994. is an American classical cellist and teacher based in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the co-founder of the cello-double bass duo Cello e Basso, and a member of the Aurea Ensemble.
Early life and education Feldman was born and raised in New York City. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and at the Conservatoire de Paris.James Reel, "Chatting With Emmanuel Feldman," Fanfare, vol. 30, no. 2, November/December 2006.
Career As part of completing his studies in Paris, Feldman joined l'Orchestre des Prix, and was the first American ever in the orchestra. After his time in France, he moved to Boston, where he became the principal cellist in the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra in 1990, at the age of 23. He left in 1993 to focus on his solo career.
In 1992, Feldman and his wife Pascale Delache-Feldman formed Axiom Duo, with Feldman on cello and Delache-Feldman on double bass. As pioneers of the cello-double bass combination, they had to devise their own music by writing original pieces and transcribing music from other composers to fit their low-pitched instruments. Their self-titled debut was released in 2002.Andi Beckendorf, "Axiom Duo," International Society of Bassists, vol. 26, no. 1, 2002, pp. 67-68. The album features works originally written for cello and bass, along with their own transcriptions of pieces by Mozart, Bartók and Handel. They later renamed the duo Cello e Basso.
In 2006, Feldman released Rider on the Plains, named after the subtitle of the first movement of Virgil Thomson's 1950 Cello Concerto, which is featured on the album.Anthony Tommasini, "Rustic Streams Hiding Complicated Traditions," New York Times, January 14, 2007. Feldman first heard of the piece in the late 1990s after speaking with Anthony Tommasini, Thomson's biographer. Feldman found it to be "an undiscovered gem of American cello repertoire."Laurence Vittes, "All American," Strings, April 2008, pp. 34-36. The album also includes two works by Charles Fussell, which Feldman commissioned in 2002 to record alongside Thomson's work.David Hurwitz, "Rider on the Plains," Classics Today, November 6, 2006. On the album, Feldman is joined by the New England String Ensemble and Nashville Chamber Orchestra. Rider on the Plains was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical category for producer Blanton Alspaugh."The Complete List of Grammy Nominees," Category 97, New York Times, December 6, 2007. Feldman's second album, Our American Roots, was released in 2013. It features George Gershwin's Three Preludes, arranged for cello and piano by Feldman, as well as renditions of music by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and George Walker.Donald Rosenberg, "'Our American Roots'," Gramophone, October 2013.D. Moore, "Our American Roots," American Record Guide, 2013. As a composer, Feldman's original compositions include the three-movement "Enigma No. 1", written for cello and bass,Joel Altman, "Axiom Duo excels in spirited, inspired program at Orpheum," The Patriot Ledger, February 21, 1995. and "Synergy", written for string orchestra.Emmanuel Feldman bio, necmusic.edu. Accessed January 3, 2018.
Feldman has performed as the principal cellist in the Boston Philharmonic and Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra;Michael Manning, "Bringing out the best (and worst) in Philharmonic," Boston Globe, April 30, 1996. as a soloist with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Emmanuel Music, Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, New England String Ensemble, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra,Richard Pachece, "NBSO opens with 'intense, provocative' performance," The Standard-Times, October 22, 1996. and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project; and alongside Bobby McFerrin, Borromeo String Quartet,, Killington Music Festival. Accessed January 3, 2018. David Deveau, Marcus Thompson and Gilbert Kalish. He is a faculty member at Boston's New England Conservatory,Terry Blain, "Classical Music," Star Tribune, July 31, 2017. where he was the cello teacher of Zlatomir Fung,Sara Mulkeen, "Westborough teen internationally recognized for cello," The MetroWest Daily News, October 9, 2012.Mark Wedel, "Stulberg-winning teen cellist Zlatomir Fung to solo with Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra," Kalamazoo Gazette, October 29, 2014. and at the Department of Music at Tufts University,"Applied Music Faculty Biographies: Cello," Tufts University. Accessed January 3, 2018. and has also taught cello at Brown University"New Release – Our American Roots," Delos. Accessed January 3, 2018. and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Personal life Feldman and his wife, Pascale Delache-Feldman, a double bassist, are based in Boston, Massachusetts. They met while studying at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Discography Albums YearTitle2002Axiom Duo By: Axiom Duo Released: 2002 Label: Synergy Classics Formats: CD2006Rider on the Plains: Cello Concertos By: Emmanuel Feldman Released: October 24, 2006 Label: Albany Records Formats: CD, digital download2013Our American Roots: Gershwin, Barber, Walker, Copland By: Emmanuel Feldman and Joy Cline Phinney Released: May 28, 2013 Label: Delos Formats: CD, digital download
Appears on Year Album Artist Credits1993 Noises, Sounds & Strange Airs Ewazen, Heinick, Marshall and Snow Cello1995 Visions: Words for the Future Boston Gay Men's Chorus Cello2007 Chamber Music Armand Qualliotine Cello2008 5th Season Jonathan Sacks Cello2009 Bloom Michael J. Evans Cello2010 Classical Contemporary Chamber Music for the 21st Century, Volume 1 Essex Chamber Music Players Cello Nantucket Dreaming Carson Cooman Cello Tendrils Byron Petty, Robert Stewart and Peter Homans Cello2015 Chamber Music Julian Wachner Cello Winter Shore Benjamin Sabey Cello2016 Territory of the Heart Douglas Bruce Johnson Cello
References
External links Official website