Wendy Warner
Encyclopedia
Wendy Warner is a cellist
from Chicago
, Illinois
. She performs both as a soloist with major orchestra
s and as a chamber music
ian around the world.
. Her musical talent was apparent very early; she played the Dvořák
Cello Concerto
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
at the age of 14. When she was 18 she began her studies with Mstislav Rostropovich
at the Curtis Institute of Music
. In 1990, Warner took first prize at the Fourth International Rostropovich Competition in Paris. The following year she toured the United States with the National Symphony Orchestra and Europe with the Bamberg Symphony; both tours featured Rostropovich as conductor.
Other conductors with whom Warner has worked include Vladimir Spivakov
, Christoph Eschenbach
, Andre Previn
, Jesús López-Cobos
, Joel Smirnoff, Carlos Miguel Prieto
, Ignat Solzhenitsyn
, Charles Dutoit
, Eiji Oue
, Neeme Järvi
, and Michael Tilson Thomas
. She has played in the US with many prominent orchestras, including the Chicago
, Boston
, Dallas
, North Carolina
, Jacksonville
, New Mexico
, Omaha
, Nashville and San Francisco
Symphonies, and the Minnesota
and Philadelphia
Orchestras. In Europe and around the world she has performed with the London Symphony
(Barbican Center), the Berlin Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic
, the French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
, the Iceland Symphony
and L'Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse
. She played the Brahms
Double Concerto
with Anne-Sophie Mutter
and L'Orchestre de Paris
under the direction of Semyon Bychkov.
A passionate chamber musician, Warner has collaborated with the Vermeer Quartet
, the Fine Arts Quartet
, and with esteemed violinist Gidon Kremer
. Recital work includes performances at the Music Institute of Chicago, Nichols Hall
, the Phillips Collection and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
, and internationally in both Milan and Tokyo. The cellist was invited to perform in recital and with orchestra at the 70th birthday celebration concert of Rostropovich in Kronberg, Germany and with Rostropovich in the Vivaldi
double concerto in Reims, France. Festival highlights include performances with El Paso Pro-Musica and Penderecki's
Beethoven Easter Festival in Krakow. During the 2008-2009 season she made her debut with the Cape Town Philharmonic, playing the Barber
Concerto
, and she opened the Anchorage Symphony’s
season with Prokofiev’s
Sinfonia Concertante.
Warner is a member of the Beethoven Project Trio
, a part of the International Beethoven Project, alongside violinist Sang Mee Lee and pianist George Lepauw. In March 2009 the group premiered a recently rediscovered Beethoven
piano trio and performed two of the great composer’s other piano trios that had been previously unheard in the US. The group released a recording of these works in 2010 on the Cedille
label.
Warner released a second CD in 2010, also on Cedille. This recording features sonatas by 20th century Russian composers such as Rachmaninoff and Miaskovsky.
A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Warner currently is the professor of cello at the Schwob School of Music of Columbus State University
in Columbus, GA.
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. She performs both as a soloist with major orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
s and as a chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
ian around the world.
Career
Warner began playing cello at age 6, studying with Nell Novak at the Music Institute of ChicagoMusic Institute of Chicago
Music Institute of Chicago is a community music school in Illinois with campuses in Downers Grove, Evanston, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Northbrook and Winnetka....
. Her musical talent was apparent very early; she played the Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
Cello Concerto
Cello Concerto (Dvorák)
The Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, by Antonín Dvořák was the composer's last solo concerto, and was written in 1894–1895 for his friend, the cellist Hanuš Wihan, but premiered by the English cellist Leo Stern.- Structure :...
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
at the age of 14. When she was 18 she began her studies with Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
at the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
. In 1990, Warner took first prize at the Fourth International Rostropovich Competition in Paris. The following year she toured the United States with the National Symphony Orchestra and Europe with the Bamberg Symphony; both tours featured Rostropovich as conductor.
Other conductors with whom Warner has worked include Vladimir Spivakov
Vladimir Spivakov
Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov is a leading Russian conductor and violinist best known for his work with the chamber orchestra....
, Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach
Christoph Eschenbach , born February 20, 1940, Breslau, Germany is a German-born pianist and conductor. He currently holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.-Early...
, Andre Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
, Jesús López-Cobos
Jesús López-Cobos
Jesús López-Cobos is a Spanish conductor.López-Cobos was born in Toro, Zamora, Castile-León, Spain. He studied at Complutense University of Madrid and graduated with a degree in philosophy...
, Joel Smirnoff, Carlos Miguel Prieto
Carlos Miguel Prieto
Carlos Miguel Prieto is a Mexican conductor and violinist known for his dynamism and prolific career in conducting. Son of Mexican cellist Carlos Prieto, Carlos Miguel Prieto became a member of the Prieto quartet at a young age. He is a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Universities. Since 2002, he...
, Ignat Solzhenitsyn
Ignat Solzhenitsyn
Ignat Aleksandrovich Solzhenitsyn is a Russian-American conductor and pianist who is the conductor laureate of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the principal guest conductor of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra.-Career:...
, Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
, Eiji Oue
Eiji Oue
is a Japanese conductor.Oue began his conducting studies with Hideo Saito of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1978, Seiji Ozawa invited him to spend the summer studying at the Tanglewood Music Center. While there, he met Leonard Bernstein, who became a mentor. Oue won the Tanglewood...
, Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...
, and Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...
. She has played in the US with many prominent orchestras, including the Chicago
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
, Boston
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
, Dallas
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra. It performs its concerts in the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States....
, North Carolina
North Carolina Symphony
The North Carolina Symphony is an American orchestra based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with sixty-nine full time musicians. The orchestra performs in Meymandi Concert Hall and performs occasionally with the Carolina Ballet and the The Opera Company of North Carolina. In 2007, the organization...
, Jacksonville
Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Jacksonville, Florida. Widely recognized for its high artistic quality, the JSO ranks among the nation’s top 30 to 40 orchestras in terms of number of performances and population served...
, New Mexico
New Mexico Symphony Orchestra
The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy on April 20, 2011, announcing that it would cease operations and existence. Orchestra members were notified of the board's decision to file for bankruptcy by email, a few hours after the vote was taken...
, Omaha
Omaha Symphony Orchestra
The Omaha Symphony Orchestra is a community-based orchestra performing numerous concerts annually in Omaha, Nebraska and throughout the region. Originally established in 1921, the orchestra has continued yearly.-About:...
, Nashville and San Francisco
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
Symphonies, and the Minnesota
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
and Philadelphia
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
Orchestras. In Europe and around the world she has performed with the London Symphony
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
(Barbican Center), the Berlin Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra , is the largest symphony orchestra in Hong Kong. First established in 1895 as an amateur orchestra, under the name Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957, and became a professional orchestra in 1974 under the funding...
, the French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is a French radio orchestra providing music for Radio France. It specializes in contemporary music and was founded in 1937.- Names of the orchestra :*Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France...
, the Iceland Symphony
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra
Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands is an orchestra based in Reykjavík, Iceland. The ISO is an autonomous public institution under the auspices of the Icelandic Ministry of Education...
and L'Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse
Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse
The Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse is a French orchestra based in Toulouse. It acts as both a symphony orchestra whose main residence is Toulouse's Halle aux Grains, and the permanent orchestra of the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse....
. She played the Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
Double Concerto
Double Concerto (Brahms)
The Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102, by Johannes Brahms is a concerto for violin, cello and orchestra.- Origin of the work :The Double Concerto was Brahms' final work for orchestra. It was composed in the summer of 1887, and first performed on 18 October of that year in the Gürzenich in Köln,...
with Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist.- Early life :Mutter was born in Rheinfelden, Germany. She began playing the piano at age five, and shortly afterwards took up the violin, studying with Erna Honigberger, a pupil of Carl Flesch...
and L'Orchestre de Paris
Orchestre de Paris
The Orchestre de Paris is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Salle Pleyel.-History:In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, conductor Charles Munch was called on by the Minister of Culture,...
under the direction of Semyon Bychkov.
A passionate chamber musician, Warner has collaborated with the Vermeer Quartet
Vermeer Quartet
The Vermeer Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1969 at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and active until 2007.With performances in practically every major city in North and South America, Europe, the Far East, and Australia, the Vermeer Quartet achieved an international stature as one of...
, the Fine Arts Quartet
Fine Arts Quartet
The Fine Arts Quartet, a distinguished chamber music ensemble founded in Chicago, USA in 1946 by Leonard Sorkin and George Sopkin, has an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive recording legacy. It is one of the few to have recorded and toured internationally for over half a...
, and with esteemed violinist Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...
. Recital work includes performances at the Music Institute of Chicago, Nichols Hall
Nichols Hall
Nichols Hall is a building on the campus of Kansas State University. This building was originally built in 1911 and appears as a castle from the exterior. It burned down in 1968 and was rebuilt again in 1985...
, the Phillips Collection and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
, and internationally in both Milan and Tokyo. The cellist was invited to perform in recital and with orchestra at the 70th birthday celebration concert of Rostropovich in Kronberg, Germany and with Rostropovich in the Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
double concerto in Reims, France. Festival highlights include performances with El Paso Pro-Musica and Penderecki's
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
Beethoven Easter Festival in Krakow. During the 2008-2009 season she made her debut with the Cape Town Philharmonic, playing the Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
Concerto
Cello Concerto (Barber)
Samuel Barber's Cello Concerto in A minor , completed on 22 November 1945, was the second of his three concertos . Barber was commissioned to write his concerto for Raya Garbousova, an upstart Russian cellist, by Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra...
, and she opened the Anchorage Symphony’s
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra
The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra is a semi-professional symphony orchestra located in Anchorage, Alaska. Randall Craig Fleischer is the director and conductor, and Linn Weeda is the assistant director and conductor....
season with Prokofiev’s
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
Sinfonia Concertante.
Symphony-Concerto (Prokofiev)
Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto in E minor, Op. 125 is a large-scale work for cello and orchestra. Prokofiev dedicated it to Mstislav Rostropovich, who premiered it on February 18, 1952 with Sviatoslav Richter conducting . After this first performance Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto in E...
Warner is a member of the Beethoven Project Trio
Beethoven Project Trio
The Beethoven Project Trio is a piano trio that was formed in Chicago in 2008. Its founding members are pianist George Lepauw, violinist Sang Mee Lee and cellist Wendy Warner...
, a part of the International Beethoven Project, alongside violinist Sang Mee Lee and pianist George Lepauw. In March 2009 the group premiered a recently rediscovered Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
piano trio and performed two of the great composer’s other piano trios that had been previously unheard in the US. The group released a recording of these works in 2010 on the Cedille
Cedille Records
#REDIRECTCedille Records is the independent record label of TheChicago Classical Recording Foundation.-Company History:In 1989, James Ginsburg founded Cedille Records, as a...
label.
Warner released a second CD in 2010, also on Cedille. This recording features sonatas by 20th century Russian composers such as Rachmaninoff and Miaskovsky.
A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Warner currently is the professor of cello at the Schwob School of Music of Columbus State University
Columbus State University
Columbus State University is a public institution of higher learning located in Columbus, Georgia. Founded as Columbus College in 1958, the university was established and is administered by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and is fully accredited by the Commission on...
in Columbus, GA.
Discography
- Paul Hindemith: Music for Cello and Piano with Eileen Buck, piano — Bridge RecordsBridge Records, Inc.Bridge Records, Inc. is an independent record label based in New Rochelle, New York that specializes in 20th century classical music. Its president is Becky Starobin...
, 1999 - Double Play: Twentieth Century Duos for Violin and Cello with Rachel Barton PineRachel Barton PineRachel Barton Pine is a violinist from Chicago. Considered a child prodigy at the violin, she started playing at the age of 3 and a half. She played at many renowned venues as a child and teenager...
, violin — Cedille RecordsCedille Records#REDIRECTCedille Records is the independent record label of TheChicago Classical Recording Foundation.-Company History:In 1989, James Ginsburg founded Cedille Records, as a...
, 1999 - Samuel Barber: Orchestral Works, Volume 2 with the Royal Scottish National OrchestraRoyal Scottish National OrchestraThe Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
; Marin AlsopMarin AlsopMarin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
, conductor — Naxos AmericanNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
, 2001 - Wendy Warner Plays Popper and Piatigorsky with Eileen Buck, piano — Cedille Records, 2009
- The Beethoven Project Trio with George LePauw, piano, and Sang Mee Lee, violin — Cedille Records, 2010
- Russian Music for Cello & Piano with Irina Nuzova, piano — Cedille RecordsCedille Records#REDIRECTCedille Records is the independent record label of TheChicago Classical Recording Foundation.-Company History:In 1989, James Ginsburg founded Cedille Records, as a...
, 2010 - Invocations: Music by Dalit Hadass Warshaw with Dalit Hadass Warshaw, thereminThereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
and piano, the Momenta Quartet, and Re'ut ben Ze'ev, soprano — Albany RecordsAlbany RecordsAlbany Records is an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987, and is based in Albany, New York.-External links:**...
, 2011