Meet cellist GABRIEL BEISTLINE, performing JAN 26, FEB 2 & Feb 3 for N4NConcerts

During this week leading up to our 3 different performances in various venues, we will introduce one of the performers on this exciting program. 

Today, meet cellist Gabriel Beistline! 

Bio:

Gabriel was introduced to the cello at the age of fifteen. However, he quickly found himself collaborating with some of the most prominent and influential musicians of our time, including Christoph Eschenbach, Yutaka Sado, Yo-Yo Ma, Christopher Hogwood, Cho Liang-Lin, Kent Nagano, Yakov Kreitzberg and Valery Gergiev.  He has toured with orchestras throughout the United States, Germany, Lithuania, Armenia, Russia and Japan.
Mr. Beistline has a Bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory and a Master's degree from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music under the professorship of world-renowned soloist Lynn Harrell. 

Gabriel currently lives in downtown San Francisco where he maintains a private studio of cellists, and regularly concertizes with numerous ensembles and orchestras in the Bay Area.

Interview questions:

- What instrument do you play?

   "I play the cello. I started with the piano when I was younger and played for a few years, but when I first heard that sound.. you know.. that sound the cello makes.

I was obsessed. I asked for lessons. Flash forward to: Me sitting in the violin section of my middle school orchestra because they, "Didn't need any cellos right now." And you can understand my frustration. Long story short, after heated negotiation and ultimately accepting a plea bargain that would require me to fill in on violin when the teacher needed, I was finally, mercifully, and forcefully handed the cracked cello that is missing the C-string in the corner, and told, "Go learn it in the hall." So I did."

 

- Any particular artist who inspires you?

   "I know it may seem cliche, but I am unendingly inspired by Yo-Yo Ma. He has used music to join people of all walks of life together, and continues doing so. He is of course, a master cellist; but he is also an educator, a founder of music festivals around the world, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom as well as a UN peace ambassador. Not to mention he was on both Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street! So more than just his artistic genius, it is his humanitarian effort that truly inspires not just me, but so many others around the world."

- What is one wish you have for the future of music?

  " My wish for the future of music would be that we teach our children the value of it, so it has one. I see public schools cutting music and arts programs right and left, and it is tragic. As it was, my elementary school only required that I take one semester of recorder (which was, coincidentally the exact length of my recorder career). It wouldn't be until I was 15 that I accidentally discovered my affinity for music, by bumbling around at the piano. I hate to think what possible effect being introduced to music properly, and at the right age would have had on my development. Getting young people interested in "real" music, and teaching them how to play it so that its value (or rather invaluability) is preserved in future society, is a large part of what motivates me."

(Thank you to LFL volunteer Savita P. for asking these interview questions of Gabriel).