Natalie Clein
Encyclopedia
Natalie Clein is a British
cellist. Her mother is a professional violinist. Her sister is the actress Louisa Clein
.
Clein started playing the cello
at the age of six, and studied with Anna Shuttleworth
and Alexander Baillie
at the Royal College of Music
where she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Scholarship. She has also studied with Heinrich Schiff
in Vienna
.
Clein came to prominence after winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year
competition in 1994 with her performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto
. She was the first British winner of the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians
in Warsaw
, playing the Shostakovich
Sonata
and Elgar's concerto. Her other awards include the Ingrid zu Solms Cultur Preis at the 2003 Kronberg Academie and the Classical BRIT Award
for Young British Performer of 2005.
Clein made her concerto debut at The Proms
in August 1997, performing the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with Sir Roger Norrington
and the National Youth Chamber Orchestra of Great Britain. She is also a regular chamber musician with such musicians as Julius Drake
, Charles Owen and Kathryn Stott
, as well as the Belcea Quartet
, Jerusalem Quartet, Takács Quartet
, and the Nash Ensemble
.
Clein has collaborated with author Jeanette Winterson
on a performance piece which utilises Bach's Goldberg Variations
in conjunction with Winterson's text. She has also worked with choreographer and dancer Carlos Acosta.
Clein released an all Kodaly recording in 2009 on Hyperion Records. Previously, she recorded for EMI Classics where her debut recording, a recital disc of Brahms and Schubert cello sonatas with Charles Owen was released in October 2004 on the EMI 'Classics for Pleasure' imprint and her recording of the Chopin and Rachmaninov Cello Sonatas with Charles Owen was released on 25 September 2006. Her EMI recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto, in honour of the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth, was released in September 2007.
Clein joined the professorial staff at Trinity College of Music
, London in September 2009. She plays on the “Simpson” Guadagnini cello (1777).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
cellist. Her mother is a professional violinist. Her sister is the actress Louisa Clein
Louisa Clein
Louisa Miranda Clein is a British actress. Her mother is a professional violinist, her sister is the cellist Natalie Clein and her cousin is the author Julia Pascal. Clein played viola as a youth and was a violist with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in 1995-1996.Clein is a 2000...
.
Clein started playing the cello
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...
at the age of six, and studied with Anna Shuttleworth
Anna Shuttleworth
Anna Shuttleworth is a cellist from the United Kingdom. She studied cello with Ivor James and Harvey Phillips at the Royal College of Music and later became a professor at the same college...
and Alexander Baillie
Alexander Baillie
Alexander Baillie is an English cellist. He is currently professor of cello at the Bremen Hochschule, as well as at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.-Early life:...
at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
where she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
Scholarship. She has also studied with Heinrich Schiff
Heinrich Schiff
Heinrich Schiff is an Austrian cellist and conductor. He studied cello with Tobias Kühne and André Navarra and made his solo debut in Vienna and London in 1971...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Clein came to prominence after winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year
BBC Young Musician of the Year
The BBC Young Musician of the Year is a televised national music competition. It is broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Four biennially, despite the name, and hosted by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
competition in 1994 with her performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto
Cello Concerto (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, by which time his music had gone out of fashion with the concert-going public...
. She was the first British winner of the Eurovision Competition for Young Musicians
Eurovision Young Musicians
Eurovision Young Musicians is a competition for European musicians that are 18 years old or younger. It is organised by the European Broadcasting Union and is a member of European Union of Music Competitions for Youth...
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, playing the Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
Sonata
Cello Sonata (Shostakovich)
The Sonata for Cello and Piano in D minor, Op. 40, was one of Shostakovich's early works, composed in 1934 just prior to his censure by Soviet authorities of his music, notably the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtensk, that was deemed too bourgeois and decadent for the Soviet people...
and Elgar's concerto. Her other awards include the Ingrid zu Solms Cultur Preis at the 2003 Kronberg Academie and the Classical BRIT Award
Classical Brit Awards
The Classic BRIT Awards are an annual awards ceremony held in the United Kingdom covering aspects of classical music, and are the classical equivalent of pop music's BRIT Awards....
for Young British Performer of 2005.
Clein made her concerto debut at The Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
in August 1997, performing the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with Sir Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
and the National Youth Chamber Orchestra of Great Britain. She is also a regular chamber musician with such musicians as Julius Drake
Julius Drake
Julius Drake is an English pianist who works as a song recital accompanist and chamber musician.-Biography:Drake was educated at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music; he made his professional debut at the Purcell Room in 1981 and developed a special affinity for the music of Robert...
, Charles Owen and Kathryn Stott
Kathryn Stott
Kathryn Stott is a British classical pianist who performs as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Her specialities include the English and French classical repertoire, contemporary classical music and the tango...
, as well as the Belcea Quartet
Belcea Quartet
The Belcea Quartet is a string quartet, formed in 1994, under the leadership of violinist Corina Belcea.-History:The quartet was formed while its members were studying at the Royal College of Music in London. Whilst there, they were coached by the Chilingirian Quartet...
, Jerusalem Quartet, Takács Quartet
Takács Quartet
The Takács Quartet is a string quartet, founded in Hungary, and now based in Boulder, Colorado, United States.- History :In 1975, four students at the Music Academy in Budapest, Gabor Takács-Nagy , Károly Schranz , Gabor Ormai , and András Fejér formed The Takács Quartet...
, and the Nash Ensemble
Nash Ensemble
The Nash Ensemble of London is an acclaimed English chamber ensemble. It was founded by Artistic Director Amelia Freedman in 1964, while she was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, and was named after the Nash Terraces around the Academy...
.
Clein has collaborated with author Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson OBE is a British novelist.-Early years:Winterson was born in Manchester and adopted on 21 January 1960. She was raised in Accrington, Lancashire, by Constance and John William Winterson...
on a performance piece which utilises Bach's Goldberg Variations
Goldberg Variations
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
in conjunction with Winterson's text. She has also worked with choreographer and dancer Carlos Acosta.
Clein released an all Kodaly recording in 2009 on Hyperion Records. Previously, she recorded for EMI Classics where her debut recording, a recital disc of Brahms and Schubert cello sonatas with Charles Owen was released in October 2004 on the EMI 'Classics for Pleasure' imprint and her recording of the Chopin and Rachmaninov Cello Sonatas with Charles Owen was released on 25 September 2006. Her EMI recording of the Elgar Cello Concerto, in honour of the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth, was released in September 2007.
Clein joined the professorial staff at Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
, London in September 2009. She plays on the “Simpson” Guadagnini cello (1777).
Discography
- Kodaly: Sonata for solo Cello, Adagio, Sonatina, Epigrams, Romance lyrique for cello & piano with Julius Drake, piano (Hyperion, 2009)
- Elgar: Cello Concerto with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley (EMI Classics UK, 2007)
- Chopin/Rachmaninov: Cello Sonatas with Charles Owen, piano (EMI Classics UK, 2006)
- Brahms/Schubert: Cello Sonatas, with Charles Owen, piano (Classics for Pleasure, 2004)
- Duruflé: Requiem (Hyperion, 1994)
External links
- Natalie Clein official website
- Natalie Clein official MySpace music page
- VIDEO: Elgar Sospiri performed by Natalie Clein and conducted by Vernon HandleyVernon HandleyVernon George "Tod" Handley CBE was a British conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. He was born of a Welsh father and an Irish mother into a musical family in Enfield, London. He acquired the nickname "Tod" because his feet were turned in at his birth, which his...
- Natalie Clein on EMI Classics
- Natalie Clein on Askonas Holt Management