Maya Beiser(s) and her cello(s)

(Music)

(Applause)

Thank you.

Imagining a solo cello concert,

one would most likely think of Johann Sebastian Bach

unaccompanied cello suites.

As a child

studying these eternal masterpieces,

Bach's music would intermingle

with the singing voices of Muslim prayers

from the neighboring Arab village

of the northern Kibbutz in Israel

where I grew up.

Late at night, after hours of practicing,

I would listen to Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday

as the sounds of tango music

would be creeping from my parents' stereo.

It all became music to me.

I didn't hear the boundaries.

I still start every day

practicing playing Bach.

His music never ceases

to sound fresh and surprising to me.

But as I was moving away

from the traditional classical repertoire

and trying to find new ways

of musical expression,

I realized that with today's technological resources,

there's no reason to limit

what can be produced at one time

from a single string instrument.

The power and coherency

that comes from one person hearing, perceiving and playing all the voices

makes a very different experience.

The excitement of a great orchestra performance

comes from the attempt to have a collective of musicians

producing one unified whole concept.

The excitement from using multi-tracking,

the way I did in the piece you will hear next,

comes from the attempt

to build and create a whole universe

with many diverse layers,

all generated from a single source.

My cello and my voice are layered

to create this large sonic canvas.

When composers write music for me,

I ask them to forget what they know about the cello.

I hope to arrive at new territories

to discover sounds I have never heard before.

I want to create endless possibilities

with this cello.

I become the medium through which the music is being channeled,

and in the process, when all is right,

the music is transformed

and so am I.

(Music)

(Applause)