This year, Cello Biennale Amsterdam opens with Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the trailblazing cellist Abel Selaocoe. The programme also includes the earliest known cello concerto written by a woman: Marie Jaëll.
As a female composer, the French musician Marie Jaëll broke new ground in an art world that had long been dominated by men. In 1879, she became the first woman to be admitted to the Société Nationale de Musique, and she studied with Camille Saint-Saëns. She wrote her cello concerto in 1882, making it the earliest known cello concerto by a female composer. For many years, this lyrical work was largely forgotten, but thanks in part to the efforts of Raphaela Gromes, it is now enjoying renewed attention.
Abel Selaocoe is the perfect cellist for a programme about shifting boundaries. He moves effortlessly between genres and styles, creating connections between Western and non-Western musical traditions. He made his Dutch debut at the Cello Biennale in 2018, and has since appeared in major concert halls around the world with performances in which the audience always plays an active role. In this concert with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, he brings together traditional African music with classical and contemporary Western music — entirely in his own distinctive way, transcending every boundary.