Maya Beiser

Cellist Maya Beiser forged an adventurous trajectory by fusing classical traditions with rock energy, formal conventions with relaxed presentation, and established norms with experimental approaches. Her broad catalog spans compositions from John Tavener, Tan Dun, and Led Zeppelin alongside global influences, placing her firmly in the realms often labeled indie classical or alternative classical. She approaches contemporary music with evident daring, incorporating electronics, lighting, projected visuals, spoken poetry, and extended cello techniques that have drawn a sizable following among listeners open to innovation. Appearances at jazz events and festivals, along with a series of well-received recordings, have complemented her concerts at Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, and major halls across Tokyo, Sydney, Paris, and numerous additional cities. In 2020 she released Bowie Cello Symphonic: Blackstar on her own Islandia Music imprint after a multimedia tour of the project created with Evan Ziporyn; the following year she issued Maya Beiser x Philip Glass on the same label.

Born December 31, 1963, in Gazit, Israel, she grew up on a kibbutz, beginning with piano before switching to cello at age eight. Isaac Stern identified her talent at eleven and served as mentor thereafter. She fulfilled her required national service as cellist in the Israeli Military String Quartet, then moved to the United States in 1985 for further training at the Yale University School of Music under Aldo Parisot, Alexander Schneider, and Uzi Wiesel. Her New York recital debut occurred in 1992 at the 92nd Street Y, featuring works by Shostakovich, Janáček, and additional composers. That year she co-founded the Bang on a Can All-Stars, whose recordings achieved success even as she launched a parallel solo path. Her debut album, Oblivión, devoted to pieces by Piazzolla and Nin, appeared on Koch International in 1999.

By the early 2000s she had become a prominent figure, highlighted by a sold-out Carnegie Hall recital in October 2003 that earned strong critical praise. Her account of Reich’s Cello Counterpoint on the 2005 Nonesuch release You Are (Variations) garnered both popular and critical attention. In 2008 she assembled the concert piece Provenance from scores by several Middle Eastern, American, and British composers; its 2010 recording on Innova brought further acclaim and strong sales. She conceived and toured the multimedia productions Elsewhere: A CelloOpera in 2012 and All Vows in 2014, the latter supplying material for her 2014 album Uncovered, which reinterpreted rock classics. The 2016 album TranceClassical juxtaposed music by Bach and Hildegard von Bingen with works by Lou Reed and Imogen Heap. Also in 2016 she premiered Mohammed Fairouz’s cello concerto Desert Sorrows with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Maya with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. In 2017 she collaborated again with arranger and conductor Evan Ziporyn on Aura Blackstar: Bowie Cello Symphonic Visualized, transforming the artist’s final album into a multimedia cello concerto; a recording of that project appeared in 2020 on Islandia Music, the label she had established the prior year, followed in 2021 by Maya Beiser x Philip Glass.

Her 2011 TEDTalk from the main stage has accumulated more than a million views and exists in 32 languages. She received designation as a United States Artists (USA) Distinguished Fellow in Music in 2015 and appeared as a presenting artist at the first CultureSummit in Abu Dhabi in 2017.