The Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico Plays the Wigmore Hall

The Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico Plays the Wigmore Hall

AMSTERDAM, October 27/PRNewswire/ --

- Mezzo-Soprano Elena Gragera in Songs by De Falla

On 18 November 2006 the Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico, the only full-time
cello octet in the world, is appearing at the Wigmore Hall, London
(performance starts at 7.30pm). The Cello Octet will play works by, among
others, Philip Glass, Anton Garcia Abril, Manuel de Falla and Cristóbal
Halftter. The Spanish mezzo-soprano Elena Gragera will be singing solo with
the octet and will perform the Siete Canciones Populares Espanolas by De
Falla, as well as pieces by Abril and Gerhardt. The Cello Octet is led by
founder and conductor Eias Arizcuren; its other members are cellists Robert
Putowski (soloist), Jeroen den Herder (soloist) Lucie Stepanova, Esmé de
Vries, Sanne Bijker, Claire Bleumer, Ilonka van den Bercken and Rares
Mihailescu.

The Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico was set up in the summer of 1989 by
Spanish conductor and cellist Elias Arizcuren. Since then the octet has
appeared all over the world, and in those 15 years has put on around 60
premieres of work by contemporary composers like Xenakis, Nobre, Donatoni,
Pärt, Boulez, Riley, Kagel, Loevendie and Glass. The ensemble also performs
passionate interpretations of traditional songs by Spanish composers (Turina,
De Falla, Nin, Montsalvatge, Granados, Albéniz) and South American composers
(Villa Lobos, Ginastera, Piazzolla). The Cello Octet Conjunto Ibérico has a
back catalogue of ten CDs and there are currently two in production.

The Cello Octet recently (on October 28th) enjoyed the honour of playing
the opening concert of the Amsterdam Cello Biennale and has otherwise
appeared with artists such as Teresa Berganza, Bernarda Fink and Carmen
Linares. The octet can regularly be heard performing on prominent podia and
at festivals in Europe. The octet has also toured Asia, Israel, South
America, the US and Canada and will shortly be travelling to Poland, America
and Brazil, among other countries.

The mezzo-soprano Elena Gragera is one of Spain's foremost interpreters
of traditional songs. Her clear and expressive voice is perfectly suited to
both the classical repertoire and to the work of modern composers.

At the Wigmore Hall, the Cello Octet will be playing works by Roberto
Gerhard (1896-1970, a Catalonian composer who died in Cambridge), Anton
Garcia Abril (1933-), Philip Glass (1937-), Theo Loevendie (1930-), De Falla
(1876-1946) and Cristobal Halffter (1939-).

Copyright-free photos can be downloaded from: www.cello-octet.com

Source: Cello Octet Conjunto Iberico

For more editorial information please contact: Dorien Letschert,d.letschert@planet.nl, tel. +31-20-6700488 or +31-6-53584778

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