Cellist Amit Peled Announces New Album 'Solus et una' Feat. Bach Suites Nos. 4 & 5 and Brahms for Cello Choir

On Friday, April 29, 2022, cellist Amit Peled releases his next album, Solus et una, on CTM Classics. A follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2018 album Bach Vol. 1, Solus et una features J.S. Bach's Suites Nos. 4 and 5 for Violoncello Solo, plus a brand new cello choir arrangement of the Andante from Brahms' Symphony No. 3, performed by the Mount Vernon Virtuosi cellos. Suites Nos. 4 and 5 were recorded and engineered by six-time Grammy Award-winning recording producer Da-Hong Seetoo. The Allemande from Bach's Suite No. 5 is out now as a single.

Peled says, "Solus et una (meaning 'alone and together' in Latin) is a reflection on my musical journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. As my mentor Boris Pergamenschikow wrote, 'The Bach Cello Suites is music that cleanses the soul, especially if you play it just for yourself, preferably without any audience.' As with many of us cellists, I found myself spending a lot of time with the Bach Suites in my home studio during the long months of the lockdown. The two suites that attracted me the most were the fourth suite in E-flat Major, which represents triumph, daring, and heroism - all the qualities I found myself searching for while trying to make sense of the artistic dryness that we all experienced at the beginning of the pandemic. And in contrast, the monumental fifth suite in C minor, which bubbled up in me about a year into the lockdown when questions about supernatural power, God, love, religion and a search for belonging to something bigger than just us here on earth emerged in me - all the elements one finds in that almost religious most philosophical suite."

He continues, "As an encore track, I have included on this release the one piece that I was able to record during the lockdown with my dear cello students. Teaching during the pandemic, both online and in-person, has been a source of hope, comfort and inspiration. Moreover, being able to make music with other people and with my own students was a real musical climax. For me, there's nothing better to conclude this musical journey than the music of Brahms with its beauty of line and intimacy. The making of this recording gave all of us a sense of hope to keep going forward no matter what. I hope you enjoy it."

AllMusic described Peled's Bach Vol. 1, featuring Suites 1-3, as "important new statements in the history of these works," while The Classic Review called it "a superb performance, warm-hearted, knowledgeable and deeply felt." At a later date, Peled plans to conclude his three-CD Bach cycle with the final Suite No. 6 for Violoncello Solo, paired with a new arrangement of the same suite for four cellos, on CTM Classics.

Internationally renowned cellist Amit Peled is acclaimed as one of the most exciting and virtuosic instrumentalists on the concert stage today. Having performed in many of the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Salle Gaveau in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Konzerthaus Berlin, Peled has released over a dozen recordings on the Naxos, Centaur, Delos, and CTM Classics labels. Musical America named Peled one of the Top 30 Influencers of 2015.

Recent career highlights include Bach Suite cycles in the United States, Europe, and Israel; performances of the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto at the Kennedy Center; a debut collaboration with the Peabody Chamber Orchestra led by Maestra Marin Alsop; a return to the Ravinia Festival in celebration of Peled's recording of the Brahms Cello Sonatas on the Goffriller cello (1733) once owned by the legendary cellist Pablo Casals; a return visit as a soloist to the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico; performances of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto and Penderecki's Second Cello Concerto conducted by the legendary Krzysztof Penderecki himself; Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata recorded on the Casals cello; and a worldwide musical celebration of Beethoven's Sonatas for Cello and Piano to commemorate the composer's 250th anniversary.

An enthusiastic chamber music artist, Peled is a member of the acclaimed Tempest Trio with violinist Ilya Kaler and pianist Alon Goldstein. Peled also performs with Goldstein and clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein as a member of the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio.

One of the most sought-after cello professors in the world, Peled is a professor at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University where he has taught since 2003 and was one of the youngest professors ever hired by a major conservatory. He has instructed students who have gone on to garner top prizes at international competitions such as the Carlos Prieto International Competition in Mexico, the Schoenefeld International Competition in China, and Young Concert Artists Guild in New York. Embracing the new era of the pandemic, Peled recently established the Amit Peled Online Cello Academy in order to reach cellists all over the world with private lessons and in-depth courses on his First Hour technique method.

Passing on the tradition in which he performed with his mentors Bernard Greenhouse and Boris Pergamenschikow, Peled regularly performs with the Amit Peled Cello Gang. Composed of students from Peled's studio at the Peabody Institute, members of the Cello Gang range in age from undergraduate freshmen to second year master's students. Peled and the Cello Gang tour regularly around the country with recent performances at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, as a resident ensemble in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and all across Maryland, the gang's home state. Peled is also the founder, conductor, and artistic director of the Mount Vernon Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra dedicated to nurturing the careers of recently graduated music students, which annually performs a four-program season in Baltimore, Silver Spring, and Rockville, Maryland.

Raised on a kibbutz in Israel, Amit Peled began playing the cello at age 10. From 2012 through 2018, Peled performed on the Pablo Casals 1733 Goffriller cello, which was loaned to him personally by Casals' widow, Marta Casals Istomin. Today, he performs on a cello made by the Italian master Giovanni Grancino, ca. 1695, on generous loan from the Roux Family Foundation.

Listen to the new album here: