| Rebecca Rust Artist's Website >> Praised by Carlo Maria Giulini for her "exceptional musicality", the American 'cellist Rebecca Rust, a native of California received her first piano lessons with her mother at the age of five and began 'cello lessons with Margaret Rowell, 'Cello Professor at the San Francisco Conservatory and the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford, at the age of nine. At age thirteen she was a prizewinner of the Mendelssohn Competition and at age fourteen a prizewinner in the California 'Cello Club Competition. The first prizes in the Mu Phi Epsilon Competition and the Berkeley Piano Club made it possible for her to begin studies in New York with Bernard Greenhouse (Casals’ pupil and 'cellist of the Beaux-Arts-Trio). She became a member of the Christmas String Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Schneider, and received a scholarship to study with the Lenox Quartet. After graduating cum laude in New York, she continued her studies with Paul Szabo (Casals’ pupil and 'cellist of the Vegh Quartet) at the Cologne College of Music, earning there a soloist diploma with honors. During this time she was also solo 'cellist of the Orchestre Mondiale des Jeunesses Musicales under Karel Ancerl. Masterclasses with Mstislav Rostropovich followed in the US (as one of five participants from over one hundred applicants) and in Basel, Switzerland, where in the final concerts she appeared as soloist, playing the Lalo Concerto, with the Basel Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich. This was followed by solo concerts and radio productions in Europe, the US, and in Japan (since 1992 regular concert tours with concerts in Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, Sendai, Mito, Hiroshima, Miyako (Okinawa), and in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, including appearances as soloist with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (Sergiu Celibidache was the patron of her debut in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall in October 1992). At the invitation of the German Foreign Office, Rebecca Rust played concerts in Africa (Morocco, Tunisia), Poland (Warsaw, Stettin, Danzig), Prague (concerts and radio productions for Prague Radio), and in Kobe and Tokyo (memorial concerts for the victims of the Hanshin earthquake of 1995). Besides the successful CD Japanese Favorites for Violoncello, Rebecca Rust has recorded six CDs for the Marco Polo and Bayer Records labels, with works by Beethoven, Villa-Lobos, Martinu, Frank Bridge, and Chopin. (The CD with Chopin’s complete works for 'cello and piano was praised by Joachim Kaiser in a comparison with recordings by Fournier and Rostropovich). On her tour to Japan in 2003 she concertized in Sapporo, Tokyo, Naruto (Tokushima), Shishikui and Kawagoe and gave a lecture (demonstration) at an Elementary School in Ohme (Tokyo) (sponsored by Volkswagen Japan and ANA, All Nippon Airways). Another tour to Japan followed in 2004, and in 2005 she played at the EXPO2005 (EXPO-Dome) in front of more than 1000 listeners on invitation of the German Pavilion. Within "Germany in Japan" she played at the HANS-ARP-Exhibition in Sakura (Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art) as well as in Iwate, the partner-prefecture of Rheinland-Pfalz and at the residence of the German Consul General in Osaka-Kobe. The German label Cavalli Records published Rebecca Rust’s CD 'Cello Dreams with works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Fauré, Saint-Saëns and others (CCD 253). Two further CDs for Cavalli Records were published in 2004 and 2005, one with works for 'cello and piano by Robert Kahn & Johannes Brahms (CCD 269) and the second CD Violoncello & Bassoon with works by Mozart, Hindemith, Bizet and others in collaboration with bassoonist Friedrich Edelmann (CCD 257) supported by the government of Rheinland-Pfalz as a contrubution to "Germany in Japan" as well as honoring the composer Hans Gál, who was the director of the Music-Conservatory of Mainz, the capital of Rheinland-Pfalz from 1929 until 1933. The works by Robert Kahn and Hans Gál are World-Premiere Recordings. At MIDEM 2006 in Cannes these world-premiere recordings were presented to the public in a very successful concert under the patronage of the famous music-film-maker Christopher Nupen, who gave a greeting-message to the audience. Rebecca Rust plays a Master-Cello by William Forster (1791), which formerly was owned by Prince Charles, who also played on it. In preparation a new CD with works for 'cello and piano by Johannes Brahms & Hans Gál (premiere recordings) together with the American pianist Frederick Blum (Cavalli-Records); publication date: May 2006. O1C Performances: Premiere Performances & Rediscoveries |
