Edberg in concert with 1790 cello

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Critically acclaimed cellist Eric Edberg celebrates the return of his 1790 Italian cello, which just finished undergoing three years of restoration, in Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. Greencastle Classical Music Festival concert at Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

Admission is free, with donations accepted. York Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Greencastle Inc. is the festival's main underwriting sponsor, with additional support from Fine Print Books, the DePauw School of Music, Arts at DePauw, and many individual donors.

Edberg will be joined by concert pianist Nariaki Sugiura in a program of music by Arvo Pärt, Franz Schubert, and Frédéric Chopin.

"I'm very excited about this concert," says Edberg, Professor of Music at DePauw and Artistic Director of the Festival. "First, it is a thrill to perform with Nariaki, who is an extraordinary young pianist who knows the cello-piano literature as well as any pianist I've known. He's an absolute joy to make music with. And the restoration of my 1790 Pietro Pallotta cello was just completed, and this is my first concert reunited with my cello."

Edberg's cello developed a large crack nearly the entire length of the top in the spring of 2005 has been painstakingly restored by Russell Wagner of Chicago Celloworks.

"Russell is widely regarded as the top cello restorer in the country," explains Edberg. "In addition to the new crack which developed in 2005, the cello had a number of old cracks that had been somewhat crudely repaired in the past. Russell took the cello completely apart, removed the old glue from all the cracks, and redid the repairs in a way which makes it nearly impossible to tell there ever were any cracks. What he's done is absolutely amazing."

Edberg is a frequent recitalist and is a member of the DePauw Chamber Players. He performed extensively with the Contemporary Music Forum of Washington, D.C., whose concerts were broadcast worldwide over the Voice of America network.

Edberg is also an improvisational musician who advocates creativity in performance and presentation, leads drum circles, and has given improvisation workshops at Appalachian State University, Bethany College, the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, Ohio State, and the University of Iowa.

International concert pianist Nariaki Sugiura frequently tours, as a recitalist, a chamber musician, and gives lessons and master classes throughout the U.S. as well as tours in Europe and Asia. He has recently appeared on the concert stages at the Roundtop Music Festival in Texas, the Fox River Chamber Music Festival in Wisconsin, and in South Korea and Japan.

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