Bryant Park Presents IN/TER\SECT Featuring
Cellist Inbal Segev
Music by J.S. Bach & Gity Razaz
Breaking Boundaries
Friday, August 26, 2016 at 5pm
Bryant Park | New York, NY
Free Outdoor Concert Open to the Public
More information at www.bryantpark.org.
Watch Inbal Segev perform Bach Suite No.1 Prelude:
http://bit.ly/SegevBachPrelude
Watch Inbal Segev perform Gity Razaz’s Legend of Sigh:
http://bit.ly/LegendofSighExcerpt
“first class…richly inspired…very moving indeed” – Gramophone
Inbal Segev: www.inbalsegev.com
New York, NY– On Friday, August 26, 2016 at 5pm in Bryant Park, Israeli-American cellist Inbal Segev, known for her “warm, pure and beautiful tone” (Strings Magazine), opens Bryant Park Presents IN/TER\SECT’s Breaking Boundaries, a FREE, five-hour outdoor concert from 5-10pm. Inbal Segev will open with J.S. Bach’s popular Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, followed by Iranian-American Gity Razaz’s Legend of Sigh for cello and electronics, which was written for Segev last year. Segev’s set will be followed by performances by harpist Bridget Kibbey, violinist Kristin Lee, percussionist John Hadfield, the Patrick Zimmerli Quintet, the Kenari Quartet, and the Dan Tepfer Trio and String Quartet.
Inbal Segev has recorded all of Bach’s Cello Suites, including the one that she will perform in Byrant Park. Her Bach album was chosen for The New York Times’ Playlist, which described her performance as, “deft and thoughtful.” Segev says of making her Bach album, “Recording Bach’s music is one of the biggest challenges I have had as a cellist. It is the culmination of years of studying the suites. Ultimately, the challenge for me was to find a way to incorporate the ideas I learned from Baroque practice while being true to my musical language, which is rooted in this century. I wanted to create an interpretation of this great masterwork for the contemporary listener – to say, ‘Here is what Bach has to say to people in the 21st century.’ In this recording I strive for simplicity while trying to keep a sense of freedom. Da-Hong and I worked at capturing a pure and warm sound. It is a distillation of everything I love about the suites.” Hear the album here: http://bit.ly/SegevBachSuites
Inbal Segev commissioned Legend of Sigh from Gity Razaz, and gave the world premiere of the piece in February 2016 at Brooklyn’s premiere new music venue, National Sawdust. Legend of Sigh explores the themes of birth, transformation, and death through the retelling of an old Azerbaijani folktale about a mysterious being, Sigh, who appears every time someone lets out a heartfelt sigh, unknowingly calling out to him. Of the premiere, Blogcritics wrote, “[Segev] lived and breathed the stormy and eerie passages, aggressive pizzicatos, and shivery tremolos called for in Razaz’s score. Her refreshingly unpretentious stage manner contributed to the impression she gave that it was all easy, which it surely is not.”
Cellist Inbal Segev’s playing has been described as “characterized by a strong and warm tone… delivered with impressive fluency and style,” by The Strad and “first class,” “richly inspired,” and “very moving indeed,” by Gramophone. Equally committed to new repertoire and masterworks, Segev brings interpretations that are both unreservedly natural and insightful to the vast range of music she performs.
Audiences have the opportunity to look behind the scenes at the making of Segev’s Bach Cello Suites album through a companion documentary film about her journey through the music of Bach. She has performed Bach’s Cello Suites in venues around the world including Lincoln Center and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Shanghai Concert Hall, and Henry Crown Hall in the Jerusalem Theatre. Watch the documentary here: http://bit.ly/SegevBachDoc
Inbal Segev has performed as soloist with orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Castleton Festival Orchestra with Lorin Maazel, Bogotá Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Dortmund Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Polish National Radio Symphony, and the Bangkok Symphony. She made debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic, led by Zubin Mehta, at age 17.
Segev’s repertoire includes all of the standard concerti and solo works for cello, as well as new pieces and rarely performed gems. She has recently premiered cello concertos by Avner Dorman and Lucas Richman. Segev gave the U.S. premiere of English composer Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Cello Concerto in D Major. She performed jazz composer David Baker’s cello concerto in New York, and was the first cellist to perform Henri Dutilleux’s challenging Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher for solo cello at Carnegie Hall. Commissioning new repertoire for the cello is a priority for Segev; current projects include new works by composers Timo Andres, Fernando Otero, and Dan Visconti.
Inbal Segev is a founding member of the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus. She has collaborated with artists such as Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Jeremy Denk, Anthony McGill, Gilbert Kalish, Michael Tree, Anne Akiko Meyers, and the Vogler Quartet. Festival appearances include the Banff, Ravinia, Bowdoin, Olympic, and Cape & Islands festivals in North America; the Siena, Rolandseck, and Montpellier festivals in Europe; and the Jerusalem Music Center and Upper Galilee festivals in Israel.
In addition to her new Bach album, Segev’s discography includes Lucas Richman’s Three Pieces for Cello and Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Albany), Sonatas by Beethoven and Boccherini (Opus One), Nigun (Vox), and Max Schubel’s Concerto for Cello and Horn (Opus One). With the Amerigo Trio she has recorded serenades by Dohnányi (Navona).
Inbal Segev’s many honors include the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and top prizes at the Pablo Casals, Paulo, and Washington International Competitions. She began playing the cello in Israel at age five and at 16 was invited by Isaac Stern to come to the U.S. to continue her studies. She earned degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale University.
Inbal Segev lives in New York City with her husband and three children. Her cello was made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1673. For more information, visit www.inbalsegev.com.
About Bryant Park Corporation
Bryant Park Corporation (BPC), a private not-for-profit company, was founded in 1980 to renovate, finance and operate Bryant Park in New York City. BPC is funded by income from concessions, corporate sponsors and events, as well as an assessment on neighboring properties, and does not accept government or philanthropic monies. In addition to providing security, sanitation, and horticultural services tending the park, notably the lush lawn and seasonal garden displays, BPC provides public amenities, programming and activities, including Bryant Park Presents, plus movable chairs and tables, cafe umbrellas, restaurants, food kiosks, world-class restrooms, and a wide range of other free events throughout the year. The Midtown Manhattan park is visited by more than six million people each year and is one of the busiest public spaces in the world. Visit BPC’s website, www.bryantpark.org, for more information and a schedule of upcoming events.
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