The cellist Sol Gabetta

Her warm, sometimes emotional and virtuoso sound, together with her unpretentious attitude, have won Sol Gabetta admirers around the globe.

Biography of the cellist Sol Gabetta

In the German speaking world, the cellist Sol Gabetta is known to the television audience for her (German speaking) music programKlickKlack on the Bavarian public television channel, presented alternating with the equally gifted drummer Martin Grubinger. However, her classical music career began much earlier.

Sol Gabetta was born in the Argentinean city of Cordoba on April 18, 1981. She is the daughter of Andrés Gabetta and Irène Timacheff, parents of French and Russian descent.

Like her older brother Andrés, Sol Gabetta picked up the violin at the age of three. At four-and-a-half, she learned to play the cello. She continued both instruments until the age of eight, when she decided to focus on the cello.

At 10, she won her first cello competition in Argentina. The renown cellist Christine Walewska encouraged the young girl to play compositions that were too difficult for her, but made her progress. Her early teaches included Christine Waleska, Leo Viola, Piero Farulli and Ljerko Spiller.

Sol Gabetta went to Spain. She passed the entrance exam of the prestigious Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, where she studied from 1992 until 1994 thanks to a scholarship.

From 1992 until 1999, she studied with the Mstislav Rostropovich-pupil Ivan Monighetti at the famous Musik-Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. She finished her studies with David Geringas, another Rostropovich-pupil, at the Musikhochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

The cellist Sol Gabetta in 2015 at the Vasks-CD photo shoot. Photo © Marco Borggreve.

Among her notable awards is the 2004 Crédit Suisse Young Artist Award, for which she was rewarded with her debut with the Wiener Philharmoniker under the direction of Valery Gergiev at the Lucerne Festival.

Since October 2005, she is teaching at the Musik-Akademie Basel as assistant of Ivan Monigehtti.

Sol Gabetta initiated the SOLsberg chamber music festival in Olsberg, Switzerland. The first edition took place in June 2006.

In 2009, the cellist Sol Gabetta won the Premio Gardel, Argentina’s most prestigious music prize.

In 2010 she created the Baroque music orchestra Cappella Gabetta, which is under the direction of her brother, the violinist Andrés Gabetta. Also since 2010, she is presenting the music program KlickKlack on the Bavarian public television channel.

On September 1, 2013, the 55-minute documentary film by Annette Schreier, Die Cellistin Sol Gabetta. Ein Stück von meiner Seele, was first shown on the TV channel Arte.

Recordings / Albums by Sol Gabetto

Sol Gabetta’s 2006 debut-CD (Amazon.com and Amazon.de) with music by Tchaikovsky, Saint-Seans and Ginastera, recorded with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under the direction of Ari Rasilainen, was released before she had finished her studies. It won her the prestigious music prize Echo Klassik 2007 as Instrumentalist of the Year.

Her second album, recorded together with the Italian ensemble Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, with Vivaldi concertos was released in September 2007.

Thanks to the Rahn Kulturfonds, Sol Gabetta normally plays a precious Guadagnini Cello from 1759, which seems to be ideal to produce her warm cello sound. For the album Il Progetto Vivaldi II, she used a Baroque Cello by Ferdinando Gagliano from 1781, generously put at her disposal by Curdin Coray. Photo © Marco Borggreve / Sony Music, 2010.

Two more CDs followed in 2008: One album was a recording of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 and his Sonata for Cello and Piano (Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de), recorded together with the Münchner Philharmoniker under the direction of Marc Albrecht and the pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa, who died at not even 34 from a cerebral hemorrhage. The Shostakovich album was awarded aDiapason D’Or by the French magazine Diapason as well as the Echo Klassik 2009 as Concert Recording of the Year.

The other 2008 album was called Cantabile. It contains operatic arias with songs by Offenbach, Bizet, Fauré and many others in arrangements for cello and orchestra prepared by Manfred Grafe (Amazon.com,Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de). On this album, Sol Gabetta was accompanied by the Prague Philharmonic under the direction of Charles Olivieri-Munroe.

In September 2009, her CD with recordings of cello concertos by Joseph Haydn, Leopold Hofmann and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was released. It was recorded together with the Kammerorchester Basel under the direction of Sergio Ciomei.

In March 2010, Sol Gabetta’s album with Peteris Vasks 1978 composition Gramata Cellam was released.

In November 2010, the album Festliches Adventskonzert aus der Dresdner Frauenkirche followed, featuring the cellist Sol Gabetta, the American baritone Thomas Hampson, the Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena, the Chor der Sächsischen Staatsoper, the Dresdner Kreuzchor and the Staatskapelle Dresdener under the direction of conductor Christoph Eschenbach. Order the CD of the concert from Amazon.com and Amazon.de, the DVD from Amazon.com and Amazon.de.

The following album, recorded with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mario Venzago, included the Cello Concerto by Elgar as well as works by Dvorak, Respighi and Vasks. This 2010 CD was awarded the Echo Klassik 2011 in the category Best Concert Recording. Order the CD from Amazon.com and Amazon.de. Order the MP3 version from Amazon.com and Amazon.de. Find sheet music by Edward Elgar.

In 2012, Sol Gabetto recorded Shostakovich‘s Cello Concerto no. 1 op. 107 and Rachmaninoff”s Cello Sonata op. 19 with the Russian pianist Olga Kern and the Münchner Philharmoniker under the direction of conductor Lorin Maazel. In 2012 she also released an album including Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 2 and Shostakovich’s Sonata for Cello and Piano. Her third 2012 album was Duo, a passionate recording with the French pianist Hélène Grimaud, which included works by Schumann, Debussy, Shostakovich and Brahms. Order the CD from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de.

In December 2012 followed Il Progetto Vivaldi 2. Order the CD, with its touching interpretation of Italian Baroque compositions from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de. Order the MP3 version from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de. Il Progetto Vivaldi 2was based on sheet music found at the library of the Counts of Schönborn-Wiesentheid at Wiesentheid Castle in Unterfranken in Germany. Count Rudolf Franz Erwein von Schönborn (1677-1754) was a major music patron. He had studied three years at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, where he met the Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music, Arangelo Corelli (Corelli sheet music). When Count von Schönborn went to Vienna as a diplomat in 1701, the amateur cellist took a letter of recommendation with him written by the violinist Johann Jacob Walther, who recommended that the diplomat should be invited to play with the Wiener Hofkapelle! In Rome, the count had started his collection of instrumental music, one of the largest of the 18th century. It contains unique examples of sheet music by Albinoni, Vivaldi and Pachelbel. Among the lesser known composers represented in the count’s library is Giovanni Benedetto Piatti (c. 1697-1763), who worked many years for the prince-bishops of Würzburg and Bamberg. On the album Il Progetto Vivaldi 2, Sol Gabetto features the world premiere recording of Giovanni Benedetto Piatti’s Cello Concerto in D minor WD 657, in addition to four works by Antonio Vivaldi and one by Leonardo Leo, which is the only composition not found in the count’s sheet music collection. The Cello Sonata in g minor RV 42 by Antonio Vivaldi recorded on the album has only survived in a copy preserved at Wiesentheid Castle.

The album KulturSPIEGEL – Die besten guten Klassik-CDs: Werke für Cello und Orchester was a re-release of the 2009 recordings of cello concertos by Joseph Haydn, Leopold Hofmann and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In 2013 followed the album Il Progetto Vivaldi 3, in 2014 Prayer (check the info below the cover on the right).

In February 2015, Sol Gabetta released The Chopin Album, together with her friend, the young French pianist Bertrand Chamayou. The two artists have performed live together in many chamber music concertos around the world. However, this is their first common studio recording. The Chopin Album contains two works by Chopin composed for violoncello and piano. Among Chopin’s friend was the cellist and composer Auguste-Joseph Franchomme. Some of the album’s compositions reflect this friendship, including a cello sonata that Chopin dedicated to Franchomme and the Piano Nocturne op. 15 no. 1, which Franchomme transcribed for cello and piano. Together, Chopin and Franchomme wrote the Grand Duo Concertant, composed over a theme from Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable. Among the works recorded on the album is a rarity, the transcription for cello and piano by the Russian composer Alexander Glasunov of Chopin’s well-known Etude for Piano op. 25 no. 7. One composition on the CD is by Franchomme himself, the Nocturne for Cello and Piano op. 14 no 1. The album offers emotional and lyrical moments. Order the CD from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk,Amazon.fr, Amazon.de.

In 2015, Sol Gabetta’s Beethoven Triple Concerto was released, with works composed by Beethoven when he was already death, dealing with his personal crisis by hard, systematic work. Order the CD Beethoven Triple Concerto from Amazon.com and Amazon.de.

The Latvian composer Peteris Vasks (*1946) dedicated his cello concerto Presence to Sol Gabetta. The composer described the sound of the cello as “his inner voice”, in this piece hoping to find inner peace in this world. The world premiere took place with Sol Gabetta and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta in Amsterdam in October 2012. In November 2015, the CD Vasks: Presence, recorded together with the Amsterdam Sonfonietta, was released by Sony Classical. Order the CD from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de. Download the MP3 version from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de. I have met Peteris Vasks a few years ago at a concert in Riga in which his String Quartet No. 4 was performed by the Finnish Tempera Quartet; the composition is famous thanks to a recording by the Kronos Quartet. As for Sol Gabetta, she first heard a composition by Peteris Vasks when she was 18: Gramata Cellam. She was fascinated to hear for the first time someone sing while playing the cello. She later invited the composer to her SOLsberg Festival and recorded the above mentioned composition in 2010. The current album Presence is the world premiere recording of a work Sol Gabetta asked the Latvian composer to write for her. She had asked Vasks to compose a cello concerto that incorporates the human voice. The cellist writes in the CD liner notes: “When it is combined with the cello, the vocal line introduces an element of polyphony into the piece that you otherwise don’t get with this solo instrument on its own. It opens up a new dimension for the listener.” Sol Gabetta’s 2015 album contains three composition by Peteris Vasks: Klatbune – Presence: Concerto No. 2 for cello and string orchestra, Musique du Soir for cello and organ and Gramata cellam – The book for cello solo. In Musique du Soir, Sol Gabetta plays together with her mother Irène Timacheff-Gabetta (organ). The composition reveals a polyphonic tension, alternating between the organ and the cello. It was originally (in the 1980s) written for French horn and cello and later, for the Usedom Music Festival, adapted for organ and cello.  Sheet music by Peteris Vasks.

Cellist Sol Gabetta, Amsterdam Sinfonietta: Vasks: Presence. Sony, November 2015. Order the CD from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk,Amazon.fr and Amazon.de. Download the MP3 version fromAmazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr and Amazon.de. The album contains three compositions by Vasks: Klatbune – Presence: Concerto No. 2 for cello and string orchestra, Musique du Soir for cello and organand Gramata cellam – The book for cello solo. –  Find sheet music by Peteris Vasks.

The cellist Sol Gabetta with the Orchestre national de Lyon, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Cello Ensemble Amsterdam Sinfonietta: Prayer. Sony, 2014. Order the emotional album on CD fromAmazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr and Amazon.de. Order the MP3 version from Amazon.com and Amazon.de. Prayer contains compositions by the Swiss composer Ernest Bloch, the cellist virtuoso Pablo Casals and the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich. From Bloch are the four works From Jewish Life, Baal Shem – The Pictures of Hasidic Life, Méditation hébraïque and Schelomo: Rhapsodie hébraïque for violoncello and orchestra, from Shostakovich the works From Jewish Folk Poetry op. 79 and from Pablo Casals El Cant dels Ocells.

Sol Gabetta, Kammerorchester Basel under the direction of conductor Giovanni Antonini: Beethoven Triple Concerto. Sony, 2015. Order the CD from Amazon.com and Amazon.de.

Sol Gabetta: Il Progetto Vivaldi 1-3. Sony. A joyful interpretation of these Baroque compositions. Order the CD-Box from Amazon.com and Amazon.de. Order the MP3 version from Amazon.de. – Find Vivaldi sheet music.

Sol Gabetta, Bertran Chamayou: The Chopin Album. Order the CD fromAmazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr and Amazon.de.

Sol Gabetta, Andres Gabetta conducting the Cappella Gabetta: Il Progetto Vivaldi 2. Sony. Order the CD from Amazon.com,Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de. Order the MP3 version fromAmazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de. Il Progetto Vivaldi 2 with Sol Gabetto and Andrés Gabetta conducting the Cappella Gabetta: Antonio Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in B flat major RV 423, Antonio Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in g minor RV 416, Antonio Vivaldi’s Cello Concerto in a minor RV 420, Antonio Vivaldi’s Cello Sonata in g minor RV 42, Leonardo Leo’s Cello Concerto in D major, Giovanni Benedetto Piatti’s Cello Concerto in D minor WD 657 (a world premiere recording). – Sheet music by Antonio Vivaldi.

The cellist Sol Gabetta with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Mario Venzago: Elgar Cello Concerto. RCA Red Sea / Sony. Order the CD from Amazon.com and Amazon.de. Order the MP3 version from Amazon.com and Amazon.de. This CD won an Echo Klassik. –  Sheet music by Edward Elgar.

Sol Gabetta with the Kammerorchester Basel under the direction of Sergio Ciomei: Cellokonzerte: Hofmann – Haydn – Mozart. Order the CD from Amazon.com and Amazon.de.   This CD was re-released in 2014 the series “Die besten guten Klassik-CDs” by KulturSpiegel (originally released in 2009).

Article added on November 18, 2015 at 18:28 CET.

Added on February 16, 2020: Just watched the February 11, 2020 edition of KlickKlack on Bavarian TV. Wolfgang Rihm composed the Concerto en Sol for Sol Gabetta. She was rehearsing it with the Kammerorchester Basel under the direction of Sylvain Cambreling, in presence of the composer. In a short talk, Wolfgang Rihm said about Sol Gabetta that she was playing out of her intelligence and her great melancholic elegance (in German: Rihm sagte, dass Sol Gabetta aus einer Intelligenz und, wie er finde, aus einer grossen melancholischen Eleganz heraus musiziere). And for such a person, he had composed his Concerto en Sol.