Presse / press
How to play the Masterworks - reviews, interviews, trailer on YouTube
L'artista ammirata da Rostropovic
In concerto a Montebellofestival la violoncellista Maria Kliegel
PDF Download (ca. 250 KB)
THE STRAD, March 2006
The Way I Play: Maria Kliegel
The German cellist explains how developing accurate intonation gives security and confidence to her playing...
TUTTI CELLI CONTENTS - volume 6, issue 2 at www.cello.org
Conversation with Maria Kliegel
...In addition to most of the standard concerto repertoire, she has recorded works by Sofia Gubaidulina, John Tavener, Bloch, and "Hommage á Nelson" by Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann, which is a piece dedicated to Nelson Mandela, as well as chamber music by Brahms, Chopin, Kodaly, Mendelssohn, Schubert, and Schumann. Since 1986 she has taught a master class at Cologne Music Academy.
TJ: You almost studied with André Navarra. What happened?
MK: I began to notice that my teacher in Frankfurt rarely demonstrated on the cello and I sensed that something was missing in my training. He usually accompanied me at the piano, which provided a great musical education, but it wasn't helpful in the more technically difficult pieces, where seeing how something is actually done can be beneficial. When I asked people who I should study with, they mentioned Navarra, who was giving master classes in Siena that summer. The thought of sitting out on a piazza and drinking red wine with the maestro was quite appealing, so I decided that I would try Navarra.
Before the classes began, I was invited by a wealthy couple in Frankfurt, Mr. and Mrs. Dohrn, to vacation at their summerhouse near Siena. They had been helping me financially during my studies and knew of my plans to go to Navarra's master class. Everything was set for me to enter the summer course when Katia (Mrs. Dohrn) told me that she had met Janos Starker and had told him about me. He said that, if I was that talented, I should study with him. She then told me that Starker was giving a master class in Canada the following week and that she would pay all my expenses if I went. That night was very difficult because I was already very focused on Siena, but I finally made up my mind to meet Starker. My teacher in Frankfurt always said that I should go to him when I was finished in Frankfurt, but I had never seriously considered it, since my long range goal was to go to Moscow and study with Rostropovich.
TJ: If you had gone to Rostropovich, you would have had a teacher who didn't demonstrate on the cello very much, just like your teacher in Frankfurt.
MK: I didn't know that at the time. I was only 19. All I knew was that I had many of Rostropovich's recordings and I adored his playing...
mehr / more: http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/kliegel.htm
RONDO, 1/2005
Schlafwandlerisch Sicher
PARTITUREN, 1/2005
Maria Kliegel improvisiert über ihren Namen
FONO FORUM 1999/11
Musik für Mandela
...Die Macht des Buches hat Maria Kliegel am eigenen Leibe erfahren. Denn als sie die Autobiographie von Nelson Mandela las, keimte in ihr der Wunsch, diesen Mann einmal kennenzulernen und dem - nunmehr ehemaligen - südafrikanischen Staatspräsidenten und Friedensnobelpreisträger eine Reverenz zu erweisen. Beides ist ihr mittlerweile gelungen. Gregor Willmes sprach mit der Cellistin über Aufnahmen, über zeitgenössische Musik, über Wohltätigkeitskonzerte und natürlich - über ihre "Hommage à Nelson"...