Cello.com (2013) by Arik Shapira
Cello.com by Arik Shapira for cello and playback.
World Premiere, Hateyva, Jaffa; 23 Dec. 2013.
Sometime during May 2013, I received a phone call from Arik Shapira, asking me if I would like to play a new composition of his for cello and electronics, that would be played at a concert celebrating his 70th birthday in December. He said that he was looking for a cellist that is "not academic" and that he got my number through a mutual friend of ours. Somewhat honoured from the call I said yes, and that was the start of my relation with Shapira, who became my teacher, my mentor and my friend for the next two years, until his premature death as a result of a short-lasting lung cancer disease.
A few days after the call we met at my place (he insisted on it, he took two buses to get to my messy student flat in Bat-Galim, Haifa) and later that day he wrote me an email that he would start writing Cello.com, and that it would be ready in 3-4 months. True to his word, I received the piece and began work on it. During this time I began coming over to his studio twice a week; Sundays were my composition lessons, and on Wednesdays I came to work - editing his electronic playbacks. A month before the concert I first came over with my cello. It was the first time he heard me play! He seemed pleased and actually told me not to over-practice, so as not to be too familiar with the playback part, as the performance needs to be highly strung.
After that evening (in which I also played "Play as Written", an earlier piece of his for cello solo), I promised that we would make a studio recording of Cello.com. I regret not recording soon after the concert, I postponed it in belief that we had time...but sadly things turned out differently and we didn't manage to make a proper recording. This video, that my father filmed, is from that evening.
Since, I have played this piece on one other occasion, during a masterclass that I gave in 2016 at Colombia College, Chicago.