Josephine Van Lier

A versatile musician, Josephine van Lier is equally at ease on a baroque cello or a 5 string violoncello piccolo as on their contemporary counterparts, using instruments and bows whose designs, construction and material span over 400 years in origin; from the gut strings of her baroque cello to her 1870 cello and the space-age material of her carbon-fibre cello. She therefore covers a wide variety of repertoire utilizing the endless possibilities that this range of instruments, string set-ups and bows allow her. She released a 4 CD set featuring all six suites for unaccompanied cello played on 4 different cellos. This unique recording of all six of J.S. Bach's Cello Suites sets side by side the different sounds of historic and new instruments and compares their strengths and weaknesses. “Her accounts of the Suites demonstrate much rhetorical freedom, and their telling blend of phrasal individuality makes a strong impression.” The Strad Magazine, December 2010 “The opening Prelude (Suite no.1) sounds as if van Lier and the cello are breathing together as one, with a stunning, natural ease that hints at the lost art of musical improvisation in the classical sphere. It sends chills up my spine. And that is only the first three minutes” The Edmonton Journal The founder and president of Early Music Alberta, she has a strong affinity with early music and gives historically informed performances on period appropriate instruments across the world.