Juliana Soltis is an innovative cellist who has done extensive research to connect listeners with some forgotten stories of classical music. In this episode we talked about her recent album American Woman which features cello and piano music of women composers; you’ll hear Juliana’s insights into the lives of Mary Howe, Amy Beach, Margaret Bonds, Helen Crane, Dorothy Rudd Moore and Florence Price and hear excerpts from this album which Juliana recorded with the wonderful pianist Ruoting Li. Many listeners will be familiar with Juliana’s playing as a Baroque cellist, and it was fascinating to hear about how the French relinquished their beloved viol relunctuantly to the Italian cello. I really love Juliana’s recording of the complete Suites for solo cello of J.S. Bach and you’ll hear some music from her album Going off Script: the Ornamented Suites for cello.

Juliana shared great advice about performing from an athlete’s perspective and also the joy of connecting with audiences. This interview begins with one of her beautiful greyhounds, and for those of you watching this on YouTube, hopefully you’ll enjoy this comforting canine presence throughout this inspirational conversation. Like all my episodes , you can watch the video or listen to the podcast on all the podcast platforms, and I’ve also linked the transcript to my website, everything linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/juliana-soltis

Other episodes: Samantha Ege, Julia MacLaine, Dorothy Lawson of ETHEL, Edwin Barker, Euclid Quartet

Juliana Soltis Website

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photo: Teresa Tam

(00:00) Intro

(02:37)the greyhounds, American Woman album

(05:16) archives New York Public Library, Helen Crane

(10:42) clip of Ballade Fantasque by Howe

(12:20) Mary Howe

(16:51) racist divide between Black and white composers

(20:47) clip of Troubled Water by Margaret Bonds

(22:12) baroque cello

(33:57) Courante J.S. Bach Solo Suite in G major

(37:14) creating Going off Script: the Ornamented Suites for cello

(37:43) other episodes

(38:36) the art of ornamentation, recording the Bach album

(43:45) lessons with Catharina Meints Caldwell

(48:33) connecting with audiences, using social media

(56:37) clip of Dirge and Deliverance by Dorothy Rudd Moore

(58:00) Kermit Moore, Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Amy Beach

(01:04:23) Berceuse by Beach

(01:10:25) 3rd Idyll op. 51 by Helen Crane

(01:19:01) how athletic training helps with performance nerves