[Online] Cellist hopes to pass passion for performance on to his students

Graciela Sandoval
Published: Thursday, October 9, 2003

Asking a musician whether he prefers teaching or performing is like asking a first year student his major. It’s one of those questions everyone tries to avoid having to answer.

But Antonio Lysy, a new cello professor in the UCLA music department, is not scared by the question, as he finds the two skills equally essential.

“I can’t do without either,”

Lysy said. “Performing is getting me close to the music, close to the instrument and to discovering more about myself, about my limits. Therefore it’s a great incentive to then be able to pass on. Performing difficult pieces and under pressure of the public eye gives you humility which as a teacher you appreciate.”

Lysy joined the music department this fall with 15 years of experience teaching as an associate professor at the McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His teaching will be structured on three components which will lay a strong foundation for UCLA’s cello students. Emphasis will be placed on the intellectual aspect of music studies such as history and theory, and on the physical and emotional requirements of playing the instrument.

Lysy’s unique music philosophy is rooted in his own early childhood musical experiences. At Yehudi Menuhin School in England, Lysy was taught by renowned musicians such as Yehudi Menuhin, Maurice Gendron and William Pleeth, who nurtured his talent and love of classical and chamber music.

Yet the 45-student boarding school made Lysy feel cocooned. Lysy’s father, violinist Alberto Lysy, took his son touring and performing when he was young, which allowed him to develop on stage and exposed him to world cultures.

His education and performances have paid off. Lysy is a renowned cellist who has performed as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestras of London, Israel Sinfonietta and many other orchestras and conductors in Canada, Finland, China, Switzerland and Italy.

Lysy is also founder and director of Incontri in Terra di Siena, a program which has brought together worldwide musicians to perform chamber music in a small medieval town of Tuscany annually for the past fourteen years.

On Canada’s “Music Day,” Oct. 1, Lysy performed before a live audience the piece “Wood that Sings” to mark the 300th year anniversary of his prized Tononi cello. The 18th-century cello, named after master violin maker Carlo Tononi, has been played for three hundred years for Russian czars and French nobility in Geneva, Buenos Aires and the United States. The performance will be accompanied by a retelling of the history of Tononi’s cello written by Marie José Thériault and read by Jean Marchand.

Lysy feels extremely privileged to be among the many accomplished musicians who have played his Tononi cello.

“I feel a lot closer to it now than ever before just because of the time that goes by,” Lysy said. “Even if we change the strings, the bridge or certain small things, the instrument is still that instrument. Its own history is so fascinating. It’s a product of great artistry.”

The recital chronicled the history of his instrument by playing the classical pieces of Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and others.

“A lot of people think (performing is) just from the heart and you play what you feel,” Lysy said. “But of course there is a lot of structure, and a lot of knowledge that has to be mixed with your own instinct.”

As part of the music department’s faculty, Lysy hopes to bring his passion for playing cello to his new students. He has already met some of his cello students and will provide them with one-on-one guidance to help them continue their careers as musicians after they graduate from UCLA.

“If I can see that there is a passion in what they do and an interest or a talent that has been developed and they are having difficulty, I’m there to help that come through and make that flower,” Lysy said.