Shauna Rolston (born 31 January 1967 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

) is a Canadian cellist. Rolston was a cello

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

and attended the

Geneva Conservatory , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; ...

in Switzerland at age fourteen. She studied with

Pierre Fournier Pierre Léon Marie Fournier (24 June 19068 January 1986) was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists" on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound. Biography He was born in Paris, the son of a French Army gen ...

, and later at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh (England) where she also studied with

William Pleeth William Pleeth OBE (12 January 1916 – 6 April 1999) was a well-known British cellist and an eminent teacher, who became widely known as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré. Biography Early years William Pleeth was born in London. His p ...

. At sixteen, she played at New York's Town Hall, with her mother at the piano. Following her formative studies at the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

and abroad, Rolston earned undergraduate (Art) and graduate (Music) degrees at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

where she studied with

Aldo Parisot Aldo Simoes Parisot (September 30, 1918 – December 29, 2018) was a Brazilian-born American cellist and cello teacher. He was first a member of the Juilliard School faculty, and then went on to serve as a music professor at the Yale School of Mu ...

. Rolston is an advocate for new music, and has premiered a number of works written for her. Composers who have written for her include Kelly-Marie Murphy, Heather Schmidt,

Oskar Morawetz Oskar Morawetz, (January 17, 1917 – June 13, 2007) was a Canadian composer. Biography Morawetz was born in Světlá nad Sázavou, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). He studied piano and theory in Prague and, following the Nazi takeov ...

Bruce Mather Bruce Mather (born May 9, 1939) is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules Léger ...

Christos Hatzis Christos Hatzis ( el, Χρήστος Χατζής; born 1953) is a Juno Award-winning Greek-Canadian composer. Many of his compositions are performed internationally, and he is a professor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Early ...

and

Chan Ka Nin Chan Ka Nin (born 3 December 1949) is a Canadian composer and music educator of Chinese descent. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1971. He has been commissioned to write works for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the CBC Radio Orc ...

, as well as

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...

, Gavin Bryers,

Mark Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music. Biography Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying at the junior section of the Royal College of M ...

Rolf Wallin Rolf Wallin (born 7 September 1957) is a Norwegian composer, trumpeter and avant-garde performance artist. Biography Wallin was born in Oslo, where he studied with Finn Mortensen and Olav Anton Thommessen. He later studied at the University of Ca ...

Augusta Read Thomas Augusta Read Thomas (born April 24, 1964) is an American composer and professor. Biography Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood; Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University ...

Karen Tanaka Karen Tanaka (born April 7, 1961) is a Japanese composer. Biography Karen Tanaka was born in Tokyo where she started piano and composition lessons as a child. After studying composition with Akira Miyoshi and piano with Nobuko Amada at Toho Gak ...

, and

Gary Kulesha Gary Kulesha (born 22 August 1954) is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. Since 1995, he has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (1988� ...

. Rolston continues to perform regularly around the world appearing in recital and concerto engagements. As a chamber musician, Rolston has performed and recorded with many pre-eminent artists and ensembles including the

Gallois Quintet Gallois as a French word means "Welsh". ''Le gallois'' (in lower case) refers to the Welsh language; ''un Gallois'' (capitalised) means "a Welshman" and ''une Galloise'' (capitalised) means "a Welshwoman. It may refer to: People * Gallois (sur ...

, and pianist

Menahem Pressler Menahem Pressler ( he, מנחם פרסלר; born 16 December 1923) is a German-born Israeli-American pianist. Pressler is Jewish. Following Kristallnacht, he and his immediate family fled Nazi Germany in 1939,

. In 1994 Shauna Rolston joined the music faculty of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

where she is a Professor and Head of the String Department. She is also a regular Visiting Artist for the Music and Sound Programs at the

Discography

*''The Romantic Cello'', 1983 *''Morawetz, Bruch, Fauré, Dvořák, Bliss'', 1991 *''Saint-Saëns: Chamber Works'', 1994 *''Cello Sonatas'', 1995 *''Elgar and Saint-Saëns: Cello Concertos'', 1995 *''Intimate Baroque'', 1995 *''Strauss, Debussy and Barber Sonatas'', 1995 *''Squeezplay'', 1997 *''Les Disques SRC Collection'', 1999 *''Shauna Rolston, Cello'', 2001 *''This Is the Colour of My Dreams'', 2001 *''Dreamscape'', 2007

References

External links

* http://www.shaunarolston.com/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20080602225156/http://www.mgmg.ca/artists-rolston.php * https://web.archive.org/web/20090301072532/http://www.music.utoronto.ca/faculty/faculty_members/faculty_n_to_z/shauna_rolston.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolston, Shauna 1967 births Living people Canadian classical cellists Musicians from Edmonton Canadian women classical cellists