BIOGRAPHY
Sonia Wieder-Atherton
Sonia Wieder-Atherton’s musical language is open to the world. Over the years, this search has led her from one repertoire to another in an ongoing exploration. Her many recordings bear witness to her career.
ABOUT
The genesis of a voice
Born in San Francisco to a mother of Romanian origin and an American father, she grew up in New York and then Paris. At an early age, she entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Maurice Gendron’s class. At 19, she crossed the Iron Curtain to live in Moscow, where she studied with Natalia Shakhovskaya at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. On her return to France, she won the Rostropovich Competition at the age of 25.
Sonia Wieder-Atherton collaborates with many contemporary composers (Betsy Jolas, Pascal Dusapin, Francesco Filidei, Georges Aperghis, Wolfgang Rihm, Bernard Foccroule, Edith Canat de Chizy), becoming their preferred interpreter.
As a soloist, she performs under the direction of numerous conductors: Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Belgique, Liège Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, Luxembourg Philharmonic, NDR Orchestra Hanover, REMIX Ensemble, Les Siècles, Asko/Schönberg. She plays chamber music with Imogen Cooper, Elisabeth Leonskaïa, Raphaël Oleg, Alexander Paley, Bruno Fontaine and others.
Scenic creations
A MULTI-FACETED UNIVERSE
A universe of multiple materials and multiple voices. She has conceived and directed a number of projects, including D’Est en musique, a show based on images from Chantal Akerman’s film D’Est. Danses Nocturnes, starring Charlotte Rampling, brings together the works of Benjamin Britten and Sylvia Plath. Shakespeare Bach, with Charlotte Rampling , around sonnets by Shakespeare, Bach and Monteverdi. Navire Night, by Marguerite Duras, with Fanny Ardant. Exil, a new work for cello, piano and eight voices. Carnets de là-bas, a performance combining text, music and pictures, created with Clément Cogitore. She has worked with dancer Shantala Shivalingappa, André Markowicz and Jacques Higelin…
Chants juifs, a cycle for cello and piano inspired by the art of the Hazans. Chants d’Est, for cello and instrumental ensemble, is conceived as a journey from Russia to Mittel Europa. Vita, for solo cello and three cellos, the life of Angioletta-Angel through two geniuses out of their time, Monteverdi and Scelsi. Odyssey for cello and imaginary choir, a woman alone with her cello, accompanied by a soundtrack, confronts the elements: wind, waves, chaos, storms. Cadenza, or the dreams of Luigi Boccherini. Little Girl Blue, in the form of a letter to Nina Simone.
KEY COLLABORATIONS ON THE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC SCENE
Sonia Wieder-Atherton collaborates with many contemporary composers (Betsy Jolas, Pascal Dusapin, Francesco Filidei, Georges Aperghis, Wolfgang Rihm, Bernard Foccroule, Edith Canat de Chizy), for whom she has become a privileged interpreter. As a soloist, she performs under the direction of numerous conductors: Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National de Belgique, Liège Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, Luxembourg Philharmonic, NDR Orchestra Hanover, REMIX Ensemble, Les Siècles, Asko/Schönberg. She plays chamber music with Imogen Cooper, Elisabeth Leonskaya, Raphaël Oleg, Alexander Paley, Bruno Fontaine and others.
In 2020, Sonia Wieder-Atherton signed a publishing partnership with Alpha Classics.
In 2011, she was awarded the Prix des Arts by the Fondation Bernheim.
In 2020, she was named Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Sonia Wieder-Atherton played for the nation’s solemn tribute to Simone Veil at the Panthéon in 2018.
Discover
Her
directory
WORKS DEDICATED TO SONIA WIEDER-ATHERTON
GEORGES APERGHIS
Le Rest du temps, for cello, cymbalum and ensemble
created with the Nouvel Ensemble de Montréal in 2003
Bloody Luna, for cello and ensemble
created with Porto’s Remix ensemble in 2007
PASCAL DUSAPIN
Celo, cello concerto
created with the Orchestre de Caen in 1997
BETSY JOLAS
Wanderlied (2003)
WOLFGANG RIHM
Versuchung, cello concerto
created with Les Siècles in 2009
20TH AND 21ST CENTURY REPERTOIRE
BELA BARTOK
Viola concerto (transcription: Tibor Serly)
ERNEST BLOCH
Schelomo
MAX BRUCH
Kol Nidrei Op.47
EDITH CANAT DE CHIZY
Moïra, cello concerto (first performance 1998)
ANDRE CAPLET
Epiphany, based on an Ethiopian tale
EDISON DENISOV
Variations on a theme by Haydn
FRANCO DONATONI
Le Ruisseau sur l’escalier
HENRI DUTILLEUX
A world away
EDWARD ELGAR
Concerto in E minor Op.85
GEORGE ENESCO
Symphonie concertante Op.8
GABRIEL FAURÉ
Elegy Op.24
ARTHUR HONEGGER
Concerto
ARAM ILITCH KHATCHATURIAN
Concerto in E major
GYORGY LIGETI
Concerto
WITOLD LUTOSLAWSKI
Grave
BOHUSLAV MARTINU
Sonate da camera
Concerto n˚2
NIKOLAI MIASKOVSKI
Concerto (1946)
DARIUS MILHAUD
Concerto n˚2
MAURICE OHANA
In Dark and Blue, concerto n˚2
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Symphonie concertante
MAURICE RAVEL
Two Hebrew melodies
OTTORINO RESPIGHI
Adagio con Variazione
WOLFGANG RIHM
Konzert in einem Satz
CAMILLE SAINT SAENS
La Muse et le poète, concerto for violin and cello
GIACINTO SCELSI
Ballata
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Concerto n˚1 in A minor Op.77
Concerto n˚2 in C# minor Op.126
RICHARD STRAUSS
Don Quixote
IANNIS XENAKIS
Epicycle
BERND ALOIS ZIMMERMANN
Concerto in the form of a pas de trois
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
6 suites BWV 1007-1012
BELA BARTOK
Violin sonata (transcription for cello)
LUCIANO BERIO
The words went
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
3 suites Op.72, 80 and 87
GASPAR CASSADO
Suite
GEORGE CRUMB
Sonata
FRANCO DONATONI
Blade
PASCAL DUSAPIN
Immer – Invece – Incisa – Imago
HENRI DUTILLEUX
Three stanzas on the name of Sacher
LEOS JANACEK
Poems on a Moravian song
ZOLTAN KODALY
Sonata Op.8
GYORGY KURTAG
Pilinszky Janos: Gérard de Nerval
GYORGY LIGETI
Sonata
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Sonata Op.134
GIACINTO SCELSI
Trilogy
YURI SIMAKIN
Sonata
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Elegy
BORIS TCHAIKOVSKY
Suite in D minor
FOR CELLO AND PIANO
Leoš Janáček, Pohadka – Béla Bartók, Romanian Dances – Franz Schubert, Litanei-Arpeggione – Franz Liszt, Lugubre gondole – Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonatas and Variations – Johannes Brahms, Three Sonatas – Anton Webern, Three Little Pieces – Manuel de Falla, Suite populaire espagnole – Claude Debussy, Sonata
