This book includes biographical information on Carlos Prieto, his contributions to music, as well as a detailed catalog of 72 pieces commissioned and/or dedicated to him. A graduate of MIT and a former director of Fundidora, the biggest steel company in Mexico, Carlos Prieto decided at the age of 38 to abandon his career as a business man and become a full time professional cellist. Since then he has premiered over 90 pieces, most of them commissioned and/or dedicated to him by Latin-American composers. These commissions and dedications represent about 50 percent of the music written for the cello by Latin-American composers. This is the first time a study has been conducted on this body of music.

In 1720, Antonio Stradivari crafted an exquisite work of art—a cello known as the Piatti. Over the next three centuries of its life, the Piatti cello left its birthplace of Cremona, Italy, and resided in Spain, Ireland, England, Italy, Germany, and the United States. In 1978, the Piatti became the musical soul mate of world-renowned cellist Carlos Prieto, with whom it has given concerts around the world. In this delightful book, Mr. Prieto recounts the adventurous life of his beloved "Cello Prieto," tracing its history through each of its previous owners from Stradivari in 1720 to himself. He then describes his noteworthy experiences of playing the Piatti cello, with which he has premiered some eighty compositions. In this part of their mutual story, Prieto gives a concise summary of his own remarkable career and his relationships with many illustrious personalities, including Igor Stravinsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Pablo Casals, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriel García Márquez. A new epilogue, in which he describes recent concert tours in Moscow, Siberia, and China and briefer visits to South Korea, Taiwan, and Venezuela, as well as recent recitals with Yo-Yo Ma, brings the story up to 2009. To make the story of his cello complete, Mr. Prieto also provides a brief history of violin making and a succinct review of cello music from Stradivari to the present. He highlights the work of composers from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, for whose music he has long been an advocate and principal performer.

In 1720, Antonio Stradivari crafted an exquisite work of art—a cello known as the Piatti. Over the next three centuries of its life, the Piatti cello left its birthplace of Cremona, Italy, and resided in Spain, Ireland, England, Italy, Germany, and the United States. The Piatti filled sacred spaces, such as the Santa Cueva de Cádiz, with its incomparable voice. It also spent time in more profane places, including New York City bars, where it served as a guarantee for unpaid liquor tabs. The Piatti narrowly escaped Nazi Germany in 1935 and was once even left lying in the street all night. In 1978, the Piatti became the musical soul mate of world-renowned cellist Carlos Prieto, with whom it has given concerts around the world. In this delightful book, Mr. Prieto recounts the adventurous life of his beloved "Cello Prieto," tracing its history through each of its previous owners from Stradivari in 1720 to himself. He then describes his noteworthy experiences of playing the Piatti cello, with which he has premiered some eighty compositions. In this part of their mutual story, Prieto gives a concise summary of his own remarkable career and his relationships with many illustrious personalities, including Igor Stravinsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Pablo Casals, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriel García Márquez. To make the story of his cello complete, Mr. Prieto also provides a brief history of violin making and a succinct review of cello music from Stradivari to the present. He highlights the work of composers from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, for whose music he has long been an advocate and principal performer. Thus,The Adventures of a Cellooffers not only the first biography of a musical instrument but also an inviting overview of cello music and its preeminent composers and performers.

This paper examines fifty-two Mexican solo cello works (and also three works written for two cellos, one written for cello and actor, and one written for cello and tape), all of which were acquired over a four-year course of research. All of these works were composed in the modern or avant-garde style between 1962 and 2014 and represent a lesser-known area of Mexican music. During the period from 2013 through 2014, eleven works were given to the author by Carlos Prieto, thirty-five works were obtained directly from composers, and five works came from library consultations during research trips to Mexico: at the National Library in Mexico City, at the National Center for Investigation and Documentation of Music in Mexico (CENEDIM), and at the National Center for the Arts in Mexico (CENART). Introduction to Mexican Music for Solo Cello (1962-2012) from a Performer's Perspective documents an interdisciplinary approach to research: interactions and interviews with living Mexican composers, analysis and thoughts on interpretation of works by those composers, compilation of a list of works for solo cello written between 1962 and 2014 based on Adventure of a Cello by Carlos Prieto, Influence of Carlos Prieto on Contemporary Cello Repertoire by A.S. Saucedo Estrada, and the author's research. The paper focuses on the vital contribution of cellist Carlos Prieto to the growth and proliferation of contemporary Mexican cello music. The paper includes documented interviews by the author with prominent composers and artists in Mexico including Carlos Prieto, Manuel de Elias, Ana Lara, Max Lifchitz, Samuel Máynez, Lucia Álvarez, Radko Tichavský, and Iracema de Andrade. This research is the first of its kind to document Mexican works for solo cello and to provide background analysis of these works from a performer's perspective. All of the pieces covered in this project have yet to make a significant impact on the wider world or on professional cellists outside of Mexico.

A delightful biography of a celebrated Stradivarius cello and an inviting overview of cello music and its preeminent composers and performers by world-famous concert cellist Carlos Prieto.