Episode #28: Alexa Ciciretti
Hello and welcome back to the Dominic Brancazio Podcast! In today’s conversation, we’re joined by my friend Alexa Ciciretti. She is an absolute amazing cellist and currently is a member of Ensemble Cairn, a professional contemporary music ensemble in France. In addition to completing her formal education from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music, Alexa was a fellow with the New World Symphony, a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, and has performed in ensembles and as a soloist all around the world. Alexa is also a champion of contemporary music and in addition to her performance career, she has been publishing interviews with living composers and making educational videos demonstrating modern cello techniques.
In this episode, we continue talking about practice strategies covering her instrument the cello and we also talk a lot about contemporary music. We specifically cover why Alexa went into music, go over some of her ways of warming up, we talk about her adventure moving from the United States to Paris, her experience playing cello in France and collaborating with various artists in Europe, we talk about the importance of contemporary music, and also about the challenges of playing contemporary music specifically when it comes to the cello.
If you would like to learn more about Alexa or her work, I’ve attached some links to check out in the description below. I had a wonderful time getting the chance to catch up with Alexa in this episode! I remember her leadership and dedication to the art form when we got the chance to play in ensembles together in New World Symphony and getting the chance to hear her perform live or talk to her about anything related to music is truly inspiring. If you have a chance to check out her performances live or see any of the videos she’s posted online, you’ll be in for a real treat. I hope you all enjoy the episode as much as I did putting it together. Thank you for listening and please enjoy the show.
To learn more about Alexa:
https://www.alexaciciretti.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCywtYOAbmTLv_LWykcSIPgg/featured