Evangeline Benedetti
Occupation(s)Cellist, Author, Teacher of Cello and the Alexander Technique
Employer(s)New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 1967-2011
Notable workCello, Bow and You: Putting it All Together | Oxford University Press
Websitewww.evangelinebenedetti.com

Evangeline Benedetti (b. February 22, 1941) is an American cellist who was first woman cello player to play in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Education and training

Benedetti was born and raised in Austin, Texas. She was interested in playing in the band as a child and started playing on the French horn and the bassoon.[1] She was also able to take free cello lessons at the University of Texas String Project,[2][1] and her childhood teachers were Walter Coleman[3]: xv  and Phyllis Young.[2] After a year at University of Texas under the tutelage of Horace Britt, she received a full scholarship to study with Bernard Greenhouse[2] at the Manhattan School of Music[4] where she earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Benedetti also trained with Zara Nelsova and Pablo Casals.[3]: xv 

Career

In 1965, Benedetti gave her debut solo recital at the age of 24 in Carnegie Recital Hall. Her performance earned rave reviews, with the New York Times calling her approach to playing as “strikingly similar to Casals” and praising her "technical capacity," her "big, vibrant tone" and her "enormous communicativeness".[5]

Benedetti's career with the New York Philharmonic began in 1967 after winning her audition during Leonard Bernstein's[6] tenure as the orchestra's music director.[7] Before the start of her audition, her cello fell and broke so she performed for her audition on a borrowed cello.[8] She was the first cello player and the second woman to join the New York Philharmonic Orchestra,[9] after Orin O'Brien a double bassist who joined the group in 1966.[1] As one of the first female members in the New York Philharmonic, she became a subject of the 1969 Human Rights Commission's case investigating the orchestra's hiring practices for membership.[10] In 1971, Benedetti and the other three women in the Philharmonic Orchestra talked with a New York Times reporter about conditions for women in the orchestra, including day-to-day activities and challenges.[11] She retired in 2011.[9]

Benedetti also teaches people to play string instruments. Her means of teaching, in particular her teaching of the Alexander Technique, has been analyzed by American String Teacher's Magazine.[12] She is on the faculty of iClassical Academy and also presents cells classes on Medici.TV.[13]

Selected works

  • Cello, Bow and You: Putting it All Together. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 2016-10-20. ISBN 978-0-19-049739-2.
  • Sonata Op. 119 for Cello and Piano / Sonata Op. 40 for Cello and Piano by Evangeline Benedetti / Pedja Muzijevic
  • Carnegie Hall 1971 recital included pieces by Chopin, Bach, Boccherini, and Ravel and was reviewed by the New York Times[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pogrebin, Robin (2003-02-21). "Inside the Music: A Cellist's Perspective". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  2. 1 2 3 Young, Phyllis (1981). "Asta Student Forum: Life as a Symphony Musician: An Interview with Evangeline Benedetti". American String Teacher. 31 (3): 14–17. doi:10.1177/000313138103100306. ISSN 0003-1313. S2CID 191878164.
  3. 1 2 Cello, Bow and You: Putting it All Together. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. 2016-10-20. ISBN 978-0-19-049739-2.
  4. ↑ "Notable Alumni". Manhattan School of Music. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  5. ↑ Freed, Richard D. (1965-04-29). "CELLO RECITAL GIVEN BY MRS. BENEBETTI". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
  6. ↑ Haws, Barbara (2017-10-22). "How Leonard Bernstein Made the New York Philharmonic the Most Beloved Orchestra in the World". Playbill. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  7. ↑ "'The Universal Language'". Local 802 AFM. 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  8. ↑ Drinan, Ann (May 3, 2012). "The Universal Language: Evangeline Benedetti, Former Cellist with the New York Philharmonic, Puts It All into Perspective". Allegro. Retrieved 2022-01-31.
  9. 1 2 Raps, Gena (2012). "The True Story of a Symphony Player and the Time She Broke Through the Glass Ceiling | Persimmon Tree". Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  10. ↑ "New York Philharmonic Archives | Human Rights Commission Investigation".
  11. ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (1971-04-11). "Is Women's Lib Coming to the Philharmonic?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  12. ↑ Dent, Lachlan (2016-11-01). "Coordination in Cello Playing: An Analysis and Application of the Pedagogy of Evangeline Benedetti and Christopher Bunting". American String Teacher. 66 (4): 30–35. doi:10.1177/000313131606600407. ISSN 0003-1313. S2CID 191620200.
  13. ↑ "Master Class with Evangeline Benedetti (III/V)". medici.tv. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  14. ↑ "Resources". International Musician. New York. 115 (6): 18. 2017. ProQuest 1906364764. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
  15. ↑ Solow, Jeffrey (September 2017). "Book Review". Strad. 128 (1529): 128–130.
  16. ↑ Davis, Peter G. (1971-03-01). "BENEDETTI RECITAL AT BEST IN CHOPIN". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-15.
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