Cellist is all smiles in Bach performance

Kent Collier, principal cellist of Blue Water Chamber Orchestra, delighted the Westlake-Westshore Arts Council audience at Westlake Porter Public Library on Sept. 27 with his “Bach and the Cello” performance. With Bach’s suites for cello, he revealed the rich special “singing” sound of the instrument as well as its ability to communicate and create mood.

Collier has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music in New York.  He is a native Clevelander and has been principal cellist for Cleveland Opera, Cleveland Ballet, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, and Lyric Opera. Most recently he has served as principal cellist with Red an Orchestra, Blossom Festival Orchestra and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. He has taught cello at Allegheny College, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, and the Cleveland Music School Settlement.

Throughout the performance, Collier provided insight to the music in the program as well as to characteristics of the cello. During a question and answer period, Collier was asked what caused him to become a cellist. He replied that he was inspired by a woman who performed the cello on the Lawrence Welk show of the 1960s.

Being all of seven years old, he was impressed by the fact that she always smiled while she played. He decided then that the cello had to be the most fun instrument in the orchestra and he wanted to play it! It was noted by the same audience member that Collier had a smile upon his face during the entire evening and that it was obvious he loves creating the rich sound of the cello.

In response to a W-WAC request for music that would relate to Westlake’s 2011 Bicentennial, Collier researched and found Beethoven’s 1811 work, “Turkish March,” which he transcribed for cello. In this encore performance, he was accompanied on piano by Nancy Patterson, who is a violinist in the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra, and also serves as administrator. Their lively rendition filled the room with a warm energetic mood. 

The next Westlake-Westshore Arts Council Quarterly Event will be Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at Porter Library with Reid Wood, Professor Emeritus, Lorain County Community College. The topic will be “MAIL ART,” a medium that since the late 1960s has used the postal system for artistic interaction and exchange. Wood will also cover how the Internet has had a great effect on current networking among artists working in this medium. Some of his collection of mail art will also be on view.