Inbal Segev’s winter/spring 2025: Adamo’s Last Year concerto with Slatkin; U.S. premiere of her own Trio for Cello, Clarinet, and Piano in Michigan, and more

(February 2025) — Long known as a driving force in the creation of new cello repertoire for the 21st century, Inbal Segev continues her 2024–25 season this winter and spring collaborating with conductor Leonard Slatkin for performances of Mark Adamo’s new cello concerto, titled Last Year, with both the Nashville Symphony (Feb 28; March 2) and Las Vegas Philharmonic (March 15). In May she plays Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the West Michigan Symphony led by Scott Speck (May 9) before giving the U.S. premiere of her own Trio for Cello, Clarinet, and Piano the following night, along with music of Bach, Debussy, and Prokofiev (May 10). She also gives a performance of Anna Clyne’s cello concerto DANCE – written for her – with the Berkeley Symphony and Music Director Joseph Young (Feb 9). Spring also sees the cellist perform in the “Wonders We Carry Inside” Gala, an evening of music honoring the mystical beauty of Persian culture and the power of women, both past and present, to shape history. Curated by Iranian American composer Gity Razaz, the evening also features Iranian composer Sahba Aminikia, composer and kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri, and musicians of the San Diego Symphony. Segev will perform a piece she herself commissioned from Razaz in 2015: Legend of Sigh (March 20). Looking ahead to the summer, Segev will be artist-in-residence at the Grant Park Music Festival from July 9–16, with events including orchestral performances, recitals, and a masterclass.

Mark Adamo’s Last Year was composed in 2021, when the devastating hurricane that inflicted  severe damage on Houston that year coincided with a close listen by Adamo to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The composer responded with a single concerto in four movements, asking himself how the innocence and optimism of Vivaldi’s works might have changed had Vivaldi lived through the current climate crisis. Segev gives three performances of the concerto under the baton of six-time Grammy Award winner Leonard Slatkin, celebrating his 80th birthday this season. They perform the work twice with the Nashville Symphony (Feb 28; March 2) before reprising it with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, where Slatkin serves as Artistic Consultant (March 15). She also performs the piece as artist-in-residence at Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival under the baton of conductor Nicole Paiement (July 9).

Celebrated as “a cellist with something to say” (Gramophone), Segev has also been steadily making a name for herself as a composer. Her cello quartet, Behold (2021), was composed for her “20 for 2020” project, which saw her commission 20 new chamber works for a four-volume recording and video series from Avie Records. Subsequent compositions include her Concerto for String Orchestra (2022); the cello octet B Natural(2023); a String Trio (2023); and I’m Nobody! Who are you? (2024) for unaccompanied women’s choir. This season she gives the U.S. premiere of her Trio for Cello, Clarinet, and Piano in Muskegon, Michigan (May 10), after a performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the West Michigan Symphony led by Scott Speck (May 9). This follows the premiere earlier this season of Segev’s Trio for Viola, Clarinet, and Piano by contemporary music ensemble counter)induction.

At Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival this coming summer, Segev reprises two of the pieces from her spring schedule, joined by the Grant Park Orchestra. She opens her week-long residency with a performance of Adamo’s Last Year under the baton of Nicole Paiement (July 9) and closes the week with Anna Clyne’s DANCE! led by conductor Courtney Lewis (July 16). In between she gives two recitals (July 13 & 14) and leads a masterclass (July 15).

About Inbal Segev

Inbal Segev is “a cellist with something to say” (Gramophone). Combining rich tone and technical mastery with rare dedication and intelligence, she has appeared with orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Bamberg Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Dortmund Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Pittsburgh Symphony, Polish National Radio Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony, collaborating with such prominent conductors as Marin Alsop, Stéphane Denève, Edward Gardner, Kirill Karabits, Lorin Maazel, Cristian Măcelaru, and Zubin Mehta. Committed to reinvigorating the cello repertoire, she has commissioned and premiered new cello concertos from Timo Andres, Anna Clyne, Avner Dorman, Fernando Otero, Victoria Poleva, and Dan Visconti. Recorded with Alsop and the London Philharmonic for Avie Records, Segev’s premiere recording of Clyne’s cello concerto, DANCE, was an instant success, topping the Amazon Classical Concertos chart. Its opening movement was chosen as one of NPR Music’s “Favorite Songs of 2020,” receiving more than eleven million listens on Spotify. To encourage creative recovery during the early pandemic lockdowns, Segev launched “20 for 2020,” a commissioning, recording, and video project for 20 cutting-edge composers, including John Luther Adams, Viet Cuong, and Angélica Negrón, all of whom wrote new works in response to the worldwide crisis. Segev’s previous discography includes acclaimed recordings of the Elgar Cello Concerto, Romantic cello works, and Bach’s Cello Suites, while her popular YouTube masterclass series, Musings with Inbal Segev, has inspired a generation of cellists.

A native of Israel, at 16 Segev was invited by Isaac Stern to continue her cello studies in the U.S., where she earned degrees from Yale University and the Juilliard School, before co-founding the Amerigo Trio with former New York Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and violist Karen Dreyfus. Segev started composing during the pandemic: her cello quartet, Behold, can be heard on her album 20 for 2020; her cello octet, B Natural, premiered at Yale in 2023; her string trio premiered in Fort Worth in 2024; her clarinet trio premieres in Israel this summer; and I’m Nobody! Who are you?, for unaccompanied women’s choir, premieres next season. Segev’s cello was made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1673.

Inbal Segev: winter/spring 2025 engagements

Feb 9
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley Symphony
Joseph Young, conductor
Anna CLYNE: DANCE

Feb 28; March 2
Nashville, TN
Nashville Symphony
Leonard Slatkin, conductor
Mark ADAMO: Last Year

March 15
Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas Philharmonic
Leonard Slatkin, Conductor
Mark ADAMO: Last Year

March 20
San Diego, CA
Jacobs Music Center
“The Wonders We Carry Inside”
Gity RAZAZ: Legend of Sigh

May 9
Muskegon, MI
Frauenthal Theater
West Michigan Symphony
Scott Speck, conductor
DVOŘÁK: Cello Concerto

May 10
Muskegon, MI
The Block
BACH: Cello suite No. 1 in G
DEBUSSY: Sonata for Cello and Piano
Inbal SEGEV: Trio for piano, clarinet and cello in three movements (world premiere)
PROKOFIEV: Sonata for Cello and Piano

July 9–16
Chicago, IL
Grant Park Music Festival

July 9
Nicole Paiement, conductor
Grant Park Orchestra
Mark ADAMO: Last Year

July 13 & 14
Solo recitals

July 15
Masterclass

July 16
Courtney Lewis, conductor
Grant Park Orchestra
Anna CLYNE: DANCE!