Praised by critics for her “extraordinary musicianship" (San Diego Union Tribune) and “magical” playing (Cleveland Classical), Korean-American cellist Deborah Pae has received international acclaim for her powerful performances and devotion to the arts. Ms. Pae emerged onto the international stage in 2003, making her debut at the 45th GRAMMY Awards at Madison Square Garden and the Recording Academy’s Seventh Annual Salute to Classical Music honoring the late cello legend Mstislav Rostropovich. In 2005, she gave her European recital debut at the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Over a 25-year career spanning North America, Europe, and Asia, she has built an award-winning profile as a soloist and chamber musician, with recordings for ECM, Orchid Classics, New World, TYXarts, Bridge, and Outhere Records. She has been a featured artist at the Marlboro, Ravinia, and Prussia Cove festivals and performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and the Berliner Philharmonie.
“...the most poignant moment in Sunday’s program was cellist [Deborah] Pae’s entrance in the Adagio. It was sublime.”
“Pae made searing drama out of Mumford’s dramatic solo lines, punctuated by pizzicatos and answered by snap pizzicati from the double bass.
Tchaikovsky’s arrangement of a movement from his D-Major String Quartet...Here, she had the opportunity to show off her handsome and perfectly-centered pitch in a noble, almost Elgarian Andante cantabile. Among other delights, her lyrical treatment of a sequence of repeated notes was magical.”
“Pae’s resonant cello solos in both the Liang and Wilson works displayed a sophisticated technique...”
“When wonderful music is wonderfully presented, with some genuinely innovative approaches to the works and methods of performing them, the pleasures of listening to recordings are doubled and redoubled. [Deborah Pae’s] superb tone, judicious and carefully chosen phrasing, and a high level of interpretative intelligence are the hallmarks...Listening to [her] perform with tremendous technical assurance and a maturity and understanding well beyond [her] years is a source of unceasing delight throughout this recording.”
“...exceptionally gifted.”
