WILLIAM SKEEN writes:

I first met Sebastian Bach when I was a ten-year-old boy, studying with my first cello teacher, Eugene Eicher. Mr. Eicher, though never a practitioner of the Baroque cello, had a sincere and deep knowledge of the Cello Suites. He’d even published his own edition in the 1970s which I’d learned from. Now, as I leaf through his score, I’m astounded by Eicher’s understanding of historical bowing and phrasing, even if it came to him by intuition rather than through the study of historical performance practice. Mr. Eicher taught me how to make music, how to interpret what’s on the page, and clearly set me on a path to appreciate Bach’s Suites and Baroque music in general.

I had the honor of working with professor Alan Harris at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Harris’ open-minded approach to interpretation gave me free reign to continue making music as I wished. He had a whole-body approach to his teaching method, dealing with the physical aspects of position and musculature. It was in Cleveland that I had my first interactions with historical instruments, i.e. the Baroque cello and the viola da gamba. Mr. Harris kept these instruments in his studio, though he did not play them himself. Playing Bach on historical instruments for the first time was an ear-opening experience.

My professional pathway is what I would call ‘grass-roots,’ built on many years of playing continuo in period-instrument orchestras and chamber ensembles. I began my career in Los Angeles performing with the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, Musica Angelica, and the 17th Century ensemble La Monica. I subsequently moved north to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2002, first joining the American Bach Soloists, then Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, later becoming a fixture in Voices of Music. I maintained Los Angeles ties through my twenty-year professorship at the University of Southern California. I am proud to have initiated several successful ventures in Northern California including the New Esterházy Quartet, a period-instrument string quartet, and the Cantata Collective, a non-profit offering free monthly performances of Bach cantatas.