“A simple and smiling man whose gaze shines with happiness...” the words of François Manceaux about Anner Bylsma, ‘Performer of the Day’.

François Manceaux: “Every good cello performer plays Bach. He is also famous for interpreting modern, ancient music, anything. We are talking about a vast repertoire. He does research and is very interested in music.”

Anner Bylsma: “I am a cello player and we cello folk...have a very special character. It is said that we are different...I don’t know...we are sometimes described as lazy and overweight... In school I learned that I have to rehearse as much as possible, but I think the secret stands in studying carefully! I used to love nature much more than I do now. But you know how it is...life nowadays...actually you can mostly find life and culture in the city. But I believe one should enjoy life and nature. When you are young one prefers the idea of the future mostly.”

François Manceaux: “His name is Anner Bylsma, a simple and smiling man, whose eyes shine happily. However, he has an impressive career: as an instrumental performer in the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, as an exceptional solo cello performer, but also as one of the world’s greatest conductors. Furthermore, Anner Bylsma is thought to be the one that brought back the baroque music to the audience’s attention, in the 1970’s (accompanied by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, the Kuijken brothers or Frans Brüggen). Even so, his repertoire contains different works, from the romantic ones signed by Auguste-Joseph Franchomme to the contemporary ones written by Henri Pousseur (Belgian composer) and of course to the baroque period with compositions by Domenico Gabrielli and Johann Sebastian Bach, Anner Bylsma being a true specialist of the latter.”

Anner Bylsma is the ‘Perfomer of the day’ on Monday, 17^th February, celebrating 80 years of life, on Arpeggio, presented by Ana Voiculescu, from 10:00.