Lise Cristiani

With her new album, Sol Gabetta is drawing attention to the first professional cellist to perform in public, Lisa Cristiani (1825 – 1853).

On the 200th anniversary of Lise Cristiani’s birth in December 2025, Sol Gabetta pays tribute to a musical pioneer of historic significance on her new album, which will be released on October 10 by Sony Classical. As the first cellist to have the courage to perform in public, Cristiani broke social conventions, inspired numerous composers of her time and became a role model for generations of female musicians.

In close collaboration with musicologists, Sol Gabetta has spent the past few years researching the fascinating, albeit tragically short career of this exceptional artist and reconstructing her musical repertoire. On a sonic journey through works by those virtuoso cellists who were close to Cristiani, Sol Gabetta invites us to rediscover a fascinating repertoire – a repertoire that impressively brings out the cello’s full virtuoso potential and rich Romantic expression.

Following in the footsteps of her companions – the cellists and composers Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880), Alexandre Batta (1816-1902) and François-Adrien Servais (1807-1866) – Lise Cristiani strove to bring the full expressive spectrum of her instrument to a wide audience. She put together her own concert programs and presented original works by her contemporaries, often characterized by folk themes, as well as transcriptions of Italian opera arias and Schubert songs, which she performed with unique expressiveness.

The young Jacques Offenbach supported Cristiani at her debut performances in Paris in 1844 / 45 and dedicated several works to her, including Prière et Boléro and Musette, which became her favorite pieces.