cellist curator collaborator

Performer, arranger and curator, cellist Clare O'Connell plays as a soloist and chamber musician. 

Since founding Behind the Mirror Clare’s practise has developed into a mixture of performing, writing, arranging and curating projects in which she collaborates with musicians and artists who inspire her. She is most interested in the intent behind a piece of music and finding the perfect context in which to present it.

She is a member of contemporary music ensemble Lontano and the Storytellers Ensemble, a group of musicians devoted to the written word; she has a duo partnership with internationally acclaimed harpist Eleanor Turner; and performs regularly with musicians & collaborators such as Liam Byrne (viola da gamba), Tom Rogerson (piano), Milos Milivojevic (accordion), Viv McLean (piano), and Daniel Pioro (violin).

She founded and curates Behind The Mirror: her own series of intimate chamber music concerts in Berkhamsted,  for which she has commissioned many new works from composers Edmund Finnis, Alex Mills, Leonardo Margutti, Luke Bedford, David Bruce, Freya Waley Cohen and Rubens Askenar, experimenting with varying instrumental line-ups, making her own arrangements of a vast array of music  for unusual groups of instruments, and interweaving music poetry and storytelling to add another dimension to the concert experience. 

Her arrangements explore the parallels between composers both ancient and modern, allowing the music to speak on its own terms unconfined by historical context, and give the listener another lens through which to experience a piece of music as well as giving it another life. The often seemingly disparate groups of instruments used always afford a uniquely rich sonic experience. They have been performed in Westminster Abbey, the Wigmore Hall  and on BBC radio 3.

Clare’s recording output ranges from ultra classical contemporary chamber music by composers such as Michael Finnissey, Jennifer Fowler & Gabriel Jackson, to drones for Jonny Greenwood & sessions for Radiohead, Arcade Fire & Sir Paul McCartney. Her debut solo album The Isolated Cellist,  a collection of ancient & modern music for solo and layered cello was released by Stone Records in April 2021, and she is currently preparing to release her second solo album of contemporary music with NMC Recordings, which will feature new commissions from Edmund Finnis, Emily Hall, Nick Martin, Natalie Klouda, Alex Mills and Emilie Levienaise Farrouch.

She is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford where she studied Ancient & Modern History followed by postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music & the Hochshule für Künste in Bremen, Germany with internationally acclaimed cellist and teacher Alexander Baillie.

"she has a deep understanding of the way the music works and a joy in the simple act of playing which illuminates everything - from the most complex to the most basic music put in front of her." Harvey Brough - composer, producer, arranger