Cellista is a Los Angeles-based performance artist with roots in the Bay Area and Colorado and over the past several years she has created what she calls stage poems which are narrative multimedia works after those of artist, filmmaker and writer Jean Coctea drawing together seemingly disparate thematic elements and modes of expression. In 2021 she performed at Lincoln Center and she has worked with Tanya Donelly, John Vanderslice, Troyboy, Don McLean, Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter, Van Dyke Parks, Toni! Toni! Toné and Pam the Funkstress. Her work has been heard and scene on film and television and she has appeared as an extra on the TV shows Better Things and Will & Grace playing cello. In fall 2021 her stage poem Pariah explored themes of othering and exile within communities and it featured a companion book by philosopher Frank Seeburger. In 2024 Cellista is unveiling her latest stage poem Élégie. Directed and performed by the artist, Élégie is a one-woman show for cello, static trapeze and cinema. Choreographed by Cellista, Kennedy Kabasares and Joel Baker with film editing by Jennifer Gigantino and cinematography by Bryan Gibel, the one hour piece stars Cellista as the titular figure, a blackbird who shape shifts into human form and back. According to the press release for the stage poem, “Élégie awakens one day in her magical tree outside the walled off city of Cloture to find its entire population has disappeared. In their departure, the citizens have left behind a city of altars, decorated with unlit candles; each containing the memories and mementos of the banished citizens. Élégie shape shifts into human form to find out what happened to Cloture’s disappeared. In her journey she finds serenity.” As with Cellista’s previous stage poem the performance will be a uniquely evocative experience that brings those in attendance deeply into the story with visuals, music, spoken word, the choreography and the event’s baked in literary dimensions that blur the lines between all mediums involved.
Listen to our interview with Cellista on Bandcamp and witness the event yourself at one of the upcoming performances listed below. Links to all things Cellista also included further down.
March 23rd, 2024 – Boulder’s Dairy Center for the Arts
Cellista debuts Élégie
Prologue by: The Drood
Dustin Schultz (Skinny Puppy) and Hilary Whitmore
7:30pm Tickets: $10-15
April 13th, 2024 – San Jose’s Anno Domini Gallery
Élégie
Cellista live loop set followed by Élégie
7:30pm open to public
April 27th, 2024 – Santa Monica’s Highways Performance Space
Élégie
Prologue performance tbd
7:30pm Tickets $15-20
June 7th, 2024 – Jacksons Lane in London
Élégie
Prologue by Hilary Whitmore
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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