Maya Beiser: Salt (original) Maya Beiser

• Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980): Salt:
• 1 Mazzoli: Salt 1 (original) 03:15
• 2 Mazzoli: Salt 2 (original) 03:12
• 3 Mazzoli: Salt 3 (original) 05:21
• 4 Mazzoli: Salt 4 (original) 07:10
• 5 Mazzoli: Salt 5 (original) 02:37
• John Tavener (1944 - 2013): Lament To Phaedra:
• 6 Tavener: Lament To Phaedra (original) 14:31
• Meredith Monk (b. 1942): Hocket:
• 7 Monk: Hocket (original) 05:54
• Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 - 1787): Melody from Orfeo ed Euridice:
• 8 Gluck: Melody from Orfeo ed Euridice (original) 03:56
• Clarice Jensen: Salt Air, Salt Earth:
• 9 Jensen: Salt Air, Salt Earth (original) 15:28
• Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643): Lamento d’Arianna:
• 10 Monteverdi: Lamento d’Arianna (original) 04:54
• Yedidya Admon (1894 - 1982): Shedemati:
• 11 Admon: Shedemati (original) 05:06
• Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695): When I am Laid in Earth:
• 12 Purcell: When I am Laid in Earth (original) 07:03
• Total Runtime 01:18:27

Info for Maya Beiser: Salt (original)

A genre-defying new album, Salt unfolds as a ritual in movement—a sonic pilgrimage through loss, memory, resistance, and return. The album begins in stillness, in the suspended breath of a woman turning to look back, and from that moment it travels across centuries and sonic landscapes, carrying fragments of Baroque hymns, sacred chants, and contemporary lamentation.

With contributions from an extraordinary roster of collaborators—composer Missy Mazzoli, librettist Erin Cressida Wilson, composer-performers Clarice Jensen and Meredith Monk, vocalist Helga Davis and Odeya Nini— Beiser reimagines works by Monteverdi, Purcell, and Gluck alongside the original compositions, creating a soundscape that feels both ancient and urgently present.

Beiser’s cello, layered into cathedral-like resonance, becomes a kind of geological instrument—textured, weathered, elemental. In Salt, beauty becomes a fulcrum—balancing the longing for what might have been against the weight of what is. Past and present collapse into one resonant cry, exposing the quiet devastation of human choices.

Maya Beiser, cello, electronics
Helga Davis, vocals (tracks 1-5)
Odeya Nini, vocals (track 11)

Engineered and mixed by Dave Cook*
Mastered by Scott Hull
*Missy Mazzoli’s Salt was engineered by Lawson White, edited and mixed by Dave Cook and generously supported by Linda and Stuart Nelson
Recorded at The Art at Foothill Farm, Lenox, Massachusetts
Mixed at Area 52 Studios, Saugerties, NY
Mastered at Masterdisk Peekskill, NY

Maya Beiser
The New Yorker magazine once referred to Maya Beiser as “the cello goddess.” The Israeli-born cellist is equal parts glamour, passion, and musical artistry of the highest level, and she brings it all to everything she does – from her collaborations with Steve Reich, to her work with Brian Eno and Shirin Neshat, to her stage shows at BAM and other top venues around the world. Maya captivates audiences with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire, and relentless quest to redefine her instrument’s boundaries. The Boston Globe declares, “With virtuoso chops, rock-star charisma, and an appetite for pushing her instrument to the edge of avant-garde adventurousness, Maya Beiser is the post-modern diva of the cello.”

Raised in the Galilee Mountains in Israel, surrounded with the music and rituals of Jews, Muslims, and Christians, while studying classical cello repertoire, Maya has dedicated her work to reinventing solo cello performance in the mainstream classical arena. A featured performer on the world’s most prestigious stages from Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and London’s South Bank Centre to the Sydney Opera House, the Beijing Festival, and Taipei’s National Concert Hall, she has collaborated with artists across a wide range of musical styles, including Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Tan Dun, James Newton Howard and Carter Burwell, among many others. Maya’s 2012 production, Elsewhere: A CelloOpera, premiered at Carolina Performing Arts followed by a sold-out run at the BAM Next Wave Festival. Her latest project All Vows explores the dichotomy between the physical, external world we inhabit and the inner landscape of our secret selves; it premiered at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in March 2014.

In 2011, Maya was invited to present at the exclusive TED conference. Her TEDtalk performance has been watched by close to one million people and translated to 32 languages. In summer 2013, she was a featured guest alongside such luminaries as Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovi!, and Isabella Rossellini at ICASTICA 2013, an international festival celebrating women artists working in all artistic fields in Arezzo, Italy.

Maya is a graduate of Yale University and a founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Her vast discography includes five solo albums and many studio recordings and film music collaborations. Her 2010 album Provenance topped the classical and world music charts on both Amazon and iTunes and her album Time Loops was selected among NPR’s top 10 recordings of 2012.

Booklet for Maya Beiser: Salt (original)