Her fingertips caress the strings, obediently shifting to hit the notes. The music swells to fill the room, and in a moment the world disappears; only a girl, her cello, and pure harmony remain.
I may be a cellist of twelve years, but compared to myself, sophomore Anna Mathias is Yo-Yo Ma.
“I’ve been playing cello since I was six,” she states. “So, fourteen years.” Her tone reflects a no-big-deal kind of attitude, but in truth, her musical upbringing could rival Beethoven’s. “My whole family majored in music and does music. It’s like our thing.”
For a brief moment, Anna mentions performing gigs with her mom and grandmother. Cool, but few things could have prepared me for what came next.
“I played three shows with [Bublé].” With a chuckle, she adds, “He’s really cool.”
Anna has played for arenas of thousands, contributing to shows like Trans-Siberian’s “Lost Christmas Eve” and Bublé’s “To Be Loved.” Yet in spite of her talent, Anna admits that the tours haven’t come without challenges.
“With Trans-Siberian…we didn’t get the music [beforehand]…I showed up [and it was] really, really hard.” Without missing a beat, she continues. “It was fun… there was fire everywhere.”
Fire, snow, lasers—having attended a concert myself, I know just what she means. But when the lights go off and the stages come down, Anna enjoys playing merely for self-expression.
“It’s a way to say something without having to speak,” she asserts. “I’ve been around music my whole life…so it’s something that I need.”
Admittedly, few of us will find ourselves performing for crowded arenas or concert halls. With this in mind, I ask Anna her advice for the amateur musician; little does she know I’m inquiring for myself.
“Find what you’re good at, find your niche,” she says. “You don’t have to be the world’s best cellist to go do cool things.” With a smile, she continues. “Find what you love to do and perfect that. Don’t worry about the other things.”
Although Anna will continue to tour professionally (namely, with Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 2014), she has no intention on majoring in music. Instead, she plans to receive her undergraduate degree in public relations (regardless, she notes, of how the School of Music feels). Even still, cello will always represent a significant facet of Anna’s life.
“I just like being on stage. When you have fifteen thousand people clapping…it’s a really cool feeling.”
