How to Become a Cello: Royal Ballet Principal Marcelino Sambé in Cathy Marston’s “The Cellist,” Royal Ballet, 20 October – 2 November 2023
Marcelino Sambé and Lauren Cuthbertson in The Cellist by Cathy Marston for The Royal Ballet ©2020 ROH. Photograph by Bill Cooper
There are some ballet’s that are so unusual and atmospheric that they stay with you. Cathy Marston’s one-act ballet The Cellist is one of them. Created for London’s Royal Ballet in 2020, the ballet tells the tragic story of star cellist Jacqueline du Pré (1945-1987). Du Pré was one of the most gifted and popular classical musicians of her generation. After her marriage to conductor Daniel Barenboim, du Pré and Barenboim became the golden couple of classical music. But in 1971, du Pré felt that she was losing the sensitivity in her fingers and other parts of her body. Her last public concerts took place in February 1973. Eight months later, the 28-year-old was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She died at the age of 42 in 1987.
TWoA spoke to Royal Ballet principal Marcelino Sambé, who created the part of “The Instrument” – Jacqueline du Pré’s cello – in 2020. Sambé is performing the part again in the Royal Ballet’s current run of the ballet.
What was your reaction when you found out that you would be creating the part of Jacqueline du Pré’s instrument?
We heard about this possibility of this new creation, and I got so, so excited because we got into the research of it all and trying to understand her life. We had heard of her, but I was more aware of Barenboim than of Jacqueline du Pré. It was an amazing way to get to know her story: going back to the archives, seeing footage of her when she was really young, doing her first concert, the prodigy that she already was at such a young age, the promise. In a way, in these positions at the Royal Ballet, we have had similar stories and a similar way of life, we all had talent, discovered at a young age. We all connected deeply to her story instantly.
When you were creating the part with Cathy Marston, what was the biggest challenge?
I think the partnering, because, obviously, we didn’t want the cello to be another man partnering a girl. There are a lot of moments where Jacqueline, in this case Lauren (Cuthbertson) is getting lifted but from behind me, in my back. In a lot of the leaps, a lot of steps I’m not facing her and meeting her. So technically, it was really quite challenging to make things look original and interesting from such different angles. This wasn’t easy. We took many, many, many, many months to create this ballet. We were in the studio for many months, trying to figure out how we are going to make this character read in a cool and interesting way.
Lauren Cuthbertson and Marcelino Sambé rehearsing The Cellist, photo by Gavin Smart.
How did you approach the pas de deux emotionally? How did you try to make this feel different from a regular pas de deux between a man and a woman?
I think we connected a lot with the feeling of loss. How it would feel if suddenly, illness took all my livelihood and my talent away from me and my practice. The biggest sensation, the biggest feeling that I try to convey is this deep connection with her art, with her instrument, and the incredibly painful and tragic ending when she no longer can exercise her talent and her talent disappears from her body. She loses movement, she loses everything. I think loss is the biggest emotion connected with this piece.
What dramatic, emotional evolution did you go through when you were building and developing the character of “The Instrument”?
Cathy was very clear that in the beginning of the piece, I’m setting the idea of this man being a cello. I’m quite an anonymous energy that is more secretive in the beginning. As we do the first concert and I understand that the connection that I have with this musician is incredible, I start becoming more music, more a sensation, a feeling, almost like a magic creature around her and Barenboim. Then our connection gets deeper and deeper. In the end, the emotional bond is so huge because we are basically one. Without her, I can’t exist. It’s basically like both of us being together at the end of our life.
Marcelino Sambé, Matthew Ball and Lauren Cuthbertson in The Cellist, The Royal Ballet ©2020 ROH. Photograph by Bill Cooper
What had the biggest impact on you when you were shaping your character physically: the general physicality of the cello as an instrument, the quality of its sound, or recordings of Jacqueline du Pré’s actual playing?
I saw a lot of recordings and the way she moved when she played her cello. There is some research that says that the cello is the instrument closest to the human voice. There is a big connection between those two things. In the beginning, Cathy told me that she really got inspired by this character in the movie Lolita, this more mature man who is always present in the movie. There is a god-like energy to this character.
Did you talk to any musicians about their relationship to their instrument?
I actually had a chance to meet the cellist Sheku (Kanneh-Mason). I asked him how he feels about it. I had the privilege to see him play in very beautiful settings, at dinners, at very small concerts. My god, he’s fantastic. I was connecting to the passion that he feels. He says that his cello playing is so connected to his brain, it’s almost like brain and instrument are coming together to create this sound. I thought that was such a beautiful thing to really be aware of when I’m playing this part, that my brain and Lauren’s brain are like one, in a way. Her movement really replicates something within me that might be invisible, but it’s there.
Did Sheku have a chance to see you perform the piece?
He loved it. I think he’s coming to watch it again this year, which is exciting. We are so lucky that we rehearse as well with Hattie, the cellist who plays with us in the ballet. She comes to the studio all the time and plays the cello for us instead of the piano. When we are rehearsing, we get the luxury of having this amazing cellist play with us as well and we get the sound.
After getting so deeply involved with the cello, do you feel differently about the cello as an instrument?
For sure. It was so inspiring that we got to know the history and the whole world that Jacqueline and Barenboim inhabited. I also saw Barenboim conduct live, which opened a whole new world to me, the world of musicians and their careers. And the cello. Listening to Elgar’s cello concerto! It was always a very special piece to me. When I first came to England, it was one of the first pieces that I studied. I saw it live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. So, this was an experience of coming full circle. I am more aware now of the cello when I go to concerts, I always try to really look at them. I just have a deep connection. And I never really thought that this role was going to connect so much to my career. I just thought it’s exciting to get a role created on me but the impact that it has had on me, with so many people who came to watch, it has really been a pinnacle, a moment that has been very special in my career because it is such an unusual character. I really enjoyed creating it and being a part of this.
Marcelino Sambé performs in The Cellist 20 October – 2 November 2023, Royal Ballet, London.
Click here to read “Listen to Jacqueline du Pré!”