Renowned cellist and teacher Aldo Parisot died last weekend at the age of 100. Parisot's legacy goes far beyond Yale University, where for 60 years he taught some of the best cellists in the world.Yale Cellos is a Grammy-nominated ensemble founded by Also Parisot in 1983 - just one small aspect of his work at the school. Robert Blocker, Dean of the Yale School of Music, told Connecticut Public Radio Parisot's contributions to Yale are numerous and invaluable.
"Having his wisdom about music over such a long period of time -100 years of making music on the great stages of the world, playing with the great conductors, educating and training some of the great artists, knowing the literature," said Blocker. "To talk with him about music was like having a living music history lesson."
Before Parisot came to Yale in 1958, the Brazilian-born cellist had an international career, performing with some of the best symphonies in the world.
But it was as a teacher that Parisot found his calling, according to Blocker.
"He was relentless in his tenacity to get people to develop their talent to the fullest extent," he said. "Not to compete with someone else, not to play like someone else, but to find their own musical voice, and to share that musical expression every time they put that bow and cello in their hands."
Parisot taught several generations of great cellists, including Ralph Kirshbaum, Yale cello teacher Ole Akahoshi, and Carter Brey, principal cellist with the New York Philharmonic.
Aldo Parisot retired from Yale just last summer. He died Saturday at his home in Guilford.
