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Clara Shandler: the sidewalk cellist.

Photo courtesy Steve Porte

BC cellist brings new edge to classical music

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:21 PST, Fri November 8, 2024

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She’s a songwriter of haunting melodies which skate just to the romantic side of edgy, on which she directs socially resonant lyrics under which pulses deeply soulful playing.

Her music has been featured in films and has been performed by small ensembles and orchestras. She has collaborated with dancers, poets and theatre productions to create memorable experiences and has just released her fourth full length album called Pacific Rain. She is known as the Sidewalk Cellist, and we sat down with musician, composer, singer, songwriter and teacher, Clara Shandler, in the Our City Tonight studio.

OCT: Welcome Clara. We met you through one of our very close friends who has sadly recently left us. Peter Moskos discovered you playing music on the sidewalk as your Sidewalk Cellist name denotes. Peter brought you home to meet his lovely wife Margaret and had you over for dinner and at other gatherings. He was so impressed with your music, and he was also one of those people out looking for hidden gems in the music industry here in Vancouver. We’re so glad he had a passion for this and for sharing your talent with us. We have been listening to your music for several years now on your CDs. What was the inspiration for your fourth album that you just released?

CS: Thank you. This album sort of began in 2018. I had just lost a very dear friend who was basically my fairy godmother. She swooped into my life and showed me how to take care of myself, how to set boundaries, how to say no, because at the time I was going in all directions. She would call me her peripatetic cellist. I have forgotten who said this quote, but the quote is “Be what you miss the most about the people who are gone”.

So, this album is everything that she taught me. It’s the songs that I wrote for the two of us to play together. And also, having been through the pandemic, and looking around at the world and seeing so much chaos, so much division, the thesis of this album is that our similarities vastly outnumber our differences. That no matter how different our lives are, we share the same fate, we share the same home. And if we start treating each other as one giant family of human beings, we might actually stand a chance.

OCT: Well, that certainly describes our mutual friend Peter Moskos, and he embodied that belief. He just embraced everybody that he came across and he was one of the best networkers for bringing people together. And that’s how we got to meet you. Let’s talk a little bit about your background as you’ve had a fascinating career already. How did you become a cellist and where did that take you?

CS: I started playing the cello when I was three. I was very inspired by my older sister and my dad who were both playing the cello and I kind of wanted to be just like them. I was enrolled into cello lessons and did the classical music thing for over 10 years.

Then as a teenager, I had a punk phase and I was just about ready to throw the cello to the wind and pick up an electric guitar when a mutual friend introduced me to the music of Shostakovich. That’s when I realized that classical music actually can be cool and it can be hard-core. That kept me with one foot in the classical world, one foot in the rock ‘n’ roll world. And from there, I started busking, I think I was age 15 at the time. When you’re on the street you just meet all sorts of people. That experience led to invitations to do music with poetry, music with theater, music with dance, and through music I got to travel all over the world.

OCT: You really have been all over the world and understand you’re also a teacher. You have a very interesting style of teaching because you don’t just use one set style for every student. You cater to each person’s learning style. And I think that’s what really sets you apart in the teaching world.

CS: Yes, and that’s another wonderful thing about this current project. I get to bring together all the parts of myself. So, I not only recorded this album, I also wrote out all of the sheet-music arrangements for the 12 tracks on this album. With the help of a few musician friends, I’m arranging the sheet music for all the musical instruments in a typical student orchestra. This way I get to teach these songs to my students, and I get to send the music off into the world to be played by amateur clarinetists, tuba players, or whatever musical instrument they play.

OCT: That sounds wonderful. We love your music and we hope that through this interview we encourage people to find out more about you.

CS: You can go to sidewalkcellist.com plus I am on Facebook, and I have recently joined Instagram. I also have a YouTube channel and my music is on Spotify, and Apple Music.

OCT: We should also mention that you are currently touring and performing in concerts around the city.

CS: For details on the upcoming tour, people can check out the information on my website for the exact dates and locations.