Described by the The New Yorker as a "cello goddess" and by the San Francisco Chronicle as "the queen of post-minimalist cello," Maya Beiser has captivated audiences worldwide with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire, and relentless quest to redefine her instrument's boundaries.

Over the past decade, she has created new repertoire for the cello, commissioning and performing many works written for her by today's leading composers. She has collaborated with composers Tan Dun, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen and Mark O'Connor among many others. Maya is a featured performer on the world's most prestigious stages, having appeared recently at the Sydney Opera House, New York City's Lincoln Center, the World Expo in Nagoya, Japan, and in Barcelona, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, and San Francisco.

Maya has conceived and produced her critically acclaimed multimedia concerts including "World To Come" which premiered as part of the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall's new venue, Zankel Hall. Highlights of her "World To Come" included performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Mondavi Performing Arts Center and the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. She has premiered her new project, "Almost Human" at Carnegie' Zankel Hall to a sold out house on March 2006, a concert chosen by The New York Times critics as among the "Best of 2006". Highlight of the past season included her debut performance at London's Barbican Hall, return appearances at the Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, as well as concerts at major venues in Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle.

In the past year Maya has been a featured soloist on several film soundtracks. Collaborating with renowned film composer James Newton Howard, she is the featured soloist on M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening", Denzel Washington's "The Great Debaters", and Edward Zwick's "Blood Diamond."

Maya's performance of Steve Reich's Cello Counterpoint is featured on the Nonesuch CD "You Are," which was chosen by The New York Times as one of the top albums of 2005. She is also the soloist on the Sony Classical CD release of Tan Dun's "Water Passion," and has performed his Academy Award-winning score Crouching Tiger Concerto with orchestras around the globe.

Maya's recent appearances with orchestras included the St. Paul Camber Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony, and the China Philharmonic among many others. She has released four solo CD's with Koch Entertainment label including "Oblivion", "Kinship", "World To Come" and "Almost Human".

Raised on a kibbutz in Israel by her French mother and Argentinean father, Maya Beiser is a graduate of Yale University. Her major teachers were Aldo Parisot, Uzi Weizel, Alexander Schneider, and Isaac Stern. Maya was the founding cellist of the new music ensemble, the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

Carter Burwell describes his Blood Complex as “a ‘mash-up’ of music from my Coen Brothers’ scores.” For the occasion, he has assembled an ensemble with violinist Laura Seaton (ex-Soldier String Quartet), woodwind player Bogdan Hilash (Meredith Monk Ensemble), and the composer on piano, plus a guitarist, bassist, and percussionist to be announced.

“The music ranges from Blood Simple to A Serious Man,” says Burwell. “My hope is to investigate common currents that run through these scores, but also to push the emotional confusion that results from layering themes that evoke different characters and different stories simultaneously.”

Burwell’s appearance caps a busy month for the composer, as two films with his scores make their way to the multiplexes: the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, opening October 2, and Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, bowing on October 16. His score for the hit film Twilight has become a best-selling soundtrack CD on the Atlantic label. Writes Film Music Magazine, “As good as Twilight’s vocal numbers might be, there’s no denying the important, almost ever-present power that Burwell’s work gives to the film’s dreamy atmosphere.”