Boston Cellist Leo Eguchi Launches "UNACCOMPANIED" Project

The project debuts eight new commissioned solo pieces by first-generation American composers

Boston-based cellist Leo Eguchi will soon give the premiere concert of his new project, UNACCOMPANIED. For the concert, Eguchi has commissioned eight new works for solo cello, all of which have been written by first-generation American composers.

The composers involved in the project are Kenji Bunch, James Diaz, Frank Duarte, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jose Luis Hurtado, Shaw-Pong Liu, Earl Maneein, Kareem Rouston, and Milad Yousufi. Biographies of the composers can be found here.

The project will receive its premiere on Saturday, October 22, at 7:30 pm, in the Pao Arts Center in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood. Eguchi hopes the project will continue following its premiere performance and plans to further "UNACCOMPANIED" with a residency at Tufts University in 2023.

Leo Eguchi is currently the Principal Cello of the New Bedford Symphony, and also appears regularly with the Sheffield Chamber Players, Maine’s Portland Symphony, and the Boston Pops Orchestra.

“My young life in a small town was a split-screen existence,” said Eguchi of growing up as a first-generation American. “The experience was very different depending on whether I was out in public with the white or the Japanese side of my family.”

“Sometimes I move through society, accepted and respected as an artist,” he added. "But at other points, like when I’m not with my wife and daughter, I’ve had so many experiences of being disparaged, viewed as a threat or threatened, and abused by authorities.”

The UNACCOMPANIED concert is free, with a suggested donation of $10. You can register to attend, here.