Carnets de là-bas

Through personal memories of the esteemed pedagogue Natalia Shakhovskaya, and in collaboration with Clément Cogitore, Sonia Wieder-Atherton crafts an intimate tribute in words, music, and images to the woman who shaped her artistry.

Beyond the geographical elsewhere—the là-bas that Wieder-Atherton evokes in these reconstructed notebooks from the 2020 lockdown—lies an inner, transformative journey: that of a 19-year-old student arriving at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the 1980s to study under Shakhovskaya. There, she received a profound musical education, one that continues to shape her, infused with the unbreakable bond she formed with the Russian cellist.

Clément Cogitore’s video creation intertwines Wieder-Atherton’s intimate narrative with the voice of her instrument, capturing their singular, enigmatic beauty. And in the process, these fragments of memory become ours as well.