Cellist Natalie Clein awarded OBE in Queen’s 2021 New Year Honours

For her services to music, acclaimed classical cellist Natalie Clein has been awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II.

Clein was among 250 announced for the OBE in the New Year’s Honours 2021 list, the December 31 publication of the names of new members. The OBE recognizes outstanding contributions to the arts and sciences, charitable endeavors and public service.

“I’m very surprised and grateful to receive an OBE for services to music, which I have had the marvelous fortune to love and play throughout my life. It’s a enormous privilege to be honored for a career that gives me so much joy,” Clein said.

Clein’s cello playing has been praised by Gramophone for its “astonishing range of colours and ... wide variety of expressive styles”.

In the course of her career, her skill on the cello has led to performances with renowned orchestras including the Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Montreal Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, New Zealand Symphony and Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires.

She has performed with conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Sir Roger Norrington, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Leonard Slatkin, Stéphane Denève and Heinrich Schiff. She is an exclusive recording artist for Hyperion and previously released three recordings for EMI.