Grammy-winning US cellist Leah Coloff says she is delighted to finally be in Edinburgh to perform her Fringe show Super Second Rate.
The life-affirming autobiographical one-woman show, combining music, original songs and spoken word, explores what happened after she discovered a letter by her father.
It’s a tale that will remind many people of their own lives and parental relationships.
Leah said: “It’s great to be here at last, the chance to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe is a dream come true.
“While it’s specifically about my musical upbringing with my overbearing Dad, almost everyone can relate to the feeling that they can’t, or don’t want to, live up to their parents’ expectations.”
The production’s unusual name comes from her rejection of other people’s ideas of who and what she should be.
Leah said: “The phrase had been in the back of my mind for years. It was the perfect antidote to Dad’s obsessive need for my sister and I to strive for his idea of perfection.
“This is a story about learning to be yourself – and loving it.”
In fact, Leah has achieved remarkable success and respect in the musical world.
She has played alongside David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry and many more.
In the classical realm, Leah has worked with contemporary composers including Philip Glass, Ted Hearne, Joel Thome, Sean Friar and Michael Gordon.
She has also performed and recorded with artists including Trey Anastasio, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Michael Cerveris, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, Damon Albarn, Ziggy Marley, Linda Thompson, Dean & Britta, Angelique Kidjo, Nancy Sinatra and Mark Mulcahy.
And this year the multiple award-winning Leah, and her colleagues in the Scorchio Quartet and Tonality, took the Grammy for best new age, ambient or chant album for So She Howls by composer Carla Patullo.
Then there are her own songs and music, which have been characterised as honest, sensual, funny, brutal, pissed-off, beautiful and chilly sweet.
The New York Times says she “plays and sings with artful angularity and a rock-inflected assertiveness”.
Raised in the USA’s Pacific northwest, Leah’s music interweaves her classical roots with 70s punk rock in a style she identifies as CLUNK.
Leah was also a member of the seven-piece onstage band for Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! from its run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn to the Tony Award winning production on Broadway.
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Notes for editors
About Leah Coloff
- Leah studied with Irene Sharp at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and with Bernard Greenhouse at The New England Conservatory of Music.
- She is a professional cellist most recently performing as a member of the seven-piece onstage band in Daniel Fish’s Oklahoma! from its run at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn to the Tony Award winning production of Oklahoma! Broadway. She can also be heard on the Grammy nominated Oklahoma!cast Recording.
- Leah was the cellist for Ted Hearne’s The Source, produced by Beth Morrison Productions for Brooklyn Academy of Music and REDCAT in Los Angeles and can be heard on The Source (New Amsterdam), selected as one of the best classical recordings of 2015 by The New York Times and The New Yorker.
- Her multimedia autobiographical song cycle, ThisTree, premiered in the 2019 Prototype Festival and received commissioning, development, and production support from HERE as part of its artist residency programme. The New York Times declared ThisTree, “…forbidding stuff, but Ms. Coloff’s touch is light, her presence warm – she is, simply, honest”. I Care If You Listen expressed, “Coloff’s ability to merge the private and the collective allowed the entire piece of music-theater to become genuinely sincere without being overly sentimental.”
- Leah is a regular performer and band member for the Obie Award winning the Secret City and cellist for the Scorchio String Quartet, featured in the award-winning documentary, Inside the Perfect Circle: The Odyssey of Joel Thome.
Listings Details
- Venue: theSpace@Surgeons’ Hall, Haldane Theatre (Venue 53)
- Time: 17:20
- Dates: Previews August 2-4. Main run Aug 5-10, 12-17
- Duration: 50 min
- Ticket prices: Previews £10, £8 concessions. Main run £12, concessions £10
- Advisory: Age 12+ guideline
- Warnings: Contains distressing or potentially triggering themes
- Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com
Cast and creatives
- Performer: Leah Coloff
- Director: Raquel Cion
Instagram: @sawlimbedleah
Twitter: @saw_limbed_leah
Facebook: facebook.com/coloffmusic
Website: https://www.leahcoloff.com
For media information contact Matthew Shelley at SFPR on 07786 704299 or at [email protected].