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Luis (Louie) Leguia (born July 29, 1935) is a classically trained cellist formerly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He also traveling extensively around the world for solo performances, most often to South America. He is also the inventor/designer of the carbon fiber cello, as well as a line of other stringed carbon fiber instruments. Although starting the cello relatively late in life, he ultimately was able to train with notable cellists, including Pablo Casals, Arthur van den Bogaerde, Kurt Reher, Andre Navarra, and Leonard Rose.

Early Life

Family - Louie’s father was Jorge Leguia, the nephew of Augusto Leguia, President of Peru. While stationed as a consul general Jorge met Louie’s mother, Margaret (Meme) while she was employed as a secretary. After the Leguia regime fell out of power, Jorge was unable to find work during the Depression, and he returned to his home country when Louie was three.

Childhood - Louie grew up in Los Angeles, California moving sporadically between boarding houses. Louie started playing the double bass and trumpet in separate school orchestra at a middle school.

Early Teens - Louie was not a very good student and struggling with school, he dreamt of one day joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Using money saved from a paper route, Louie went to a local violin shop. The owner of the shop connected him with Arthur Van de Bogarde, principal cellist with the Disney Orchestra, who accepted him as a student under the condition that he practice two hours a day. Louie began skipping school, practicing the cello in his closet to muffle the noise. The untimely death of his mentor and father-figure Arthur Van der Bogarde a few months later left Louie shattered.

Classical Training

Cellist Cy Bernard, initially skeptical of Louie having only eight months of experience, was stunned after listening to Louie’s audition playing over the phone.

Granted a summer scholarship to the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Returned to L.A., studying under Kurt Reher, principal cello for 20th Century Fox and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

At seventeen, with a letter of introduction from Gabor Rejto, Louie auditioned for Pablo Casals; becoming his only scholarship student.

After studying with Casals for a year and a half, Louie returned to the United States to briefly study under Andre Navarra. Given a full scholarship to Juilliard, studying under Leonard Rose.

Trained at the Ecole Normale in Paris

At nineteen, Louie was offered principal cello with the Longine Symphonette, as well as been asked by Leopold Stokowski to be assistant principal cello and soloist with the Houston Symphony. He opted instead to join the Army.

Career

Upon leaving the military, Louie played with the National Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the Met Symphony. Ultimately joined the Boston Symphony in 1963.

He has made fifteen solo tours of South America, as well as performed widely in Canada and the United States.

First Performances - Boston premiere of Schoenberg’s cello concerto

World premiere performances of works by Robert Parris, Vincent Frohne, and Walter Piston, with the latter having written works expressly for Louie. Other composers who have written expressly for Louie were Edgar Valcarcel and Josep Soler.

Robert Evett composed a cello concerto for him, who gave the world premiere of the composition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Sabbatical from the BSO, performed the complete cello suites of Bach in Madrid, Spain. Also made recital and concerto appearances in Portugal, Berlin, Tubingen, and Belgium.

Carbon Fiber Cello

Louie became an avid sailor in the 1970s. While out on his catamaran, the vibrations of the hull inspired the idea of creating an instrument that was light and durable while having a beautiful quality of sound. In 1990 Louie made the first prototype from scratch out of fiberglass. It had the design of a traditional cello - including scrolls and cornices. With the desire to create an instrument with a more powerful sound, the second prototype did not have cornices nor scrolls, things traditional instruments need for structural stability.

The final cello was developed with a one-piece back side and neck, the top as a second piece, and the fingerboard as a third, separate piece. Louie met and formed a partnership with Steve Clark, an industry leader in supplying boats and accessories, and designer of the “C” class catamaran ‘Cognito’.