Eric Siblin

Eric Siblin approaches music as a reporter, historian, and curious listener rather than as a conventional academic specialist. The Cello Suites began after a recital at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory introduced him to Bach’s six works for solo cello. His book braids three narratives: Bach and the vanished autograph manuscript, Pablo Casals and the music’s modern revival, and Siblin’s own search through archives, performances, interviews, and lessons. House of Anansi first issued it in Canada, and Grove Press published a United States edition in 2011. It became a Canadian bestseller, won the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize, and reached several national award shortlists. Siblin studied at Concordia University before joining The Canadian Press and the Montreal Gazette, including a decade as a pop-music columnist. He later wrote Studio Grace and the historical mystery The Fatal Scroll. The Cello Suites turns that journalistic background toward classical music, showing how composition, performance, politics, and rediscovery accumulate around a work across three centuries.