Her name means ‘love and joy.’ That’s exactly what this cellist brings to her music

Ifetayo is Yoruban for love and joy, and one can’t think of a more appropriate name for Ifetayo Ali-Landing. The 18-year-old cellist has been bringing love and joy to audiences around the world with her virtuosity and charismatic personality.

The Harriman-Jewell Series will present Ali-Landing in a live-stream recital from the 1900 Building on Oct. 10. It’s a free Discovery concert and can be accessed from anywhere in the world at the Harriman-Jewell Series website.

Ali-Landing says she received her name from her great-grandmother.

“I had this whole naming ceremony when I was born, and she looked at me and said, ‘This child has love and joy.’”

Ali-Landing was born into a family that embraces music. Her mother runs a Suzuki violin school and all of her siblings play instruments. Ali-Landing started to play the violin when she was only 2, but switched to cello when she was 4.

“They needed a child to start their cello program, and since I was the youngest one in my family at the time, I was the one chosen to switch from violin to cello,” Ali-Landing said. “They all believed that I begged and pleaded to play the cello, but I don’t believe that. But I was 4, so believe who you want to believe.”

What everyone believes these days is that Ali-Landing is one of America’s finest young cellists. She was the Second Place Laureate in the Sphinx Competition in 2016 and the First Place Laureate in the junior division at the 2017 Sphinx Competition. She’s performed as a soloist with the New World Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta and many others.

In her young career, Ali-Landing has already had many extraordinary experiences, but she says one of her most memorable performances was at her mother’s school when she was 12.

“One of her friends came up to me and said, ‘I was having a hard day, but your performance made it better,’” Ali-Landing said. “I was like, wow, oh, my gosh. I didn’t know I could do that with just the few notes I’ve learned so far. I have people tell me I changed their life and now they want to play music. Just inspiring people makes me want to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Ali-Landing’s recital is one of the Harriman-Jewell Series’ free Discovery concerts, which Clark Morris, Harriman-Jewell’s executive and artistic director, thinks is the ideal way for the series to dip its toes into the world of live-streaming.

“We’ve been doing Discovery Concerts to open up the concert hall to new audiences, so we’re excited to use this format to hopefully open the floodgates and actually bring it to even more people,” he said.

While acknowledging that live-stream concerts can never completely replicate the live concert experience, Morris says they’re going to get as close as they can. As with everything the Harriman-Jewell Series undertakes, quality is of utmost importance.

“We’re working like mad to make sure the production quality is as high as it can be,” Morris said. “We want to make sure that we don’t diminish the brilliance of the artist in any way. We want the audience to have a great digital experience, as if they were sitting in the concert hall with the artist.”

Ali-Landing is no stranger to new technologies. She has a strong social media presence and has made a powerful TED Talk called “Classical Black,” in which she talks about her experience of being an African-American in the overwhelmingly white world of classical music.

“I was lucky enough to grow up thinking African-American people play classical music, that it wasn’t strange or odd,” she said. “It was normal for me. I didn’t know it wasn’t normal for everybody else until I was around 12.”

As a girl, Ali-Landing would watch her mother perform with orchestras, but as she grew older, she noticed that her mother was an exception.

“I started to notice that she was the only African-American person,” Ali-Landing said. “And I was, like, I wonder why that is. Unfortunately, my 8-year-old thought was ‘Oh, we must not be as good as everybody else.’ And, unfortunately, that is a thought that a lot of other people have, as well.”

In his book, “Nurtured by Love,” Shin’ichi Suzuki, who conceived of the Suzuki method, wrote, “If a child hears fine music from the day of his birth and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart.”

Ali-Landing also believes exposure to music is key.

“The motto for the Suzuki method is ‘Every child can,’” she said. “We need to put arts programs in all schools, not just rich ones, but all schools. We need to let everybody know that no matter what you look like, this is an area for you.”

7 p.m. Oct. 10. Free. Livestream at www.hjseries.org.

KC VITAS: Octet Octoberfest

Gardens have become popular venues for socially distant classical concerts in recent months. Unfortunately, the season when outdoor concerts can be enjoyed is rapidly coming to an end. KC VITAS, the enterprising choral ensemble devoted to new music, will offer one last chance to enjoy al fresco music with an Octoberfest concert Oct. 4 in the garden of the Simpson House.

The socially distanced concert will allow groups of up to five to enjoy a program of contemporary choral music along with a pretzel from KC Pretzel Boys and Octoberfest beer or pumpkin ale.

4 p.m. Oct. 4. The Simpson House, 4509 Walnut St. $50 for up to a party of five. www.kcvitas.org.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.