You can measure the success of an artist by how much fame they have, how many records they sell. By these metrics, we'd argue that British cellist Steven Isserlis is only topped by the iconic Yo-Yo Ma. Or you can measure classical music glory by which artists want to perform with you, which composers want to write for you. For Isserlis, the list of his regular collaborators is a thick phonebook of excellence: pianist/genius Stephen Hough, pianist/Ives fanboy/performer at the SF Symphony this week's American Mavericks festival Jeremy Denk, violin megastar/subway busker Joshua Bell, pianist/composer Thomas Adès, pianist/composer/conductor Olli Mustonen and so on.

Steven will perform the Schumann cello concerto with the Philharmonia Baroque tonight at Herbst Theater (then tomorrow and Sunday in Berkeley and Tuesday in Palo Alto), and will return in May for the integral of Beethoven cello sonatas (there are five) with SF Performances. Schumann is not baroque music, but neither is the rest of the program: Brahms, and Mendelssohn (a distant relative of Steven, music runs in the family). No worries, Isserlis is famous for being true to the music, intensively studying scores and composers, and playing his Stradivarius with gut strings like back in the day, rather than the modern steel kind. The conductor, Nick McGegan is another Queen-decorated Brit (Officer of the British Empire to Isserlis's Commander). One step up, and they'll be Knights. We phoned with Steven on Tuesday afternoon.