The music world saw the passing of a giant this past weekend as legendary Hungarian cellist Janos Starker died on Sunday at the age of 88. Starker’s presence in the music community was so great and so extraordinary that to try to remember him in writing is almost an impossible task. The course of his life leaps off the page as if written into a movie: child prodigy survives Nazi concentration camp to find world renown as a cellist through hard work, talent, and extraordinary resilience. Despite the dramatic events of his life and the exceptional nature of his success, Starker’s legacy is one that truly is and always has been about the music.

Starker was born to Jewish parents in Hungary in 1924 and was given a cello before his sixth birthday. He made quick work of learning the cello, giving his first public performance at the age of six and entering the Franz Liszt Academy of Budapest the next year. He debuted in performance at the Academy at age 11 and made his professional debut at the age of 14. Coming of age as he did in troubled political times, Starker’s early career encountered the most harrowing of setbacks: he and his family were sent to a Nazi concentration camp for three months during World War II. He and his parents survived, but his two violinist elder brothers did not. After being released from the camp, Starker worked his way to Paris as an electrician and a sulfur miner–but he released his first recording in that same year. That disc, the 1946 recording of Kodaly’s Solo Sonata, met with great success, winning a Grand Prix du Disque and putting Starker into the international eye. Of his brush with death in the concentration camps, he said, “I had very little chance of surviving WWII. And when I survived it, I said I should make it justifiable why I stayed alive.”

He did so with unbelievable vigor, arriving in the United States in 1948 and quickly rising through the ranks of American orchestras, including the Dallas Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Chicago Symphony. He felt that his calling, though, was as a teacher, and he left his orchestral life to pursue a career as an international soloist and teacher. “I’ve been caught confessing that basically I was born to be a teacher,” he said. “People question the validity of it, because I played all those 3, 4, 5,000 concerts in my life. But the fact is, I think I was put on earth to be a teacher.”

To that end, Starker joined the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music in 1958–where he remained until his death. To enumerate his playing and teaching achievements is an almost insurmountable task: Starker played all of the greatest repertoire with all of the great orchestras, recording much of it, and shaping the face of modern cello-playing with his technique books and his teaching. To all living cellists, Starker was a universal presence in our lives, and that in itself speaks to an extraordinary generosity of character. Not content to preach his musical gospel from a stationary pulpit in Indiana, Starker traveled the world to teach students everywhere.

Nor was he a man of frothy, intangible musical ideas that do little to help the players on the ground: he was a musician of exacting standards with a strong sense of pragmatism that pervaded his approach to teaching and to playing–his was a masterclass that left every participant and audience member alike humming with ideas that they would take home and try immediately, and they would work. His colleague and friend Menachem Pressler said of him, “His standard was very, very high. But he was a perfectionist, so during performance he was very concerned with perfection — and he was perfect.”

Starker’s dedication to excellence–to perfection–rendered him both a beautiful player and a demanding and effective teacher. No metaphorical nonsense, no frills, no hysterical showmanship: Starker’s teaching was lean and focused, practical but utterly musical, just like his playing and just like man himself. That quest for perfection was no empty technical ambition: it was rooted completely in the service of the music, and it is this service to music that has inspired generations of modern cellists–and will continue to inspire future generations for years to come.  It is simply impossible to imagine a world without Janos Starker. Thanks to his unflagging, tireless work as a teacher and his vast catalog of brilliant recorded performances, there will never really be a world without his indispensable presence.

To share your remembrances of Professor Starker, please visit the following memorial site at the Jacobs School of Music.

The post Honoring the Life of Janos Starker, Master Cellist appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Last week, New York Philharmonic Principal Cellist Carter Brey gave the first of his two planned recitals of the complete Bach cello suites. The recitals are part of the New York Philharmonic’s month-long “Bach Variations” festival, which has largely focused on Bach’s orchestral works, showcasing the varied results that can be achieved on modern instruments in a modern orchestra by four conductors who have a varying approach to the incorporation of Baroque performance practice. Mr. Brey’s recitals form a welcome change of pace in the festival, showcasing his own personal investigation of his relationship with Baroque playing. Mr. Brey performed on Wednesday for a sold-out audience to laudatory reviews that recognized his personal relationship to the massive undertaking: the New York Times called his performance a “labor of love,” noting that Mr. Brey delivered “thoughtful, beautifully shaped, alert to contrapuntal lines and overall structure.” Above all, Mr. Brey has been very clear from the outset of this project that he has a close personal relationship with the music he will perform again tonight.

Bach is, for many performers, the most personal of all music in the repertoire. For solo string players especially, unaccompanied literature is sparse and rarely affords the artist an opportunity to immerse himself in a complete universe in the way that Bach does. String players so often work in collaboration with others, and the work of learning Bach’s music alone invites–and often demands–the development of a personal and unique relationship with not only the notes and the structure of the music, but the aesthetic and the flow. The genius of Bach’s music has inspired centuries of study, and scholars have been able to reconstruct the Baroque performance practice with astonishing detail–so much detail, in fact, that a student of Bach’s music can often feel that he or she is duty-bound to present the music as more of a living artifact than an organically performed piece of music. This depth of study is somewhat at odds with the sheer musical impulse that Bach arouses in the performer: the urge to bring forth the music in the most natural way possible, since it often seems that Bach’s incredible suites are in and of themselves a force of nature.

The tension between these two forces–the Baroque performance practice and the modern musical instinct–creates a musical approach that is completely different for every performer. Each player presents a different proportion of Baroque to modern in his concept, and Mr. Brey’s own performance has showcased his exploration of the Baroque beautifully. For those who could not attend the recitals, some understanding of Mr. Brey’s blend of modern and Baroque elements can be seen in the very approach to building the cellos that he performs his Bach cycle on.

As we reported last week, Mr. Brey chose to perform his Bach cycle on two cellos made by luthier Jim McKean. As McKean writes on his website, “Carter’s concept of the music had evolved considerably over the years, and he wanted to ground his interpretation in Baroque performance practice,” and it was only fitting that he turn to his old friend to help him find the right instrument. Rather than seeking out a Baroque cello to perform on, Mr. Brey instead asked that his contemporary cello be adapted into a Baroque-style instrument. Having made the first step into Baroque territory by practicing with a Baroque bow, Mr. Brey wanted to see if it was possible to modify the set-up on his McKean cello to create the Baroque sound and response that he was looking for. Brey and McKean consulted with William Monical, the “dean of Baroque instruments,” to determine what needed to be done. It could easily be done, they determined, with a different bridge, tailpiece, and an endbutton instead of a pin, and maybe a different sound post.

Less straightforward was Mr. Brey’s next idea: he wanted to play the Sixth Suite on a five-string cello, the instrument that it was written for. Five-string cellos are hardly commonplace today, despite the popularity of performing the Sixth Suite. The last of the cycle, it is the longest, most ornate, and is in many ways the most demanding, in large part because it calls for the cellist to play in much higher positions than the other suites do. The five-string cello eliminates this technical difficulty, allowing passages that would be performed in modern practice on a modern cello in thumb positions to be executed in neck positions. McKean had never even seen a five-string cello in a museum collection, much less in real life, and Brey would need time to get his fingers on a five-string to learn the appropriate fingerings. Says McKean, “Adding a new string disrupts a lifetime of ingrained shifts and bow crossings. It would be like relearning to ride a bicycle, but with your hands crossed.”

The project was no less daunting for the luthier. McKean adds, “In some ways it was an odd project; the literature for the 5-string cello begins and ends with one single piece of music: the Sixth Suite. I had just agreed to spend a month making a cello for thirty-two minutes of music. But so what? It was thirty-two minutes of the most glorious music ever composed – and this was a chance to hear it as Bach wrote it.” The process of making the 5-string was an arduous one, and one that presented a host of challenges. As McKean tells it,

It was well after Labor Day before I could begin work on the 5-string. As I was making it, Carter was refining his approach and style, and working with Bill on different strings and adjustments. But I was growing increasingly skeptical that the cello was going to work – the response was too slow, the sound lacking that focus and resonance when it’s properly centered. It confirmed my initial reservations about the cello: that the gut strings were just too short to maintain proper tension….The turning point was when Carter decided to drop the pitch to 415; this reduced the tension even further. The strings were perilously close to the point where even the pitch itself becomes uncertain – it will waver as the bow hits and then pulls the string. As much as he would never say it, it was clear to me that the cello was just not working the way he wanted it to. It was built for a soloist playing the modern literature: sostenuto, with full pressure for the full length of the bow. The Baroque style of bowing is completely different. Carter calls it gestural. It’s almost like plucking, in a way; a firm attack, but then the bow pulls away, letting the string ring (he demonstrates this in an interview on the Strings website). A cello designed for that can be adapted for a more contemporary style, but there’s a limit to how far a cello designed for the Romantic literature can be retrofitted. You can kind of get there, but it will never be exactly right.

The solution turned out to be a fitting metaphor for the entire process of learning Bach as a modern player, a serendipitous solution brokered by blending the most compatible attributes from both eras. McKean ended up using his son’s cello–an instrument he had made with a different sound and playing aesthetic in mind. Whereas Mr. Brey plays the instrument of a principal cellist and modern soloist–made for big playing and huge sound–McKean made his son’s cello as a vehicle for chamber music, not playing to the back of big halls: while he enjoyed playing, his son was not on a conservatory track. The model he used was rounder, with a fuller arch and a deeper channel: “the f-holes cut to make the top more flexible, the ribs shallower for an easy and quick response – it would work perfectly with a Baroque setup.”

And it did. The hybrid cello met with Brey’s approval, and when he played it for McKean to display the fruits of their collaboration, the reason for the five-string labor of love became apparent:

When he reached the part that gives cellists nightmares – the endless shift up the fingerboard – he instead just used the new top string. It was completely different from anything I had heard before. It sounded so natural; it danced. It was as though the missing channel on a stereo had finally been hooked up and I could finally hear the music in its entirety….Making the cello had turned out to be as much fun as I had ever had – designing it, making the composite fingerboard, shaping the wider neck; most especially, cutting the rosette. But hearing the Sixth Suite as it was meant to be – that was a gift. Making instruments in some ways is just a matter of making things right; and this was the way it was supposed to be.

To see more on the collaboration of Carter Brey and Jim McKean, visit McKean’s website. Also check out the two videos below of Brey in which he discusses the history of the score of the Suites, as well as the evolution of his concept from the traditional Romantic performance to one that incorporates historically informed performance practices.

The post Bach to the Future: Bringing Baroque Music to Life appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

This week one of Ovation Press’ own editors will mark a significant item off of his list of professional “to-do” list as a cellist by performing the entirety of the Bach Cello Suites as a complete set. Carter Brey, Principal Cellist of the New York Philharmonic is scheduled to give two concerts: Wednesday March 27 and next week on the 1st of April.

Both of these concerts have been sold out all month, with a constantly growing waiting list of names. This is not surprising at all considering Mr. Brey’s highly-acclaimed status. He has held the post of NY Phil’s Principal Cellist since his appointment in 1996. He made his debut as a soloist with the orchestra in May of 1997 with Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations under Music Director Kurt Masur.

Since then he has cemented an awe-aspiring performance record that includes the Elgar Cello Concerto (with André Previn conducting), William Schuman’s A Song of Orpheus (with Christian Thielemann conducting), Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote (with former Music Director Zubin Mehta conducting), and the Brahms Double Concerto (with Christoph Eschenbach conducting and Glenn Dicterow as Concertmaster).

With all of this repertoire under his belt, this will be the first time that Carter Brey performs the complete set of Bach Cello Suites. Ticket sales don’t lie: it’s obvious that audiences are very interested to see him perform these staples of the cello literature.

However, just as exciting as the way in which Mr. Brey will grace the ears of listeners on Wednesday is the instrumental setup he will have with him. He will be performing the cycle using two cellos outfitted in the style of Baroque instruments. Mr. Brey has also been performing on a cello with a Baroque setup during NY Phil’s orchestral program “The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival,” which started at the beginning of March and runs through April 6. The premier of Brey with the complete Cello Suites is part of this series.

The two Baroque-style cellos that Carter Brey is using were made by luthier James McKean, who has been a major force in the legendary craft for over three decades. McKean learned from some of the greatest sources of education in the world of violinmaking, including Vahakn Nigogosian whose shop was a destination for some of the world’s finest musicians.

The Nigogosian shop afforded him (McKean) the opportunity to study and work on some of the rarest and most celebrated antique instruments. Equally important, though, was being able to learn the fine points of sound and set up from Nigo, one of the world’s acknowledged experts in realizing the full potential of instruments, antique or contemporary.

James McKean wrote to us earlier in the month about Carter Brey and the cellos that he would be performing the Bach solo Cello Suites with:

He (Carter Brey) will be playing on two of my cellos — for the first five, a classical four-string, set up in Baroque disposition. For the 6th, though, he’ll be playing on a five-string cello that I made for him so that he could perform it as originally written. For me, as a maker, in order to get a clear mental image of the cellos before beginning construction, I asked him to talk about the suites and his interpretation.

In the two videos below Mr. Brey reviews the history of the score of the Suites, as well as the evolution of his concept from the traditional Romantic performance to one that incorporates historically informed performance practices. The videos include demonstrations of specific passages that employ the cello in a “Baroque disposition,” with a matching bow.

Also, check out this video below which shows a live performance of Bach Cello Suite No. 5: Prelude by Carter Brey.

We’ve been extremely fortunate to have Mr. Brey as a contributor to our scores at Ovation Press. Stay tuned for another follow-up piece next week when one of our contributors will go into more detail about the McKean-Brey story, the instruments that Mr. Brey is performing on, and the topic of period performance.

In the meantime, you can learn more about Carter Brey and his scores at Ovation Press by visiting his editor profile.

The post Brey and McKean Bring Baroque Bach to Audiences appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen Keeps Classical Music Current and Vital

The Finnish-born conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen represents somewhat of a dying breed in classical music culture: that of the composer-conductor hybrid. Although back in the day this way the norm, the modern world has caused the two professions to become increasingly specialized, with composers sitting in the front rows scribbling notes on their scores while conductors pick through the piece with orchestra, turning around frequently to ask questions. Society seems to have decided that the two professions have become too complex to be done by the same person. This is not true of Salonen, however. He’s received praise for both his compositions—his violin concerto won the  Grawemeyer Award earlier this year—and he’s been known as a top notch conductor through his work with the LA Phil, the Finnish Radio Symphony, and the Philharmonia Orchestra for decades. He clearly has no problem handling both roles:

But being a conductor and composer in the 21st century means a lot more than just waving a stick and coming up with melodies, at least for Salonen. His view of the modern musician is one that helps classical music to grow, to help it remain vital instead of alien to concert audiences. One of Salonen’s favored methods of doing this is through technology. For example, next month the Philharmonia Orchestra is coming out with a digital app in which Salonen is your musical host. In the app, he explains what’s going on with the different sections of the orchestra and explains all of the aspects that might seem a bit dated—the 19th century dinner suits, the random person waving a stick frantically on a wooden box. Salonen, a self-proclaimed tech geek, hopes that technology can help classical music cut through “pop-culture noise” that has become particularly deafening in last decade.

But, of course, technology alone won’t save keep classical music alive and relevant. Its repertoire needs to continue to grow and adapt also. As a composer, Salonen contributes to this, but he also uses his experience to inform his programming choice. Having studied with Lutoslawski, as a conductor Salonen is intimately familiar with both the current music scene and the very recent past. His insights into repertoire help him portray classical music as something contemporary, something that is alive and relevant.

“How do these gigantic trees of Northern California have this incredible longevity?” he said. “Of course it has to do with the fact they keep growing. If our repertoire doesn’t keep growing, it will stagnate and ultimately die.”

This is exactly what is necessary. I’m not saying that everyone needs to be able to performa and compose, but the mindset where classical music is alive and constantly changing instead of petrified or a historical practices is what we need in order to keep it alive. We don’t need to completely abandon our past, but we can’t just sit in the 19th century forever. Classical music has a long and storied history that includes the last hundred years. Let’s show everyone that.

The post Salonen on Keeping Classical Music Vital appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Composer Max Richter Remixes Vivaldi for DG Release

One of the most interesting trends of classical music in the 21st century has been the gradual blurring of the line between popular art and high art. In the last century it was almost always easy to see this distinction: Schoenberg and Webern were not part of the cabaret; Boulez and Penderecki were writing nothing that anyone would confuse with the latest Beatles album. Contemporary composers, however, have a much more populist streak. This is particularly evident in the way they think and about and approach their music. There are composers like Mason Bates, who is a DJ at night clubs in his spare time , who have made huge strides in brining electronics into the orchestra, using their experience in pop music to change their symphonic compositions immensely. And just how can electronics and other technology be applied to that art form we call classical music?

You can remix Vivaldi.

That’s what the composer Max Richter has done for his latest album release titled RECOMPOSED by Max Richter: The Four Seasons. The album is just what it sounds like. Richter takes Vivaldi’s piece, known the world over as one of the most popular violin concertos of all time, and remixes it, recomposes it into an entirely new form. He keeps the general feel of the melody and harmonic structure, but admits that majority of the original notes have been dropped for something by him. Listen to him explain the process in this intriguing video:

With a DG recording and a concert earlier this week at the Barbican, in London, it would seem that Richter’s approach to composing has been validated. But there is still debate about what he’s done here. Is it his own work, or is he just exploiting Vivaldi for his own success? Does classical remix add something new to a piece or dose it create an entirely new work? On one hand, people argue that composers have been stealing from each other for centuries, and this is just Richter’s musical borrowing filtered through a modern lens. Others disagree, saying that Richter has robbed the Vivaldi for its popularity, using just enough to attract a listener’s attention, but then cutting off the original before it can make its full argument. What do you think? Take a listen for yourself and comment below!

The post Daily Bow: Max Richter and Classical Remix appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Conductor Michael Christie Parts Ways with Colorado Music Festival

Behind every movement there’s always a face or a motivating force that gets things done. In the effort to revamp classical music’s image from an old-fashioned luxury into a vital, modern art-form, few stick out more than the conductor Michael Christie. As director of the Colorado Music Festival, he is credited with  nearly doubling attendance and revenue at the festival and making inroads with younger audiences through his embrace of multi-media programs and bringing new works to Boulder. He did this starting at the age of 25, when he took up the mantle as the festival’s music director nearly 13 years ago. Now he one of the country’s most quickly-rising conductors, and he’s bent on bringing the success he’s had in Colorado elsewhere.

Stepping down from the Colorado Music Festival, Christie hopes to gain free time in his summers in order to take more guest conductor offers. He also spends most of his time during the season thinking about opera—he took up the helm of the Minnesota Opera this September. So what can people expect to see from Christie as he starts to show up on the podium across the country? New music, more media, and more audience engagement:

Widely known for his fresh, energetic approach and broad efforts to bring in new audiences, Christie has presented new contemporary works in Boulder, including Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ainadamar” and the world premiere of Ranaan Meyer’s “Simply Blue.” He’s also presented multi-media works such as “Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio,” which he premiered in Phoenix before bringing it to CMF, and worked with jazz great Dave Brubeck’s son Chris Brubeck on “Travels in Time for Three.”

Through programs such as ClefNotes, a real-time guide to the music, and Intermission Insights, an informal interview with a guest artist or composer, Christie is widely credited with making classical music more accessible to Boulder audiences.

It’s great that a conductor out there—especially a young conductor—is having success with strategies that have been frequently discussed but slow to actually be utilized. Christie’s approach in Colorado was to make classical music seem alive; this is why he emphasized contemporary music. Instead of portraying concerts as a museum experience, listening to relics of a past era, this playing new music gives the audience a sense that the art form is alive and relevant. Furthermore, the ClefNotes initiative gives hesitant concert-goers a sense of security, rather than confusion upon hearing a new work for the first time. These measures are really not very complicated. Their effectiveness however, as Christie has shown, can make a big difference. A little change can go a long way, and hopefully Christie can have that same magic success he had in Colorado wherever he ends up next.

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Year-long London festival to celebrate 20th century of classical music

Some orchestras have enough trouble getting people to come to their concerts just as it is. Throw in a few modern compositions—anywhere from the Webern Passacaglia to a Lutoslawski Symphony—and it gets harder to convince even the regular concert goers to attend. Unfortunately, 20th century music has had more trouble catching on than the music of preceding decades. A century of tumultuous change and experimentation in music effectively distanced itself with the music of the 19th century. In earlier times, orchestras performed what was a majority of contemporary works, works by living composers became a rarity.

20th century music, however, is not completely inaccessible. While it does take a little time and effort to learn about the composers and what they were trying to accomplish with their music, once you’ve done so listening to modern music can become an extremely engaging experience. One of the great guides to all things modern in music is Alex Ross’ historical narrative of 20th century music The Rest is Noise. The book is actually quite popular, even outside of classical music circles; it sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and made the New York Times best seller list. In response to the lack of opportunities that audiences get to learn more about contemporary music, London’s southbank centre will turn Ross’ book into a year long festival. The festival will absorb the London Philharmonic’s entire concert season as well as the centre’s chamber music and piano series. Many of the UK’s regional orchestras will also play a part, along with a long line of international guest stars.

The festival begins in 2013, and, while it is an ambitious project, it does present some difficulties. For most concert goers, “It’s hard for someone to hear a piece of Webern for the first time and just get it,” according to the festival’s artistic director Jude Kelly. Thankfully, the concert will all be supplemented with lectures, debates, and films, and the formal concerts will be balanced with more informal listening sessions focused on a learning perspective. The festival hopes to provide listeners a way into 20th century music, helping build a determination and curiosity to understand rather than a knee-jerk reaction of disgust. The whole series is a fantastic idea and can only help to increase classical music patronage in England, which has seen rises in audience numbers recently (the Proms played to 94% capacity this year). With all of the extra materials in addition to the concerts, 2013 should prove to be an extremely interesting year for music in London. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting event!

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River Oaks Chamber Orchestra Thrives Under Unique Operating Model

Every once and a while someone comes along who just likes to do things differently. They don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with tradition, but they also recognize that there are new, possibly more interesting ways to reinvent old ways of doing things. The current world of classical music allows a lot opportunities for this kind of person. In a culture of strict tradition, from the way musicians dress at concerts to the “correct” procedures of applause, they are many aspects of the orchestral concert model that are available for tweaking.

Many organizations have adjusted their concert formats with varying success. One of the most notable in this category is the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO), a forty-piece professional chamber orchestra that started up in 2005 just outside of Houston. Founded by Alecia Lawyer, who is the orchestra’s executive director and its principal oboist, the ensemble has a vision “to redefine the orchestral experience for both audience and musicians.” They do this through many methods, but the overall impression is that of changing the way the orchestra sees itself. Rather than being a lofty organization that is patronized by concertgoers, ROCO seeks to see what it can do through its music—how it can connect with audience and create a greater community.

Audience interaction is key for ROCO. During the intermission, the musicians put on name tags and go into the lobby to talk with concert goers in a segment of the concert they call “Take 5.” The program comes in the form of a keepsake magazine, making the evening a distinct and memorable experience. You’re even envied to come sit up close and personal onstage during the performance. For those who sign up as members, special events and salon-style concert are available in intimate spaces featuring chamber music with the orchestra’s musicians. Through these innovations, ROCO seeks to break the barrier that the stage creates between the musicians and the audience.

One other thing that ROCO does differently than other orchestras is mix its musical and administrative duties. Guest artist Anne-Marie McDermott and Lawyer both play with the orchestra and handle administrative tasks. Not only does this build a better relationship between the musicians and the administrative half, promoting a better harmonious whole for the entire organization, but, as one columnist put it, “because they juggle concert life with administrative duties, the synergies that emerge from mastering onstage and offstage responsibilities add to their prowess across both.”

By taking a fresh approach to the concert experience and changing the dynamic between musicians and administration, ROCO is leading the way to an orchestra model for the 21st century. It has already achieved encouraging success, with soloist and conductors lining up every day to perform with the orchestra. In the shadow of many strike scares and labor disputes in the early seasons of some orchestras, it’s helpful to take a look at an orchestra that’s taking a different approach and doing well at the same time. There’s a lot to look forward to with ROCO, and hopefully that means there’s a lot to look forward to in classical music’s future.

The post Daily Bow: ROCO Not Afraid to Take Risks appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Pianist Lang Lang Takes Responsibility for Inspiring the Next Generation of Musicians

For many musicians, there is often a specific piece or moment that they associate with their decision to become a musician. Whether it’s a radio broadcast or a live concert, one composer’s work can capture a child’s imagination and lead them to years of subsequent musical discoveries. For the world-renown pianist Lang Lang, it was as simple as watching Satruday morning cartoons. At the age of three, he heard Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, which was in the accompanying score of a Tom and Jerry cartoon. He has been hooked on piano ever since.

Although a little Liszt in a children’s TV show may seem trivial, it can really have a big effect. Lang Lang’s parents, who were musicians, seized upon the opportunity and started teaching him piano. But the less musically inclined might not know what to do if their child asks them about the music playing in the background of a cartoon, even less if they say they want to start playing an instrument just because of the show. But it really can be that easy to get a kid hooked on classical music. A first discovery leads to another, and eventually these experiences can add up to a lifetime of musical involvement.

One might ask, however, how kids can start learning more about music if their parnets aren’t particularly musical themselves. The answer, as Lang Lang acknowledges, is that the current generation of musicians is responsible for teaching and inspiring the youth:

We need to take responsiblity to inspire kdis because maybe a simple conversation with kids can inspire them and give them passion and confidence in music. And also, as artists, we need to show our caring toward the next generation. Because, in today’s society, classical music is not in the main spotlight. That’s a reality, especially among the younger generation. A lot of them have never experienced what a classical music concert is or what a music class is. So we have to give extra care to the kids who have music talent in themselves but never discovered it in their lives.

In a society that has experienced difficulty bringing the younger generation into concert halls, the duty to fix that falls upon the musicians. While we all had our experiences that brought us into music and had the teachers and opportunites that allowed us further develop that love of music, it’s not as easy for the younger generation to do so. The interent gives them access to an entire world of culture and media, and classical music isn’t always on the frontpage of Reddit. That’s why artists like Lang Lang have a responsiblity to the younger generation. Just as they got hooked on music at an early age, they can help inspire kids too. Even “a simple conversation” can change the course of a child’s life forever, helping them to discover music in their daily lives.

Did you have a childhood experience that started your love of music? How else can we bring children closer to musical experiences in their daily lives? Comment below!

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Students in Manchester Bring Classical Music Out of Concert Hall to the Public

If the classical music community truly wants to change its audience demographic by attracting more young people to concerts, then there’s one obvious way to do that: have young musicians reach out to the public. If music students organize concerts that are designed to attract people their own age, then they will be able to build new audiences that will want to keep coming back. This is because music students understand the younger generation the best; they get the internet based culture, the desire for interactive experience and sharing that has become a key part of the young demographic. What’s more, young musicians understand best the changes happening in other forms of art through their interactions with visual artists and other who are also their friends. In a culture of interaction and sharing of information, interdisciplinary art thrives.

This is the approach that three young composers from the Royal Northern College of Music are taking in their new music project Collectives and Curiosities. The goal of the project, as eloquently stated by the student-composer Jacob Thompson-Bell, is all about taking classical music into uncharted territories and challenging the public’s assumptions about the art form:

The concert hall is only one context in which to hear music; there’s nothing inherently wrong with it but it shouldn’t be the only setting. Surroundings do a lot to form people’s impressions of an experience; we want to present our music in as many different ways as we can.

The emphasis is about doing something different, but at the same time not completely abandoning the past. The concert hall is certainly a valid context in which one can experience classical music; however, Thompson-Bell and his friends also understand that music does not need to have one exclusive home. The more places concerts take place, the more likely people are to encounter classical music.

The way the audience interacts with the music also extremely important to the way these young composers are putting on concerts. The event is a fully interactive experience. Anyone who enters the room is recorded by various microphones. Then the recordings are mixed down and filtered through the gallery. This allows the audience to choose how much they want to engage with the audio process—whether they want to interact with the environment and how much they want to listen is entirely up to them. In addition, there are comment boards, interactive scores, and participatory events that ensure that the audience has a complete array of choices that allow them to participate in the production of the work. One of the students, Emma-Ruth Richards, had this to say about the process:

People that would never come to hear a contemporary piece for string quartet will likely come because they have been invited to see an art installations and visa versa. As everyone who visits will contribute towards the final piece, the outcome is, as yet, completely unknown.

This is a very exciting project happening in Manchester. Not only does this kind of event attract a young demographic and hopefully intrigue listeners who might not previously wanted to hear a contemporary composition, it also builds a future for young musicians to produce classical music. Instead of worrying about whether the concert hall will survive or not, students need to make their own opportunities in the world. They know how their culture works and what kinds of concerts their peers would enjoy attending, so what they need to do is simply create experiences that reflect the values of youth culture and get people to come to them. It’s not easy to buck trends, but as these young composers are showing us, it is possible to create a whole new type of concert experience. With a wider amount of musical offerings, classical music can only benefit, and that’s something everyone all age groups can get behind.

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