At age 16, Chad Hoopes already possesses the kind of technical mastery, ease of expression and joyful talent that come along only once in a generation. He has performed with numerous ensembles throughout the world including the Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Brussels Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera and Trondheim Symphony.

During the 2010-11 season, Chad performs with orchestras throughout North America, including a re-engagement with the San Francisco Symphony and a gala concert with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under Pinchas Zukerman. Recent European appearances include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy, and recitals in Italy and Germany. Following his debut at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad in August 2009, Chad received an immediate re-invitation and appeared again this past summer. He was subsequently re-engaged and will make his third appearance there in Summer 2012.

Beyond the concert hall, Chad’s virtuosity and exuberant personality have been featured on the CBS Early Show, NBC affiliate station WKYC (Cleveland), NPR station WCLV in Ohio, ABC affiliate station KSTP Twin Cities Live, and on PBS’s From the Top: Live at Carnegie Hall. He was the soloist in the Emmy Award-winning June 2007 television commercial for the Cleveland Indians Major League Baseball team produced by SportsTime Ohio Network, which aired on NBC, SportsTime Ohio and ESPN. Chad was one of the featured artists in the Cincinnati Pops Telarc recording released in 2009, a collaboration with NPR’s From the Top.

Chad began his violin studies at the age of four in Minneapolis with Nancy Lokken and continued with Sally O’Reilly at the University of Minnesota, and later David Russell and David Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He currently studies with Joel Smirnoff and William Preucil at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He was a student in the ENCORE School for Strings for four summers and has also studied at the Kent/Blossom Festival, the Bravo School for Strings, the Meadowmount School for Music, and with Pinchas Zukerman at Ottawa’s NAC Young Artists Program. In April 2008, he won first prize in the Young Artists Division of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition.

In addition to his solo engagements, Chad performs in a trio with his two sisters; they appeared live on From the Top in 2007 and have been featured twice on The Early Show, on WCLV radio, and on WVIZ TV in Cleveland. Chad is also active in the Boy Scouts of America, having advanced to the rank of Eagle Scout. He plays the 1713 Antonio Stradivari Cooper; Hakkert; ex Ceci violin, courtesy of Jonathan Moulds.

Watch Chad’s feature segment on CBS News

Watch Chad’s feature segment on The Early Show

String Visions: How do you think we can help inspire people to go to classical music concerts?

Chad Hoopes: In my opinion, classical music is slowing fading out of this new generation. These days, it seems that only elderly people attend classical music concerts. I want classical music to sustain through time and in order for this to happen, we need to get the current generation involved and interested in classical music. I am a strong advocate for outreach programs and I always visit local schools wherever my concerts are. In addition, I always give free tickets to all the kids who attend.

String Visions: What role do you see classical music playing in the world, and what role do you see yourself playing into the future?

Chad Hoopes: I want this new generation to be aware of the importance of classical music and the positive effect the arts have on the community. In the midst of natural catastrophes, wars, and contention, classical music is a positive and uplifting thing. It is a constant thing that anyone can rely on for comfort and joy. Classical music replenishes the mind and soul. Pablo Casals even once remarked, “Perhaps it is music that will save the world.”

String Visions: What do you think we classical musicians can do to help broaden the appeal of classical music?

Chad Hoopes: I think it would be an incredible thing if we could bridge the classical music world with the pop world. Connecting these two worlds would broaden the appeal of classical music, because it would make classical music seem more “cool.” Also, I just think it would be loads of fun to collaborate with pop stars.

String Visions: I’m very impressed with how someone at your age is able to keep 3 to 4 concerti under your belt at any given time. How do you do this?

Chad Hoopes: I have to say, this can be very challenging at times, but it is definitely possible! I have a review system in which I am constantly reviewing upcoming concert repertoire and bringing back old repertoire.

String Visions: If I may ask a personal question now, how many hours a day would you say you practice on average?

Chad Hoopes: Of course, it depends on the day, but on average I practice four to six hours. If I include lessons, rehearsals with my pianist, chamber music, and performance class, it can be up to eight hours of playing a day.

String Visions: It’s amazing to me that you are able to maintain a concert career and still go to high school. How does this work?

Chad Hoopes: This is definitely the hardest part of my career. I have attended an incredibly flexible school which allows me to work one on one with my teachers. I also have a tutor that helps me stay up on everything that I miss.

String Visions: What would you say have been the biggest factors in how you developed your virtuostic technique?

Chad Hoopes: I give so much credit to my mentor and teacher David Cerone. He helped me develop my technique by making me do tons of Etudes when I was younger. I continue to practice Paganini, but most of my Etude work is done. Mr. Cerone was always extremely generous with his time and is somebody who truly cared about me not only as a violinist, but as a person. I will always remember him as the pivotal teacher in my career.

String Visions: What is the very first thing you do when you are first given the music to a piece?

Chad Hoopes: The first thing I always try and do is find a great recording of the piece (preferably, Heifetz, Milstein, or Rabin). I go through the piece slowly and then I make sure I know what style the piece should be played in. I always look forward to getting advice and help from my teachers. Most importantly, I try and make every piece I play, my own.

String Visions: When you are practicing how do you master difficult spots in a piece?

Chad Hoopes: Slow and steady wins the race.

String Visions: How often do you practice with a metronome?

Chad Hoopes: On average, I use the metronome 2 to 3 times a week.

String Visions: How would you say that you prepare the week before a concert?

Chad Hoopes: I play through the concert repertoire at least once a day for either my family or friends. I work slowly through the repertoire. In addition, I focus on other repertoire at the same time so my concert repertoire stays fresh. I make sure I know exactly what the orchestra is doing. Also, when I am playing through a concerto, I pretend that the conductor is right next to me so I can practice cueing and watching.

String Visions: How do you prepare the day of a concert?

Chad Hoopes: I make sure I have plenty of sleep, and I never eat a meal before I perform. I feel like I focus better on an empty stomach. I eat bananas before a concert and drink water and Green Machine Naked juice.

String Visions: What are some goals of yours in the future?

Chad Hoopes: Of course I want to continue my concert career on a more intense level. I also look forward to recording repertoire. One of my biggest goals however, is to always be a motivation and inspiration to my audience.

String Visions: Have you experienced any funny or humorous incidents in your music studied or when rehearsing and performing.

Chad Hoopes: I am very blessed to be able to say that my mom is my travel partner. I could not ask for a funnier person to accompany me. Last summer we were traveling throughout Europe and we had just landed in Geneva, Switzerland on route to Gstaad. When we got to baggage claim, my mom realized that our passports were missing. My mom was absolutely frantic. She thought that they might have fallen out of her bag on the airplane, so she called security in hopes that they might be able to look for them on the plane. Sure enough, she had left them on the airplane, and we were quickly reunited with our passports. Of course, I have many stories, but I would be writing all day if I were to mention them all.

The post Interview with Chad Hoopes appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

• Part I
• Part II

Michael Tree is an editor at Ovation Press, having published works such as Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston.

Michael Tree with the Schumann Trio (see the bottom of the page for more on the trio)*

Michael Tree: While touring we would have very little time available. Eleven minutes here, maybe eight minutes there, maybe backstage 14 minutes, for so-called practice. So we had to really, really zero in on everything. 

String Visions: How could you make yourself focus like that?

Michael Tree: I would convince myself that this was the last time I’ll ever be able to practice this particular work… before performing it. The very last time. And that would scare the hell out of me, and it would force me to really zero in and become consciously aware of every single motion. It’s impossible to duplicate that if you have loads and loads of time.

This way of thinking, I think, psychologically played a big role in the way I practice also to this day. Even though I am now in semi-retirement, I find I’m traveling a great deal and luckily playing with other quartets, which I love doing, or as the fourth member of a piano trio, and it’s as busy as I want it to be. But I still feel that I don’t have enough time to practice as I should. And so there’s an extra bit of concentration that comes if you really can convince yourself that this is the last time. 

String Visions: Yes there is nothing like being close to the battlefield and feeling, “This is it.”

Michael Tree: Yes, “This is it.” That’s right. It’s like the bullets are going to be flying within minutes, and so you practice in a totally different way. 

String Visions: Do you practice slowly or quickly? Can you be more specific?

Michael Tree: No, I think slow practicing. I’ve always had the belief that if you can play it slowly, you can always play it fast, but the reverse is not necessarily true because a lot of very fast passages become a little sloppy at times if you don’t break it down once again into its roots, its beginnings.

String Visions: What about fingerings?

Michael Tree: I love experimenting with fingerings. I always preach to my students, “Please don’t be a slave to the printed fingerings you see. Be always skeptical. Because the printed fingerings you see are probably indicative of a style of playing that went out of fashion maybe 50 years ago, maybe a hundred years ago.”

It may be of interest to know what Joachim might have done in a particular spot or what have you. Great players like Francescatti, Heifetz, they’ve all made editions of various materials, and it suits their playing perfectly. But they have nothing to do with us or we with them. And the best fingerings are the ones that utilize extensions and contractions. In other words, fingerings that we don’t dare print. 

String Visions: How did the Guarneri Quartet decide on bowings?

Michael Tree: One thing we always adhered to is that bowings are only important if the overall sounds are correct. In other words, it’s not what we do that’s so important. It’s what the listener hears.

String Visions: That’s fascinating!

Michael Tree: Exactly. While playing, you’re changing the bow always at the same moment. With certain types of music, I think that’s actually a negative, and I can promise you I’m not exaggerating when I say that. For 45 years, we’ve played literally thousands of concerts never using the same bowings. 

String Visions: Really?

Michael Tree: Never knowing what bowings we’re going to use or what our colleagues are going to use in a given time? Absolutely true. Now, of course, the so-called bowings to my mind have nothing to do with the bowing but everything to do with phrasing.

String Visions: Yes, that’s true.

Michael Tree: It’s the closest any composer could come toward suggesting how many notes belong to a certain family. And certainly, we do change the bow unexpectedly at times onstage because of simply being out of bow. I mean, what would a singer do if he or she were out of breath? They would have to take another breath, of course! But this business of trying to squeeze so many notes in one bow, if it works is fine. If it doesn’t, change the bow but with the idea in mind not to advertise it. That’s it. Because  we nevertheless have to adhere to the wishes of the composer. At all times we are beholden to that. That’s the pact that we sign. 

String Vision: That technique is also used in orchestral playing.

Michael Tree: Yes I remember hearing stories in Philadelphia as a student about the old Stokowski days when he conducted the orchestra. Now, of course there were times when it was probably impossible not to play the same bowings in certain delicate passages.

For example, the Mozart, or early Beethoven, or Haydn, or what have you in the Classical literature. But in the Romantic literature, I would say from the 1800′s on, Stokowski wanted every string player to play according to what made them happy and comfortable. In other words, to play within their comfort level.

String Visions: You mean free bowings?

Michael Tree: Yes assuming that there are no false accents, and the players are skillful enough to make the sound blend together. That kind of playing produced a wonderful rich sound. It was a liberating experience for so many string players. And I think, may I even dare say, that I don’t think that an orchestra ever sounded any better.

The lusciousness and sheer beauty of sound that the Philadelphia Orchestra attained, and I must say Mr. Ormandy’s ability to continue that tradition, it was a sound that ruined my ears in that it was very difficult to listen to other orchestras. They sounded somewhat different.

String Visions: Yes Leopold Stokowski was a visionary in popularizing the concept of free bowings. The world we live in today is quite different.

Do you have any advice for young musicians starting their careers today?

Michael Tree: Well, these are tough times, naturally, and we keep hearing over and over again how many chamber music societies have closed their doors. But stick with it. It can’t go on forever. The great works will live on and deserve to be well played for hundreds of years to come. I wouldn’t know what else to say.

String Visions: Yes I totally agree.

Michael Tree: It’s discouraging, and we grieve for these young players, because I’m convinced that the standards have never been higher overall. I mean, there will always be standouts, naturally, but the overall standards are extremely high. And I just finished three days, just this week, of listening to players entering into the chamber music society of Lincoln Center Number 2. I’ve never been more impressed in my life with the overall quality of playing.

String Visions: Yes the current level of playing is very high.

Michael Tree: The same thing goes for Marlboro and for the Curtis Institute. And I’m privileged to also teach at Juilliard as well in Manhattan. Here right now at the Young Artist program in Ottawa the chamber music playing is wonderful. And I think that it would be a pity if any of these players were discouraged enough to quit.

String Visions: Yes it will take conviction, imagination, hard work, and belief in oneself to keep the musical world as we know it alive for future generations. I actually think that people need it now more than ever. Everything moves so fast these days that taking the time needed to open up to the magic of our wonderful musical world is more essential than ever.

Michael Tree: Yes, now is the time actually to be more loyal, more appreciative of the great works than ever.

—————

The Schumann Trio was conceived in 2008 by violist Michael Tree, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and pianist Anna Polonsky. These three artists made their initial musical connection at the Curtis Institute, and the Marlboro Music Festival. After many years of performing together in different combinations, crossing paths at music festivals, and collaborating with the Guarneri String Quartet (of which Mr. Tree is a founding member), the three musicians decided to come together to explore the rich, and somewhat under-represented, repertoire for clarinet, piano, and viola or violin. Their 2010-11 engagements include performances at Tilles Performing Arts Center at Long Island University, the Library of Congress, Coleman Concert Series in Pasadena and Town Hall in New York City.

The post Interview with Michael Tree, Part III appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Michael Tree is an editor at Ovation Press, having published works such as Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston.

String Visions: You were first exposed to the viola as a student at Curtis after having already studied the violin thoroughly. How did you decide to become a violist full time?

Michael Tree: Well, one fine day in Marlboro, three or four of us were standing around just chatting on a beautiful sunlit day after lunch and feeling a little lazy, and suddenly someone, and I don’t even remember who it was, said, “Why don’t we form a quartet?” I said, “No harm in trying.” And that’s how the Guarneri was born… just momentarily, almost an accident… because we had run out of things to talk about.

String Visions: Are you kidding me?

Michael Tree: No! We decided to form a quartet, and that’s when we had to determine who played what. Of course, the cellist knew damn well what he would be doing, but the three violinists didn’t. And I thought to myself, “Wait a minute.” I had played a little viola at Curtis. I had played for Mr. Primrose, for example, as a member of a student quartet, and I had found it very, very enjoyable. What I didn’t realize was that I was in love with that darker, that sound, that Brahms so often described…

String Visions: Exactly what do you mean?

Michael Tree: Brahms made the statement once that the viola was his favorite string instrument. Sorry to say in your presence. But he championed the viola as Mozart did.

String Visions: Yes we cellists would have loved to have a concerto from Mozart’s hand.

Michael Tree: It kind of liberated the instrument. So, I thought this is potentially a good idea if we can really make it work because none of us had any idea of how complicated forming a permanent relationship can be. But I said, “I’m on board. but I must play viola.” Because I didn’t know, I had no idea how long this would last. And as a matter of fact, when word got around, the festival and then even outside of Vermont, the bet was that we wouldn’t last more than a month.

String Visions: You should have taken that bet!

Michael Tree: Well, we were all rather opinionated types. We were all wedded to our own ideas of everything, just about everything. And as you know, quartets have a high casualty rate.

String Visions: Yes I know. How long did you stay together?

Michael Tree: Well, 45 years with one exception, and that is because David Sawyer in his early 80s decided, too many airports nowadays, and too much lugging of instruments…running for airplanes and playing. When we’d go to Europe, for example, we played as many as six or seven concerts in a week in different cities in different countries. Because that’s the only way to make it, first of all, profitable, and the only way also to ensure that we would visit our families from time to time.

String Visions: Yes a successful musical life such as yours is the dream of every young musician, but young people don’t always know how hard such a life is and how much sacrifice it takes.

Michael Tree: Yes we would come home totally exhausted, but that was the reality of quartet life, and none of us had imagined that that’s what it was going to be like. We were naive and we were green, you might say, in that we spoke out of no experience except for David Sawyer, who had been a member of several very fine quartets, one called the New Music Quartet.

String Visions: I first heard your quartet in a live concert at your tenth anniversary concert in New York. It was a great concert. Right before the first work after the intermission (I think it was the Franck piano quintet with Philippe Entemont) a birthday cake was broad in, Arnold Steinhard blew out the candles, and the audience sang happy birthday. That was an exciting event to attend. Before that of course I had listened to many of your wonderful recordings. One set of recordings that has always fascinated me was your collaboration with Arthur Rubinstein. You covered a number of the big piano quintets and quartets. Would you mind telling us about that experience?

Michael Tree: Yeah, it was our friend, Max Wilcox, who was the producer of many of Rubinstein’s recordings. Rubinstein took a liking to Max and at that time wanted him  exclusively as A and R men, meaning artist and repertory producer or whatever. And about two years into our career, we were already recording for RCA Victor. Mr. Rubinstein had made countless recordings, and one day he came in to the building on 6th Avenue in New York City that was also being set up as the new headquarters to listen to playbacks of some of his recent recordings.

And Max did something that very few people know about. Rubinstein walked in and sat in his favorite chair and took out his favorite cigar. He was ready to listen to some recent Chopin recordings of his. And Max said to him, “Mr. Rubinstein, it’ll only take a moment or two, but we have to look for the tapes, but make yourself comfortable.” In those days everything was done the old-fashioned way.

And he left the room and he put on a recording of a Mozart string quartet that we had just finished making. He didn’t say a word about it, and he came back 5 minutes or 10 minutes later. And the result was that Mr. Rubinstein said to Max, he used to go, [doing a deep voice] “Max. Max.” Max,” he said. “Who plays?”

String Visions: That is really very interesting!

Michael Tree: “Oh,” Max pretended to be almost disinterested. He said, “This is a young quartet that we’ve just signed up, and they formed a year or 2 ago.”

So, the more Max tried to toss it off, the more interested Mr. Rubinstein became, until he asked, “Do you think they might be interested because I,” he said, and this is literally true, “I haven’t played the big chamber music works. He had played with Piatigorsky and Heifetz of course.

But he hadn’t played the standard piano chamber works, the great ones, in 40 years. Except possibly house music, so called, where he would be in various, beautiful palatial homes in Europe or here and making music in a very relaxed manner usually accompanied by wonderful food, the best of wines, and beautiful women.

String Visions: Yes that image of Rubinstein will always be part of his charm.

Michael Tree: And that was his initial introduction to chamber music. You might say it sounded rather cavalier, but the idea of performing these works, he never thought of it. But he grew a little bit nostalgic, Max told us later. And so Max said, “Well, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be interested. Let me ask them if they…” So, about a week later, we found ourselves playing with Mr. Rubinstein in his apartment in New York. And I must say it was a very meaningful connection, and we went on to record 10 works with him.

String Visions: Can you tell us some more specific details about the process of recording these works with Rubinstein?

Michael Tree: Yes, the interesting thing is we almost never rehearsed. The rehearsals, so called, were done in this fashion. We would all be ready to sit down and play at 10 a.m., and the mics were on from 10 to maybe 6 or 7 in the evening with a break for lunch, of course, and we just played and played and played and played, and very little talking.

And I have to say that the initial playbacks were absolutely unusual because Rubinstein was very busy concertizing, and he was also apologetic because he had almost no time to learn the notes. And so there were many, many notes other than what was on the page, but little by little, it improved. We had played the whole of this stuff many, many times, and so we had an unfair advantage. But imagine playing a Brahms piano quintet for the first time in 30 years or so, 40 years, unless it’s in someone’s home.

String Visions: Yes recording a work that has to stand up to the test of time is quite different than just playing at a party for fun.

Michael Tree: So it probably wasn’t until after lunch that anything became useful. And so that’s how we evolved from almost no possibility of being used to something that perhaps was.

String Visions: Come on. I mean those are fantastic recordings.

Michael Tree: Well, thank you. They were, and we also owe a lot to our friend Max because through the magic of tape, and there were sometimes splices that we had to make. But as I say, that didn’t happen until late afternoon. And then, we would have a little council of war, Rubinstein would ask us, “Are you free tomorrow?” And if luckily we were free tomorrow, we immediately agreed. And, “What would you like to play?” “Well, what do you want to record tomorrow?” “Maybe, why don’t we try something new, the Faure G minor piano quintet or one of the Mozart piano quartets. And that was decided upon instantly, so we come in and the same process would begin again.

So you hardly had time to practice and prepare….

Yes we had no say in the matter. If he was available and we were available, we had to record the next day. Or if not, a following week later, and that was the setup.

What I’ll never forget is we would have a very spacious lunch. There used to be a very famous little restaurant with a German chef right in the neighborhood, and we’d go there and Rubinstein would tell countless stories. He was in the process of writing a book of his life, an autobiography, with the help of a young lady, an English lady who was living in Spain at the time and had a great affection for Madrid and spoke perfect Spanish, of course. The point is that he would test some of these stories on us. He was a great raconteur.

String Visions: He had that much energy left after having recorded all morning?

Michael Tree: Yes amazing. Then instead of beginning work right away, because he was still perhaps in the middle of a cigar, he would play for us just little pieces that were almost totally unknown to us — Moskovsky, Chopin, other obscure works, not any of the big potboilers that we’ve heard all our lives. And that playing was when he was absolutely as relaxed and expansive as we ever heard. There was no pressure on him then to do anything but to entertain us royally. We were the recipients of his generosity in playing for us because he wanted to, and it sometimes took almost an hour.

String Visions: Really?

Michael Tree: Maybe not quite that long, but we never wanted it to end. The sound that that man produced on the piano still resonates in our ears because he was the perfect pianist for the string players he worked with because he had a fantastic, singing legato. He even tried to explain to us how and why he was able to play loudly but never in a percussive, clanging or ugly way. And so it was for musicians, for string players, it really was a rare thing really. And so it was the happiest of events, and that has to be one of the highlights for me certainly.

String Visions: How many works did you record together?

Michael Tree: Ten works in all. And still, there were a number of other works we wish we had recorded… that we never got to.

Our interview with Michael Tree concludes in part III

The post Interview with Michael Tree, Part II appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

• Part I. Michael Tree talks about his early memories of violin study with his father Samuel Applebaum [1], his studies at the Curtis Institute, and his concepts about sound production on the viola.
• Part II. Michael Tree tells us how he became a violist, the start of the Guarneri Quartet, and some fascinating stories about the The Guarneri and Artur Rubinstein recording project.
• Part III. Michael Tree shares with us some of his concepts about practicing.

Michael Tree was born in Newark, New Jersey, and received his first violin instruction from his father. He later studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Efram Zimbalist, Lee Luboshutz and Veda Reynolds. In 1954, the New York Herald Tribune wrote, “A 20-year old American violinist, Michael Tree, stepped our upon Carnegie Hall stage last night and made probably the most brilliant young debut in the recent past…the violinist evidenced not one lapse from the highest possible musical and technical standards”. Subsequent to his debut, Mr. Tree has appeared as violin and viola soloist with the Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Baltimore, New Jersey and other major orchestras. He has also participated in leading festivals, including Marlboro, Casals, Spoleto, Israel, Taos, Aspen and Santa Fe. Since 1964, as a founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet, Mr. Tree has played in major cities throughout the world. In 1983, Major Ed Koch presented the Quartet with the New York City Seal of Recognition, an honor awarded for the first time. One of the most widely recorded musicians in America, Mr. Tree has recorded over 95 chamber music works, including 10 piano quartets and quintets with Artur Rubinstein, and 2 complete Beethoven Quartet bibles. These works appear on the Columbia, RCA, Sony, Philips, nonesuch, Arabesque and Vanguard labels. His television credits include repeated appearances on the Today Show and the first telecast of Chamber Music Live from Lincoln Center. Mr. Tree serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music and the University of Maryland.

Michael Tree is also an editor at Ovation Press, having published works such as Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston.

String Visions: Going back to your childhood, do you have any memories from when you first started out playing? How much was your father Samuel Alplebaum [1] involved in your early training?

Michael Tree: Well, yes, very vividly. My father was a wonderful violinist in his time and took a number of lessons with Kneisel — Franz Kneisel, of course, who had a quartet of his own and was also a concertmaster for the Boston Symphony for a number of years, German-born, and who founded that very fine festival in Maine known as Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill. My father had a piano trio of his own in New Jersey, and they played professionally for a while. And then he began teaching at home, so I was kind of surrounded by the sounds of violin playing almost throughout the day. We lived in Newark, New Jersey, and he taught basically at home, and so whenever he had 5 or 10 minutes off, he’d call me into his room and would just listen to me play. I never had a formal lesson with him. Only in-between lessons or if somebody canceled.

String Visions: But did you have a different teacher when you first started out?

Michael Tree: No only my father until the age of 12. From 5 to 12. Seven years of being taught by one’s father can become a little bit testy.

String Visions: I can imagine that. I myself grew up with musical parents.

Michael Tree: It can very well become unhealthy. And luckily for me, a sometimes visitor to my home was none other than William Primrose. And Mr. Primrose, well, my father finally induced him to hear me play a few notes on the violin. I was around 11 at the time. And he was sufficiently impressed that he suggested that I try out for Curtis.

String Visions: So you went to Curtis to audition when you were 12 years old?

Michael Tree: Yes it was difficult to get into Curtis because the entire student body at that time was about 125 people, and that encompassed the entire range of instruments, even organ and conducting, for example. So you can imagine how few of us were allowed in, but I passed the initial audition, and went on to study with Lea Luboshutz, who was another Russian. Very, very colorful lady and a wonderful violinist. It was an older style of playing, and whether I was indirectly responsible or not, I don’t know, but she left the following year. She retired.

String Visions: Do you seriously think you were partly responsible?

Michael Tree: I don’t know. I hate to think that because I was so unaccustomed to being put in a room to play for someone, because as I said, with my father it was never regular lessons… I was often playing ball in the streets, because we lived on a very quiet residential street and I had some cronies with whom I played stickball.

String Visions: But you didn’t bring the bat to the lessons, I’m sure.

Michael Tree: No! But I also forgot that there was certain etiquette involved. Curtis at that time was very, very proper, and there was tea served.

String Visions: Oh really?

Michael Tree: Oh, yes, every Wednesday afternoon. And you had to come to school with tie and jacket, and it was almost a dress code, although it was unofficial. But we were expected to behave a certain way. And I would come in with my shirt out and what have you. I may not even have washed my face that morning.

String Visions: Are you sure?

Michael Tree: Oh, it was terrible. And once Miss Luboshutz ordered me out of the room to go down and wash up. She said to me, “Don’t you dare come in here like that.”

String Visions: Is this really true?

Michael Tree: Yes! Nobody told me anything about that sort of thing. Today, I mean, the kids come in to lessons in blue jeans and torn undershirts. I believe they tear them deliberately, just so that they can show off their tattoos. It’s a different world.

String Visions: That’s true. It is a different world.

Michael Tree: Well, at the Curtis, we had to learn the rules, and it didn’t take long. I finally understood that there was a certain ritual involved when you would play for your teacher. It’s a great honor, and you have to be on top of the situation at the moment, and you have to look a certain way. So that’s just the way.

String Visions: What are some of you other memories from your days at Curtis? How many years were you there?

Michael Tree: Because of the earliness of my entry into Curtis, I stayed for ten years.

String Visions: That is very interesting.

Michael Tree: I went directly from Madame Luboshutz to Mr. Zimbalist, and so nine of those ten years were spent with him. And that was quite an experience because he experimented one or two years with the idea of having every one of us, and he had something like eight or ten students come together on a Sunday afternoon, let’s say from 2-6, and he would teach us all in the presence of each other.

String Visions: A great way to learn and to be inspired.

Michael Tree: So, I got to hear great fiddle playing. People like Aaron Rosand, Norman Carol, Joseph Silverstein, and many others. It was a lesson just being in their presence. Joey was just two years older than I. He was all of 14, and I was almost 12 when I first arrived.

String Visions: Did you study with other violinists in addition to Efrem Zimbalist and Madame Luboshutz?

Michael Tree: Yes Efrem Zimbalist, sent me to Meadowmount to have at least one summer of exposure to Mr. Galamian, and it was a wonderful experience. Not only did I hear great playing around me, but Galamian had it all nailed down. Zimbalist admired him greatly. He once said to me, “Galamian could teach that table how to play the violin.”

String Visions: Do you remember your first experience playing the viola?

Michael Tree: Sascha Schneider, a bigger-than-life figure and a great spokesperson for chamber music donated a certain sum of money to the Curtis Institute with the understanding that every violinist be required to study the viola for a year with one of the viola teachers. We had a fine violist on the faculty, Max Aronoff who was the original violist of the Curtis Quartet, which in its day sounded damn good. They made some wonderful music.

String Visions: What did you learn from Max?

Michael Tree: He was wonderful. We talked a lot, and he told many, many jokes, and many stories. But the fact is that he was a wonderful trained violist himself and was able to impart very, very important, almost little secrets that violists know about that I had never even considered.

String Visions: Like what kind of secrets?

Michael Tree: Well, practical matters.

String Visions: Such as?

Michael Tree: For one thing, we have to have much more of the hair on the bow on the string. We can’t afford to do what many violinists do, and that is sort of play with one-quarter of the hair all the time as if the bow were curved. We have to play with flat hair especially beyond the middle of the bow.

String Visions: That sounds great!

Michael Tree: Because it’s just a question of pulling the sound, of getting into the string — very, very different than violin playing. I always thought that playing the viola meant a big difference in fingerings, and of course, they have to have strings almost further apart. What I learned quickly was that the biggest departure from violin playing is in the right hand, in producing sound. So, to this day, I consciously watch over my right arm to see that I don’t just play at the very tip, even in pianissimo.

String Visions: Why don’t you talk some more about your concepts of sound production on the viola?

Michael Tree: Well, it’s just that we don’t want to sound ever like a big violin. The viola plays a unique role in quartet life, and I feel that I am more akin, more drawn toward the cello sound and that lower sound quality. We can’t afford to just play glassy smooth all the time we need putting real power into the string. Because the last thing any string quartet needs is to have a viola that sounds more like a violin, and because many quartets I’ve heard, even fine quartets, even some professional quartets, suffer from a top heaviness. There are just too much high tones. The violist, to my way of thinking, should always play louder than his colleagues want him to.

String Visions: Really? I like that!

Michael Tree: Well, the reasoning behind that is that, of course, you’re playing way into the ears of your colleagues. What they hear has nothing to do with what the listener hears. For 45 years, I’ve played like that. Now when I play at various festivals or even individual concerts with other quartets or whatever, I ask to sit in the middle of the quartet so that the F holes face out in the hall.

String Visions: Oh, that’s nice.

Michael Tree: And I’m told, even from listeners, what a huge difference that makes. I remember once as a very young quartet player when we were less than a year or two old, from way back into the ‘60s, that Boris Kroyt of the Budapest Quartet, who was a very, very staunch friend and to whom we owed a great deal of thanks and gratitude, played a Brahms viola quintet with us in New York.

All the rehearsals were fine and every thing normal. But suddenly in the concert, I sat opposite the first violin in the normal so-called position, normal to most American quartets that is, and Boris playing the second viola sat to my right. Suddenly, when he had two notes to play that were meaningful enough to be heard he turned to me and had the scroll of his instrument right in my face!

String Visions: That’s like having somebody push you when shooting a free throw!

Michael Tree: Yes and I almost fell off my chair because I was unprepared for that.

String Visions: You were shocked.

Michael Tree: Yes I was shocked. I almost dropped the viola.

String Visions: That’s funny. He was used to sitting on the outside, so perhaps he forgot that you were there.

Michael Tree: Right but he could’ve given me a little warning. But he didn’t, and maybe he was also a wonderful jokester, but…

String Visions: So are you’re saying he did this as a joke?

Michael Tree: It could be. But it taught me a lesson in a hurry that I never forgot, and that is that even if you do sit in the traditional position, facing the first violin, the chair and the stand should be a little, not parallel but rather diagonally, placed so that at least part of the time you’re better heard, and at moments that are crucial, you can easily turn out towards the hall. These are just realities that we come to appreciate after many years of performing.

String Visions: This all sounds absolutely fascinating. Do you remember any funny incidents that happened to you while touring with the Guarneri Quartet? There is often a situation when a member of a chamber ensemble forgets their music or something like that.

Michael Tree: Oh, my God! Yeah. That happened to me in London. I think somebody actually swiped my music because I left it on the stand and nobody at the hall was able to turn it up. And in those days, replacing music wasn’t as easy as today.

String Visions: Yes, please tell us about that?

Michael Tree: But that’s not such a funny experience…but anyhow I remember it was desperate, I had to call New York, our manager from New York called Washington, and from the Library of Congress they were able to Xerox the parts and I had the parts within a day or two.

Well, I actually do have some wonderful stories about David Sawyer, because he was very outspoken.

String Visions: Yes we would love to hear about that.

Michael Tree: Once, I do remember somewhere in the Midwest, we had to play an encore after a concert, and normally we would have the presence of mind to decide before a concert began, if we needed an encore and what it would be. So we carried a Mendelssohn quartet with us, the middle two movements. Both served as beautiful, short encore pieces. They were the perfect length. One of them was a beautiful andante with a lovely theme, and the other was a brilliant but treacherously difficult scherzo movement. A million notes, as Mendelssohn loved to do. So, this one time, we had forgotten to decide, we were in the middle of a tour, and we were probably all a little tired.

I personally didn’t want to play the fast movement because I realized that once the concert was over, we tended to sound a little bit under par, you might say. Because we were simply tired, and psychologically somehow, the encores took on less importance.

I mean, I hate to admit to such a thing, but it’s just true that after almost two hours of playing, you feel sometimes not like playing beyond. And certainly nothing where precision is required.

String Visions: I can understand that, but somehow I never imagined you would feel anything like that.

Michael Tree: Yes and actual technical assurance also played a major role. But there we sat down to play and we didn’t know which of the two pieces to play, so we whispered, “No, no, andante. No, no…” Dave wanted to play the Scherzo because he wanted to get the hell out of there and it was short.

String Visions: That’s very funny.

Michael Tree: So, what we didn’t realize is that our voices began to rise as we became more and more emphatic, and more and more argumentative. And what we didn’t realize was that the audiences were listening to our conversation.

String Visions: This is such a great story!

Michael Tree: And suddenly from the audience, a voice yelled, “Andante!” And Dave turned around towards the person speaking and said very loud, “You stay out of this!” He went right at this guy.

String Visions: “You stay out of this!?”

Michael Tree: Yes and so you can imagine the hall turning into laughter 500 to 600 or 700 or 800 people all laughing at this incident. And we were all laughing while we played. That’s got to be one of the funniest memories I’ve ever experienced.

Our interview with Michael Tree continues in part II where he talks more about how he became a violist and some of his major projects such as the Guarneri Quartet.

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[1] Samuel Applebaum wrote the books The Way They Play.

The post Interview with Michael Tree, Part I appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Valter Dešpalj is an internationally acclaimed cellist and editor for Ovation Press who has contributed expertly edited works to our body of orchestra excerpts and parts for cello. His arrangements of pieces such as Mas Que Nada (Jorge Ben) and South American Getaway (Burt Bacharach) were performed by 12 Berlin Philharmonic Cellists at the 2010 Amsterdam Biennale.

View some of Mr. Dešpalj’s arrangements exclusively at Ovation Press

String Visions: We are delighted to have you as an editor for Ovation Press. Your cello arrangements show a deep knowledge of the cello’s endless possibilities. When did you first become involved in arranging cello ensemble music, and why?

Valter Dešpalj: First, let me tell you that I am also delighted to collaborate with such a fine publishing house. It seems to me that Ovation Press is greatly contributing to satisfy an increasing demand for fine string music – especially music for cello ensembles, as they seem to be mushrooming nowadays because of the growing fascination with the sound of cello choir.

It has been now exactly 20 years since I started with my students a cello ensemble project called Cellomania. At the beginning, my aim was mainly pedagogic: I believe that students can hear more acutely some of their weaknesses, especially in intonation, when playing in such an ensemble than in a mixed string group. The project compelled me to start regularly writing arrangements for different cello formations. As the ensemble grew in quality and numbers (now there are twelve members) I could move to more demanding repertoire. With time my students became so good in this discipline that we started to play serious concerts and ultimately ended up performing at important festivals and big European music centers, also collaborating with the world famous cellists such as Mischa Maisky, Boris Pergamenschikow and Giovanni Sollima.

SV: I understand that last November you went to the The Third Amsterdam Cello Biennale held in Holland, where you gave a master class in addition to having some of your arrangements performed by the 12 Cellists from the Berlin Philharmonic. Can you tell us about the Amsterdam Biennale and the concert?

VD: The cello ensemble was the main theme of the Third Biennale, and the Berlin cellists were a special attraction. Needles to say, I was delighted to hear for the first time their live performances of my arrangements of Mas Que Nada by Jorge Ben and South American Getaway by Bacharach. (Before I heard these only on their EMI disc featuring Latin American music and also titled South American Getaway.)

Besides the Berliner, Biennale also hosted wonderful cello ensembles from the U.S., France, Holland and China.

Two years ago my Cellomania was a kind of cello ensemble in residence at the Second Biennale. My students will never forget that experience. I was so happy seeing them having time of their life while playing and attending concerts, taking lessons from great masters, socializing with other cellists from all over the world…At one point someone exclaimed: “This is a real cello paradise!” That was not far from truth. The Amsterdam Biennale is possibly the most vibrant, imaginative and innovative cello event today. It offers a lot of excitement and creates a wonderful atmosphere of communion between the cellists, young and old. And the number of fanatical audiences it attracts is really impressive!

SV: What are some of the issues that concern you when making cello ensemble arrangements?

VD: My concerns begin with choosing the right piece of music, a piece not only to my liking, but also being suitable for the new medium in sense of character, sonority and playability. Choosing the right key, if transposition needs to be done, is also important. Most important is good voice leading and transparency – no one wants to hear many celli as if the sound were coming out of a barrel. Everything essential contained in the original version I try to preserve, avoiding compromises as much as possible. However, if I felt strongly that the composer would not object, I would take liberties and use specific possibilities that cello ensemble can offer.

SV: Because of the cello’s large register (7 octaves) it is possible to create a wonderfully varied sound for cello ensembles. Have you ever used the entirety of the cello’s register in any of your arrangements? Is there a part of the register that you tend to favor as an arranger, and do you feel you have to counteract that favoritism as you write?

VD: I avoid extremely high register if I feel that it would sound unnatural and pretentious. On the other hand, if I find that an excess would be good as an effect, because of a specific dramatic or humorous character, then I would go pretty high. Normally, for the repertoire I have done so far, three to four octaves is sufficient. Counteract I would rather not – instead I would look for the right piece and right key (as I already mentioned), where everything more or less sits naturally on its right place. In order to preserve the bas line and thickness of the sound, I sometimes use scordatura, tuning the fourth string lower, rather than transposing the piece to a higher key.

SV: Can you say a few words about each of your following arrangements that Ovation Press has published?

• Rondo op. 6 by Beethoven for 3 Celli
• Prelude No. 13 by Chopin for 5 Celli
• Etude op. posth., No. 1 by Chopin for Cello and Guitar
• Suite from Album for the Young op. 39 by Tchaikovsky for 4 celli

VD: These arrangements typically reflect my approach. Beethoven’s Rondo is the second (and last) movement of an early sonata for piano four hands. In this arrangement the octave doublings (characteristic of piano four hand writing) are, of course, cut out. I think that the result is convincing, because the thickness of the cello trio sound compensates well for this intervention. While the texture of this arrangement is lighter than the original, the Tchaikovsky Suite is the opposite case: here the scope for cello quartet needs to be somewhat enhanced, because the original version (composed for piano beginners) is very light and easy. It was an interesting challenge for me, as here I could venture into some more imaginative solutions, considering density and tone colors of cello quartet. While doing that I was very concerned not to cross the fine line of good taste. As for the Chopin Prelude, it is transposed from F sharp to G major. Initially I wanted to arrange it for cello quartet, but then I realized that the left hand of piano part had to be shared by two celli, otherwise the pedal notes would not ring. Still, it must sound like one cello con pedale. The right hand, a beautiful three-voice choir, is shared by three celli.

The Chopin Etude arranged for cello and guitar is an easy, copy-paste case. Cello takes the right hand of the piano part, guitar the left. Transposition is from original F minor to A minor. Here the only real challenge was to find good fingering and bowing suggestions as to ensure a smooth line in the cello part.

SV: In addition to your cello ensemble music, I personally am delighted to utilize your arrangement of the Monti Czardas that Ovationpress publishes. It is a perfect piece to use for teaching, as it encourages students to play with great expression while playing quickly. The piece is suited perfectly for the cello. A number of my students buy and use this arrangement, and inevitably fall in love with it. Have you used this piece often with your own students? How did you envision the piece being utilized when you wrote it?

VD: I totally agree: the piece is suited perfectly for the cello and I imagine that with this edition it will gain more popularity among the cellists. I do use it with my students, especially for the purpose of expanding the sensuousness in the sound and a feeling of ease and abandon. I warn them, however, not to overdo with Gipsy mannerisms, as that could sound artificial – just as it would sound rather forced if a full blooded Gipsy player interpreted a Brahms Hungarian Dance like a classical performer.

SV: What pieces do you typically use with your students? Are there particular pieces in your mind that stand out as points of inspiration in your own writings?

VD: Wise choice of repertoire is of course important, but what is really essential is to use a piece, any piece, for explaining general technical and musical principles. That could be an etude, for example. Oftentimes students tend to learn just the notes without grasping the specific message of each etude. It is important to squeeze as much as possible out of an etude, primary goal being to learn the different techniques, but in no way should the musical structure, good sound, and phrasing be neglected. These aspects students often put aside, and the result of such attitude and habits is that the technical passages in the repertoire can be deprived of inspiration and sound mechanical.

For very young cellists the first years of study are decisive in many ways. Therefore the pieces have to be chosen very carefully and in accord with individual needs. Balanced diet, meaning a good proportion between classical and romantic or modern repertoire, is recommended. As they advance, we would wish that Mozart had written cello concertos, but in stylistic sense Carl Stamitz is a pretty good substitute. The Brahms E minor Sonata is perfect for developing opulent expression. To get the fingers move, Papillon by Faure I find very stimulating; not to mention all those wonderful virtuoso pieces by Davidoff, Popper and other cellists composers. Concerto No. 1 by Milhaud I often use as an introduction to 20th century concerto. As for my own arrangements, I like to use the Schubert Imprompty No. 3 (published by IMC) for developing the vibrato. Another one is Schedrin’s In the Style of Albeniz (published by Sikorski) – a very flashy piece with a lot of character.

SV: Ovation Press most recently published your arrangement of the Bach Brandenburg Concerto for cello ensemble. Can you tell us a little about this arrangement?

VD: Last year I toured with my ensemble along the Adriatic Coast, performing at summer festivals from Dubrovnik to Osor. For that occasion I wanted to refresh our repertoire with a more substantial piece. I chose the Brandenburg 6. The possibility of arranging it had been intriguing me for a long time. This time I really felt motivated. I transposed it in G major (a third lower), as to get a more brilliant sound and make it technically more user friendly. I assigned the top parts to two soloists, while the middle parts had to put mutes on to imitate the original sound of violas da gamba. One player from the bass section (and that was I) had to tune C string a fourth lower and assume the role of the double bass. At the end, we got the full blown sound of a baroque string orchestra and it turned out to be an excellent opening of our program which also included romantic and modern pieces.

The arrangement for Ovation Press I made is for six parts (which are contained in the original version). The middle and bas parts can be doubled. These days, however, I am making a special version for 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, where I will divide the solo material between all of them, making responsorial effects. With ensemble of such quality it is possible to arrange it in such way, because each of the members is a soloist par excellence.

SV: In all your years of playing with cello ensembles, what are the funniest or most unusual incidents that you remember?

VD: One of the funniest incidents happened during the tour that I just mentioned. We had an important rehearsal at the International Center of Jeunesses Musicales in Grožnjan, a tiny, very romantic town. Some of us came to the concert hall a little earlier, luckily escaping an incredibly heavy rain that just started to pour. The others were unfortunately caught up in a hopeless situation where even an umbrella could not help. The rain would never stop. Just as I was about to resign and to call off that important rehearsal, the latecomers suddenly burst into the hall – and we burst out laughing when we saw them appearing totally wet, wearing only swimming suits and carrying cellos plus plastic bags filled with their clothes! It was a rather hilarious, the way those youngsters showed their dedication to our cause.

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Valter Dešpalj’s arrangement of the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, performed by his own students

The post Interview with Cellist and Editor Valter Dešpalj appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

String Visions: It is a pleasure to talk to you Brannon and I want to congratulate you on having a very successful year with the cello. You most recently won the Grand Prize at the ASTA National Solo Competition and a few months before that you won the Lennox International Young Artist Competition. Additionally you were one of the winners for the From the Top Big Break competition and just played two concerts in New York due to that competition.  How do you feel about being so successful already as a sophomore in High School?

Brannon Cho: I am very glad that things turned out as well as they did this year. I definitely have a long way to go and hopefully I’ll be able to maintain this success in the future while still getting good grades in school.

SV: You’re constantly been commended for your dazzling technique, how did you develop this?

BC: It takes many hours of concentrated physical practicing and also a very solid mentality, which I still have yet to fully cultivate.

SV: After knowing you for some years now, I have always been impressed with your ability to manage a number of activities at the same time and always at a high level. You are a top academic student at your high school and a member of your school’s varsity swim team. How do you manage to manage all that together while still doing so well with the cello?

BC: It is imperative to be time-efficient and able to prioritize in every circumstance. Also, success always comes with sacrifice: sleep, in my case. I sleep about 3-4 hours on a typical school night and I take naps whenever I can. Balancing multiple activities is always a physical and psychological barrier that I must surmount, but I hope it leads to great success in the long run.

SV: From my own pespective the art of practicing is really one of the most important skills to learn in order to become an excellent musician and instrumentalist. Since you seem to already have a firm grasp on that I would love to ask you a number of questions around the topic of practicing.

SV: Break down an average school day for us.

BC: Get up at 6 am, take a shower, study, eat breakfast, take the school bus at 7 am, attend school, take the bus home at 2:40 pm, eat a snack, take a nap for 1-2 hours, eat dinner, practice from 6 pm to 9 or 10 pm (varies quite often), start homework and studying, go to bed at about 2 or 3 am.

SV: What percentage of the time in your practicing would you say you spend going slow? What percentage fast or in tempo?

BC: Personally, slow practice is most important when I first learn a piece. For the first several weeks, I mostly practice slowly in order to memorize, solidify, and develop fluidity. After this stage, medium to fast practice takes precedent over slow practice in order to perfect the piece at the final tempo. Of course, slow practice is still necessary, but definitely not as much as in-tempo practice. The critical issue is that this only works if you solidify everything from the beginning. If this first stage is done in haste, you are paving the road to disaster.

SV: What’s the first thing you do when learning a brand new and extremely difficult piece? For example if you were assigned the Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante, (something feared deeply by most cellists)  how would you begin practicing that?

BC: First and foremost, practice all shifts with glissandi even when learning the notes. Figure out fingerings and bowings. This should all be done as slowly and thoroughly as possible. I would probably even start slowly drilling difficult parts.

SV: How often do you practice with a metronome?

BC: The metronome is key when transitioning between the stages. However, since practicing with the metronome requires much time and patience, it is difficult to find time to be able to complete it in one sitting. I usually practice with the metronome a couple times per week.

SV: How do you prepare the week before a concert or competition?

BC: The week before the event, start by going back to the first stage and drilling everything at the slow tempo. Then, move on to the next stages without getting sloppy. Basically, squeeze what you have been doing before into a time period of one week. At the end of each day, practice playing through the repertoire in order to build stamina. Remember that it probably won’t be great for the first few days, but by the end of the week, it should be good to go.

SV: How do you prepare the day of a concert or competition?

BC: I get plenty of sleep after a day of hard work, eat good meals, and make sure I do not practice too much, because getting tired before the performance is terrible.

SV: You performed the entire Dvorak Concerto with the Richardson Symphony only 5 days before competing at ASTA. How did you manage to just out of the blue change programs?

BC: I practiced both programs for a very long time (about a year) before, so everything was more or less in good shape a month prior to the concert and competition. Therefore, I only had time to practice certain spots in each piece every day during that month. The week before the Richardson Symphony Concert, I only practiced Dvorak. The day after that concert, I began practicing the ASTA repertoire. It took much perseverance, but I’m glad the results turned out well.

SV: Do you enjoy doing competitions? And what are some goals of yours for the future?

BC: In all honesty, I believe that competitions are a poor way of judging an artist. Art is not a measurable or rate-able because art is essentially the expression of the artist’s emotions. I do not think that criticizing one’s emotions and feelings is a great way to motivate and support the artist. Sometimes, however, competitions “discover” artists who really deserve to be famous and lucrative. They also provide great performance opportunities for the competitors. As of now, I would like to become a soloist and/or a professor of cello performance. My concern right now, however, is getting good grades and getting into a good college.

The post Interview with Brannon Cho appeared first on String Visions | from Ovation Press.

Blair Milton is a highly acclaimed musician and a key contributor of exclusive edited editions of orchestral excerpts and parts for the violin at Ovation Press.

String Visions: Mr. Milton, you are both an accomplished musician and a musical entrepreneur within the greater musical community. You are a member of the first violin section of the Chicago Symphony, a member of the Evanston Chamber Ensemble, a professor of violin at Northwestern University’s the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, Artistic Director of the Winter Chamber Music Festival, Coordinator for the Northwestern Summer Violin Institute. Where do you feel this drive originates within you?

Blair Milton: Violin teaching, chamber music and orchestra playing all complement one another. Each fills a niche in musical life that nourishes and enriches the other. Musicians are by nature driven to surround and immerse themselves in music – it is what we do.

SV: Could you share any useful information with readers about time management? At your busiest, what mechanisms do you rely upon to keep you grounded?

BM: When you have a lot of things going on at once, you need to be organized. Maintaining a list of current top priorities is essential to ensure that things don’t fall through the cracks.

SV: How important do you feel it is for musicians to apply their talent in a way that extends beyond their own practice and performance? What are some ways musicians can do this?

BM: Audiences today have many more entertainment choices. With instant access to films, plays, books and music, performers must seek their audiences in new ways. This involves many non-musical tasks: promoting events, ticketing, program design and production.

SV: Could you please talk a little bit about some of the musical endeavors you have headed? You co-founded the Evanston Chamber Ensemble, and later created the Winter Chamber Music Festival. What inspired you to head such a project? How did you go about it? What was the mission of your founding such a group?

BM: A group of four of us started the Evanston Chamber Ensemble. It became popular enough that our venues couldn’t accommodate the audience. My inspiration to launch the Winter Chamber Music Festival arose from a desire to serve a larger audience, and also to include more of the wonderful musicians who live in and travel through Chicago. In doing so, we were also able to add greater variety to our programming.

SV: You are an accomplished violinist, and you have played and collaborated with some of the world’s greatest musicians. What are some of the most rewarding experiences of your career thus far?

BM: There have been many unforgettable CSO concerts with Sir Georg Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Daniel Barenboim and others, here at home, at Carnegie Hall and on tour throughout Europe, Russia, Japan and China.One chamber music concert that stands out from the rest is the program on which Daniel Barenboim performed the Brahms Piano Quintet with a group of musicians from the CSO in the opening season of the Winter Chamber Music Festival.

SV: Could you talk more about your involvement with Northwestern High School Institute? How did you first become involved with the students there?

BM: Part of the role in teaching at the University level is to offer younger musicians a glimpse of life both as a music-major in college and, beyond that, as a musician in life. Over the years NHSMI offered a broad array of musical experiences to countless young musicians.

This year we have reinvented the program as the Summer Violin Institute. It will offer violinists from high school to college age the chance to play for and be coached by some of the leading violin teachers in the country. It is set up as a two-week course of master classes focusing on performance, technique, practice strategies, audition preparation, and many other topics.

SV: As both a violinist in the Chicago Symphony, and the individual who helps organize seating within the violin section, can you discuss how you handle that dynamic?

BM: Each member of the orchestra assumes duties that assist with the overall good of the group. Members take turns serving on various committees (pension, audition, etc). One of the ways I contribute my share is to help with string seating and rotation issues.

SV: As an artistic director, what are some of the day-to-day issues that you have to handle that may not be obvious to some members of the musical community?

BM: Organizing even a small series of concerts involves quite a number of steps. We hope that the audience is aware only of what takes place in the concert hall after they have taken their seat. To get to that point there are other, mostly logistical items to attend to. Travel arrangements for visiting artists, program book design and layout, collecting bios, writing or obtaining program notes, and stage set-up are of a few of the main issues that go into the process. One of the most challenging and time-consuming aspects concerns fund raising and ad sales. This work often begins a year or more ahead of the concerts.

SV: What are some of the aspects of your entrepreneurship that you feel have been really specific to your life? Are there any humorous happenings that come to mind?

BM: What drives musicians to seek a career in music is a love of the creative, artistic side of performance. Interacting with an audience and sharing your musical vision is what inspires performers. Being a successful member of an orchestra requires exceptional team work and dedication to the whole ensemble. Individual expressiveness is a crucial aspect of our creative spirit, though, so I encourage young musicians to seek out other like-minded peers with whom to perform recitals and chamber concerts. In doing so, they will forge connections with audiences eager to receive them.

At Evanston Chamber Ensemble concerts we introduce and discuss the music we are about to play to familiarize the audience with the program they are about to hear. By hearing descriptions and musical examples, the audience members gain added enjoyment from the performance.

Perhaps the most nerve-wracking moments in putting on a concert series happen when musicians become ill and have to cancel. This almost always occurs at the last possible minute. On one occasion at a Winter Festival concert, the second violinist scheduled to perform a Mozart Quintet on the first half of the program became ill shortly before the concert was to begin. We were in a panic until one of the other violinists performing that night offered to step in. I was able to announce from the stage that the missing violinist would be replaced – by Pinchas Zukerman. The audience broke into enthusiastic cheers.

Pleasant surprises can arise as well. On another occasion, a cellist scheduled to perform on the second half of a program was trying to decide whether to listen to our Schubert Piano Trio on the first half from the audience, or to turn pages, and listen from the stage. He decided to turn pages. Many in the audience didn’t realize until he came onstage for the second half that it was Yo–Yo Ma who had been turning pages.

Both of these great artists did what came naturally – acting with generosity toward the audience and their fellow musicians.

You can learn more about Blair Milton and his editions at Ovation Press by visiting his editor profile.

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