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Life in Teaching: Stefan Popov

Life in Teaching: Stefan Popov

Stefan Popov has been professor of cello at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama for 40 years, and before that taught at Boston University and New England Conservatoire. He was born in Bulgaria, and studied at the Moscow Conservatoire with Sviatoslav Knushevitsky and Mstislav Rostropovich. In this interview for the Winter 2017 issue of the European String Teachers Association magazine Arco, he told me about the strengths of the Russian School, and how he’s still learnin

Review of Alexey Stadler Prom

Review of Alexey Stadler Prom

Alexey Stadler‘s unexpected Proms debut last night was such stuff as careers are made on Performing at the Proms on a day’s notice is the sort of thing that features in students’ nightmares (probably with no clothes on), but 25-year-old cellist Alexey Stadler handled last night’s unexpected debut at one of the world’s most prestigious music festivals, in place of an ill Truls Mørk, with poise and guts – even performing a movement of Bach as an encore, spurred on by a delighte

Jacqueline du Pré – a terrible premonition

Jacqueline du Pré – a terrible premonition

On what would have been the 71th birthday of Jacqueline du Pré, the words of János Starker sound a provocative warning Jacqueline du Pré was born 26th January, 1945 and died on 19th October 1987. She was a natural talent who burned very brightly indeed, all too briefly. She came to epitomise both the joy and optimism of a golden era of music making in the 1960s, and then the searing tragedy of human fragility and the transience of life. Of course we are left with wonderful re

The Freewheelin’ Yo-Yo Ma

The Freewheelin’ Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma turns 60 on 7 October, 2015, and to celebrate one of the world's best-loved classical music heroes, here is an interview I did with him for the November 2011 issue of The Strad. At that point his Goat Rodeo CD with mandolin player Chris Thile and bass player Edgar Meyer had just come out, but typically for his lateral-thinking mindset, the conversation ranged far and wide over many of his other passions Yo-Yo Ma tells me he’s no good at improvising: ‘It’s not my stre

Thomas Demenga: ‘Sometimes I think we’re producing too many musicians at conservatoires’

Thomas Demenga: ‘Sometimes I think we’re producing too many musicians at conservatoires’

The Swiss cellist Thomas Demenga discusses the fierce competition in today’s music world, how students should spend less time online and more practising, and how he can’t always tell the difference between old and modern instruments Occasionally when I do a phone interview, I feel a pang of envy imagining where my interviewee is. I certainly did when I spoke to cellist Thomas Demenga recently for Cozio.com. He’d just arrived in Venice for the start of a sabbatical, after 35 y

No prize given at Fournier Award

No prize given at Fournier Award

The jury of the Pierre Fournier Award hands out no main prize but two Incentive Grants in the prestigious cello contest at Wigmore Hall There were insteresting results at today's Pierre Fournier Award for cellists at Wigmore Hall, where the jury held back the main award and gave two Incentive Grants, each worth £1,000, to Jonathan Dormand and Valentino Woritzsch. Founder and Honorary President Ralph Kirshbaum explained the decision as he announced the results: 'The distinctio

Gergiev looks to Asia for string talent

Gergiev looks to Asia for string talent

Valery Gergiev was optimistic about the rise of Asian musicians but sounded a note of caution about the pressure on young competition winners, as he launched the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition Valery Gergiev described the rise of Asian classical musicians during today’s press conference for the International Tchaikovsky Competition, saying, ‘There is a clear tendency that Asian representation is increasing every competition.’ His analysis went beyond the usual rac

‘When you play Bach you should speak about us all’

‘When you play Bach you should speak about us all’

Anner Bylsma has some advice for players who want to express their own feelings through music While I was at the Amsterdam Cello Biënnale last month I only managed to get a few minutes with Anner Bylsma, after one of the panel discussions. During the session he’d made a passing comment about the fact that the cellists at the festival all got on well and demonstrated different musical personalities (which is true) but that violinists tend to be much more egotistical. Afterward

The unbearable lightness of being Gary Hoffman

The unbearable lightness of being Gary Hoffman

Gary Hoffman is one of the music world’s best-kept secrets, a fine and uncompromising cellist whose rare appearances mesmerise. For him, being a musician involves a daily struggle, but he wouldn't have it any other way, as he explains I wouldn’t call Gary Hoffman a great cellist. Not after our conversation at the recent Amsterdam Cello Biënnale. He told me in no uncertain terms what he thinks of the expression: ‘These words are thrown around. Everybody’s “great”. Are they all

Written by Mrs Bach?

Written by Mrs Bach?

A new documentary suggests that Mrs Bach was behind the greatest works by her husband Johann Sebastian. But does it ring true? You know that if classical music makes the pages of the infamously scurrilous Daily Mail there’s got to be a good story, so it’s not surprising an iconoclastic new film, Written by Mrs Bach, made it in. Undoubtedly the idea that Bach’s second wife Anna Magdelena wrote much of the great master’s music is a good story. Add to that possible marital infid

Why togetherness is over-rated

Why togetherness is over-rated

At his masterclass on Monday, Jean-Guihen Queyras challenged the notion that playing chamber music is all about playing exactly together Jean-Guihen gave a fascinating masterclass on Monday at the Amsterdam Cello Biënnale, looking at the philosophical questions of music as well as the details. For me, the most revelatory idea he discussed, one which goes counter to everything I was ever taught as a student and in orchestral and chamber music performance, was the concept of no

Mischa Maisky: ‘Bach is turning in his grave’

Mischa Maisky: ‘Bach is turning in his grave’

Mischa Maisky challenged the traditional notion of authenticity in his masterclass at the Amsterdam Cello Biënnale If any classical musician deserves their own chat show, it’s Mischa Maisky. I only arrived in Amsterdam in time for the second half of his Sunday masterclass for the Cello Biënnale, but he was in full flow with jokes and stories about the great musicians he has known and the meaning of music. His most common phrase was, ‘but that’s another story’, and he joked th

The real secret of Stradivarius?

The real secret of Stradivarius?

I had a lovely morning yesterday talking to cellist Natalie Clein for two forthcoming articles – about her new Saint-Saëns disc, for Sinfini Music and about the beautiful 'Simpson' Guadagnini she plays, for Cozio. So the subjects ranged all over the place, but towards the end we got to talking about modern instruments. Natalie is extremely positive about the benefits of playing them, saying, 'What I love about modern instruments is that they’re like fountain pens. They allow

Swedish cellist and Tunisian violinist are among Womad highlights

Swedish cellist and Tunisian violinist are among Womad highlights

I’m just back from Womad: three days of camping in a field and listening to music from all over the world. I’m sunburnt and have sore feet, and never have I been so pleased to see my bed and toilet. But it was worth it for the sheer quantity and variety of music I had a chance to listen to, even if, with seven stages to choose from, I was sometimes quite overwhelmed and had to go and lie under a bush to cool down. There weren’t many string acts to report back on, but the few

Kopelman Quartet offers lesson in chamber music playing

I'm just back from Wigmore Hall, where I watched the Kopelman Quartet demonstrate chamber music playing at its best: exquisite refinement, complete togetherness, impeccable attention to detail. All with their lustrous sound and a whole lot of humour, although possibly a wee bit comfortable. And watching the Russian bow hold in action is a whole violin lesson in itself. It's interesting to me that Russian players rarely use the palette one associates with Russian music - the P