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Talk about music

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

Life in Teaching: Thomas Martin

Life in Teaching: Thomas Martin

Double bassist Thomas Martin studied with Roger Scott in Philadelphia and can trace a teaching pedigree that goes back to Bottesini. In a career that has combined both orchestral playing in the world’s top orchestras and teaching, he has taught at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Royal College of Music, and is currently senior professor at Birmingham Conservatoire. In this interview, first published in the European String Teachers Association magazine Arco in Autumn 2016

Happy Birthday, Ivry Gitlis!

Happy Birthday, Ivry Gitlis!

The charismatic, idealistic, often contrarian and utterly unique violinist is 95 years young today. In celebration, here is an interview I did with him to mark his 90th birthday, for The Strad’s August 2012 issue. The afternoon I spent with him in a Paris café, trying to get him to answer questions rather than turn them back into questions for me, create some intricate wordplay or go into a philosophical reverie, was one of the most exciting I’ve ever spent. On learning reper

Itzhak Perlman on his violin heroes

Itzhak Perlman on his violin heroes

In this interview I did with Itzhak Perlman for The Strad’s Violin Heroes supplement in 2009, he remembered and analysed the violinists who had influenced him growing up, starting with – who else? – Jascha Heifetz. Like many people, I’m sure, as a child I listened obsessively to Perlman LPs, especially his Bruch G minor Concerto and his encore pieces, and I’m sure my love of the violin, as well as the ideal of sound and style I hold in my ear, are directly thanks to him. In t

Gilles Apap: ‘Don’t listen to nobody’

Gilles Apap: ‘Don’t listen to nobody’

Violinist Gilles Apap has one of the most original voices today, crossing easily between classical and folk styles, often in the same piece. But he found this voice himself – despite his teachers, rather than because of them – and recommends that young players do the same It’s not easy being original in the world of classical music. Most of the music you play was composed hundreds of years ago and has been performed millions of times by other – better – players. You’ll have s

Interview with violinist Regina Carter

Interview with violinist Regina Carter

Regina Carter started with Dont and Galamian but she only truly found her voice when she discovered jazz. She tells Ariane Todes about the journey, and explains how the best way to learn jazz violin is to listen to horn players ‘Who says?’ exclaims Regina Carter. Perhaps my suggestion, to one of today’s finest jazz violinists, that the instrument doesn’t naturally suit the genre, is a little thoughtless. She laughs wholeheartedly, as she does throughout our conversation the d

‘You have to treat Bartók as you do Mozart or Haydn’

‘You have to treat Bartók as you do Mozart or Haydn’

Bartók’s quartets are often played ‘brutal, fast and loud’, but they should be approached as Classical masterpieces, says Jerusalem Quartet first violinist Alexander Pavlovsky I recently interviewed Alexander Pavlovsky, first violinist of the Jerusalem Quartet, for the programme notes of the group’s next London concert. The players are performing Haydn’s Quartet in G major, op.77 no.1, Bartók no.6 and Dvořák’s ‘American’ and Pavlovsky gave me plenty of insight about the works

Pinchas Zukerman on how to change the world

Pinchas Zukerman on how to change the world

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates its 70th birthday in 2016 and for its commemorative anniversary booklet, I had the opportunity to interview Pinchas Zukerman, its Principal Guest Conductor. He was on fine and articulate form, and happy to talk beyond the RPO, about the current state of classical music and his optimism for the future. One of his key concepts was to create a global coalition for music education, crossing all geographic and institutional boundaries. T

Joshua Bell on Josef Gingold

Joshua Bell on Josef Gingold

Josef Gingold was born on 28 October, 1909. In celebration of the birth of a universally beloved and respected pedagogue, here is an interview I did with Joshua Bell, one of his most famous students, for The Strad Violin Heroes special edition. He goes on to discuss another violin hero, Jascha Heifetz ‘For me the most direct influence and by far the greatest hero was my teacher Josef Gingold. He was one of the most sincere and beautiful music makers that I’ve ever heard. His

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

View from the viola front desk

View from the viola front desk

Paul Silverthorne has led the viola section of the London Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, working with the finest conductors and musicians in the world. So what does he really think of them, and what has he learnt about the art of conducting? Viola player Paul Silverthorne retires from the London Symphony Orchestra this year, after nearly 25 years – he played his last concert with the group on Monday, 5 October, and returns for a performance at St Luke’s on 13 November. I in

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

How to be present

How to be present

Great stage actors have an aura of positive energy and openness that musicians can access, too. Acting coach Patsy Rodenburg tells Ariane Todes how This article first appeared in The Strad, May 2012 Voice and acting coach Patsy Rodenburg has worked with some of the biggest names in theatre, film and TV, and for 26 years has run the voice department at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In her work with actors, and also with musicians, she helps them maximise their

John Woolrich: ‘Contemporary music is no different from Brahms’

John Woolrich: ‘Contemporary music is no different from Brahms’

The British composer John Woolrich discusses the challenges contemporary music faces and the vital role of amateur musicians My interview with John Woolrich for Cozio has just gone live here, and in it he says many interesting things about his conception of string sound and how he composes for different stringed instruments. I also asked him more general questions that led to a fascinating discussion about the language of contemporary music and the importance of amateur music

Barry Douglas on the pressures and benefits of competitions

Barry Douglas on the pressures and benefits of competitions

As the Tchaikovsky Competition kicks off, we revisit a 2014 interview with the great Irish pianist Barry Douglas, who won the contest in 1986, and who is on the piano jury this year. He discusses the pleasures, the benefits and the perils of music competitions. Read the original article here. Benefits vs pressures ‘I was building up my career slowly and steadily, but winning something like the Tchaikovsky Competition is of vast importance. People invite you if they know that

Interview with Shmuel Ashkenasi

Interview with Shmuel Ashkenasi

The former Vermeer Quartet leader and Curtis Institute professor discusses the negative sides of Ilona Fehér's 'tough love' school of teaching, and of violin competitions I recently interviewed Shmuel Ashkenasi for ChamberStudio, ahead of his chamber music masterclass for them at Kings Place on Sunday, 10 May. Conversation turned away from his views on chamber music to his past, and below are some of the other topics we covered. Born in Israel, from the age of eight Ashkenasi

Pinchas Zukerman: violin geek

Pinchas Zukerman: violin geek

In honour of Pinchas Zukerman's performance tonight of the Elgar Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London's Southbank Centre, I thought I'd republish an interview I did with him while I was at The Strad, as it was one of my favourites. I was interviewing him for a tribute to luthier René Morel for the February 2012 issue, but Zukerman was in chatty mood and said some wonderful and thought-provoking things about violins and musical attitudes: Pinchas Zuk

Violin competitions: participant’s view

Violin competitions: participant’s view

Violinist Benjamin Baker has just been selected for the final rounds of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. Such contests are notoriously stressful, so why would anyone put themselves through that? He explains all here Participants were announced today for the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Brussels, Belgium, in May. The only UK player going forward is Benjamin Baker (also representing New Zealand), who is a seasoned competition winner: he came first at

Viktoria Mullova on inspiration, rules and coughing

Viktoria Mullova on inspiration, rules and coughing

The Russian violinist is forthright about Baroque rules, the narrow-mindedness of only listening to classical music, and allowing audiences to cough In my latest interview over at Cozio I talk to violinist Viktoria Mullova about her ‘Jules Falk’ Stradivarius and her Guadagnini, which she uses for Baroque music. Mullova has an eminently sensible approach to Strads: while she believes that some of them have a very special sound, she also acknowledges that not all of them do, an

The violinist’s guide to learning mandolin

The violinist’s guide to learning mandolin

For violinists, playing the mandolin offers instant rewards and benefits, but some challenges, too. I asked for advice from the best in the world – Chris Thile I love playing the violin. Of course I do. But there’s always been a tiny part of me that wanted to play something more (how shall I put it?) hip. At the height of a Beatles obsession, I even bought a guitar and a ‘Teach Yourself the Beatles’ video, and stopped its frames it until I had learnt Blackbird. Then the guita