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Who or what inspired you to take up the guitar, and pursue a career in music?

Listening to a friend of mine, when I was 9 years old (and so was she), playing the cello when she just started… which probably didn’t sound exactly wonderful… but to me it did!! And I decided I wanted to start music, and that I wanted to learn the guitar. Since that day that I listened to my friend, I kept saying to my parents during a whole year that I wanted a guitar… and finally I got one for my birthday!

To decide that music would be my career, happened later, at 18 years old. I was starting Bmus in ESMUC (Superior School of Music of Catalonia, in Barcelona), and at the same time Journalism and Public Relations. However my studies at Conservatoire started one week before the University… and during that week I fell in love with the Conservatoire… so on my first day at University (during my first 2 hours of lessons!) I decided to gave up Journalism and dedicate myself entirely to Music.

Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career?

My main two influences were two teachers I had during my studies in Barcelona. I studied with them for several years, and I think it was from studying with them that I developed my own personality as a musician.  Feliu Gasull, Spanish composer and guitarist with a very interesting music language that combines the complexities of contemporary themes and variety of Spanish folk idioms. And Emilio Molina, a pianist specialized in classical improvisation, who is entirely dedicated to change Music education in Spain with a method that he created and that introduces Improvisation from the very beginning of the music learning process.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

I think the greatest challenge for me has been focusing my career in chamber music and collaborative projects. As a classical guitarist, the main training you get during your studies is as a soloist, and your career is mainly focused in solo repertoire, with only a few projects on the side that involve more musicians. What I love is to learn from playing with other musicians, and that’s what I decided to focus on, before coming to London. And yes, it’s been a challenge!

However, this great challenge has allowed me to broaden my musicianship, as it lead me arranging repertoire (in order to be able to play repertoire that I liked with different ensembles), collaborate with other artistic disciplines (as it is the case of theatre), and actually  start composing my own little songs/themes.

Which performance/recordings are you most proud of? 

That’s an easy one… our Quintet debut album “Iberian Colours”, about to release!

Which particular works do you think you play best?

The works I arrange/create myself, without doubt. The process of arranging/creating repertoire makes you learn those particular pieces in a deeper level that if you approach a piece directly from a score already written.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

Usually I work with projects that have already a defined theme, as it is the case of the Quintet (we focus on music by Spanish composers that was influence by traditional songs and dances). If that’s the case, that’s what decides the repertoire.

Sometimes just because I would like to learn a particular piece…

…And many times I listen to the suggestions from the musicians I work with, and go along with them.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

I like venues that bring different genres of music, or even different artistic disciplines in the same space, and also that they do so in an informal setting although always with respect towards the events and the artists. I think The Forge venue, in Camden, could be a good example of this. But there are many others in London!

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to?

There’s one that always gives me goosebumps when playing, at a particular point of the piece; it is Asturiana by Manuel de Falla. Also, the works by Feliu Gasull always interest me and they are always challenging, technically and musically, so I love to work on them.

Listen to…I don’t know where to start with… Orchestral music always amazes me, so does flamenco… I listen to very different styles of music, I wouldn’t be able to decide!! Lately I’ve been listening to Iberia by Albéniz… and also different works by Walton, the ones written for guitar but also other major works, like the Cello Concerto.

Who are your favourite musicians?

This is going to sound like an easy compliment, but it’s actually true… the ones I work with!

What is your most memorable concert experience?

I don’t think I can choose one in particular, and the ones I remember well it’s not because the concert itself, but because the complexity of the project/the hours spend on making the performance happen! I could say about the UK premiere of Feliu Gasull (it involved 15 musicians and lots of music learning), about the collaboration with Guildhall Drama department on the production of Blood Wedding by Federico García-Lorca, and many of the concerts involving the Quintet. Also a concert I did last January in Paris, at Salle Cortot, together with wonderful flutist Lucy Driver.

Again, these memories are not about the concert itself, but what I’ve learnt from the projects…

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?

It’s about making them develop their own music personality, … so those ideas and concepts would vary depending on who is the aspiring musician. One thing for sure to say is that during their studies, apart from learning the core repertoire, the required technique, etc… they really need to ask themselves what is that they would like to achieve, and what they would like to work on in the future. Music studies are very demanding, especially from Undergraduate onwards… it could happen that with all that huge amount of hours of practising the repertoire for the auditions and exams, there is no much time left to question yourself what you really would like to focus your music career on.

What are you working on at the moment?

Various things: Obviously working on the quintet project!  Preparing our Cd release in June and our forthcoming performances in July. I’m at the moment arranging a piece from flamenco genre this time, which will be our new one to add on repertoire for the concerts we have at Buxton Festival and Arts in Action.

A concert in 18th June with Soprano Laura Ruhi-Vidal at Instituto Cervantes, which will feature works by catalan composers, especially Roberto Gerhard.

And a collaboration with theatre, with the company Little Soldier Productions, on their mad adaption of the work Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I think there is no concept of perfect happiness…but if I would have to describe it, I think the trick is about finding things that makes you smile and projects (professionals and personal!) that make you excited about the future. And to try to be always awake, working towards keeping that energy that children have and share so easily…

The Maria Camahort Quintet’s album ‘Iberian Colours’ is launched on 16th June at a concert at Brixton East. Further information and tickets here

Maria Camahort is a guitarist, ensemble leader, composer and teacher. Graduating with a distinction in MMus Performance from the Guildhall School of Music, and awarded with the Guildhall Artist Fellowship 2010-12, her career has broadened vastly during the last five years. Her exceptional knowledge of her instrument and her devotion towards chamber music and collaborative projects have given her the opportunity to perform in a great variety of genres, settings and contexts.

Maria has performed in several festivals such as Barcelona Guitar Festival, City of London Festival, International Conservatoire Week Festival, Bath Guitar Festival, London Guitar Festival, Kings Place Festival, Edinburgh Guitar & Music Festival, etc. She has performed in venues of many cities, such as Barcelona, Madrid, London, Paris, St Petesburg, Warsaw, Cracow, Sevilla, Valencia, Oxford, Edinburgh, Brighton, Orléans, etc. In London, she has performed at Bolivar Hall, St Luke’s, St James´s Picadilly, The Forge, Bishopsgate Institute, Barbican Centre Pit Theatre, The Blue Elephant Theatre, Jackson’s Lane Theatre, Kings Place, St Martin in the Fields and Southbank Centre among others.

mariacamahort.com

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I am delighted to launch this new series A Pianist’s Alphabet

A what?

A is a beginning word, an adventure. Not knowing what will come next.

A is for a moment in time – how long should it last?

A is for all those Italian musical terms for tempo or expression, so hard to distinguish at first: Andante, Allegro, Adagio, Andantino, Allegretto, Amoroso.

A is for the space before, between, and around the notes, the ether that connects them, the breath of vitality and rhythm.

A is for Anacrusis, the anticipation, the article before a noun, leading to things new and unexplored.

A is for Acciaccatura, the fleeting sound that brushes or crushes into something else, making it pretty or cool, somehow different from the plain note that was there before.

A is for Appoggiatura, the note that makes us wait for resolution, but for how long.

A is for a world of possibilities at the piano

Jane Lakey, pianist and piano teacher

www.janelakeypianoteaching.com

Dietrich Fischer Dieskau and Gerald Moore

A is for Accompanying

You will all, I’m sure, be familiar with the saying “those who can do; those who can’t teach”. I expect this attitude is as familiar to piano accompanists as it is to piano teachers. In many ways, piano accompanists are the unsung heroes of the music world. Often thought of as failed performers, they are in fact the backbone of so many concerts and recitals, not to mention millions of graded examinations and diplomas.

Being a piano accompanist requires a great degree of skill and patience; as with teaching, being a brilliant concert pianist doesn’t necessarily make you a great accompanist. Accompanists need to be as quick-witted, with the ability to react in the moment: a necessary skill when your soloist skips two verses of a song, six bars of sonata, or one beat in every bar of a sonatina. Only recently, I read of the accompanist whose soloist had managed to convert the time signature from 4/4 to 5/8 for the entire musical theatre song!

Perhaps the greatest quality of a good accompanist is the ability to be sensitive, not just to the soloist, but to the music too. A good accompanist should enhance and support a performance, not drown it out. Above all, teamwork is a necessity. Both soloist and accompanist have to work together to support and help each other.

So let’s sing the praises of the millions of piano accompanists, so often the general dogsbodies and unsung heroes of the music world.

David Barton, Music Teacher | Composer & Arranger | Freelance Writer | Piano Accompanist

www.davidbartonmusic.co.uk

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Named by The Independent as “one to watch” young Yorkshire pianist Emmanuel (“Manny”) Vass is making waves in the iTunes charts (and beyond) with his new CD ‘Sonic Waves’. A compilation of music inspired by water, including Chopin’s ‘Ocean’ and ‘Waterfall’ Etudes, Debussy’s limpid and atmospheric ‘Reflets dans l’Eau’ and Liszt’s ‘Les jeux d’eau a la villa d’Este’, this album is, by Manny’s own admission, a means of to attracting young people to classical music by offering familiar and accessible works, and a few lesser-known pieces. This USP was put to very good use in Manny’s first album ‘From Bach To Bond’ too, in which he combined the familiar with the not so familiar and concluded the album with his own Lisztian take on key themes from the James Bond film soundtracks.

Manny’s new CD was entirely funded through a Kickstarter campaign, and he also does all his own promotion and publicity. He has neither agent nor manager and relies on his on hard work, drive and focus to get things down. He is, in effect, a prime example of the entrepreneurial musician.

Manny was one of the first musicians I interviewed for my Meet the Artist series (the result of a chance encounter on Twitter) and it has been wonderful to see him develop and progress. And with ‘Sonic Waves’ poised to top the iTunes album chart, he really will be riding the crest of the wave!

To accompany the CD, Manny is performing across the UK in venues such as the grandeur of Chatsworth House and Castle Howard to the hip intimacy of The Forge, Camden.

Full details of concert dates and tickets booking links here

Download the album from iTunes

Meet the Artist……Emmanuel Vass

Emmanuel Vass making Sonic Waves at Chatsworth House

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A new play by Lewis Owens

In 1958, at the height of his artistic ability and reputation, the composer Dmitri Shostakovich was invited by Oxford University to receive an Honorary Doctorate of Music, along with fellow musician Francis Poulenc and other dignitaries. From the initial invitation by Oxford to Shostakovich in Moscow, the story is a fascinating, humorous and poignant portrayal of the clash of two distinct, and distinctly insular, worlds: the Byzantine rituals and orotundity of Oxford University and the unsmiling officialdom of Soviet Russia. When Shostakovich finally arrives in Oxford for his three-day stay, hosted by Sir Isaiah and Lady Berlin, we are presented not only with a unique insight into the inner personalities of Shostakovich, Poulenc, Berlin, Trevor-Roper and others, but also a searing reminder of the value of art in the Cold War period.

The play is based on the official correspondence and telegrams surrounding the visit, first published by Dr Lewis Owens in 2004, including Berlin’s astonishing ruminations on the significance of Shostakovich’s visit.

This story has never been staged before and includes the music of Shostakovich and Poulenc (including performance by internationally acclaimed pianist Colin Stone – see interview below).

Pianist Colin Stone talks about significant teachers, influences, recording and performing:

Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and pursue a career in music?
I was only four when my mother started giving me lessons, I don’t think I had a great deal of choice in the matter. I always loved the sound of the piano and I was certainly inspired by her playing but equally I remember many family rows caused by my reluctance to practise and eventually I was sent to the junior department of RCM.
Who or what are the biggest influences on your career as a pianist?
I believe we always owe more to our teachers than we realise. Norma Fisher in particular was pivotal in helping me acquire some mastery over the instrument. Later, when I went to Oxford I was extremely lucky to be introduced to André Tchaikowsky, the most prodigiously gifted musician I have ever met. His death in 1982, my last year at Oxford, was not only a huge loss to the world of music but a personal tragedy as well. My last teacher was Edith Vogel. All three of them made deep and lasting impressions on me as a musician.
What has been the greatest challenge of your career so far?
Anyone who tries to make a career in music is facing a huge challenge. The biggest challenge can be simply planning one’s time. If you accept too many commitments, in the form of students or concerts, and you have a family as well, you suddenly find that there are not enough hours in the day. In terms of specific musical challenges I would put my performance of the 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich somewhere near the top. Without doubt the most nerve-wracking performance was a live broadcast premier with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Rob Keeley’s piano concerto. I still don’t understand quite how it came together with so little rehearsal. A real testament to the amazing skills of that particular band of musicians and the conductor Grant Llewellyn.
Which recordings & performances are you most proud of?
I’ve made a number of solo piano recordings some of which I find difficult to listen to with the passing of the years. I prefer to listen to my collaborations with other musicians.
I am very proud of the duo with my dear friend Rustem Hayroudinoff. The CD we made for Chandos of Shostakovich’s fourth symphony in its version for two pianos was a real highlight.  Similarly, the recordings I made with the London Mozart Trio, in particular our recording of Smetana’s trio, give me cause for optimism.
Which works do you think you perform best?
I have no idea what works I perform best, I think that is for others to judge. I will say that I am most happy playing music with strong contrapuntal interest.
Favourite pieces to listen to? And to perform?
There is so much wonderful music, I have always thought that compiling a list in the manner of Desert Island Discs would be a complete torment. I find that I have occasional cravings; perhaps to hear a late Beethoven string quartet or a Bruckner Symphony or perhaps something played by Oscar Peterson but appetites change.
In my mind a number of performances have merged together. I have a very vivid and special memory of playing Schuberts B-flat trio. Vivid in the sense that the physical place was not important but the atmosphere in that glorious slow movement has somehow distilled itself into my mind. Without wishing to sound unduly pretentious that music really does transport one to another place.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
I have been trying to write a book about the numerous things I wish my students knew. I think my biggest concern is that there is a YouTube culture that interferes with the process of students learning how to read a score. I have to beg my students not to rush out and listen to random performances of the pieces they are about to learn. I have nothing against them listening to other performances after they have studied the score but I do find it a problem when they treat the process of learning music as an aural tradition. I think the imagination is best served by discovering the music afresh, direct from the score.
Tell us more about working with Lewis Owens on his new play?
Lewis is a remarkable man. His erudition on the subject of Shostakovich is well known but I was surprised to discover that he has such gifts as a dramatist. It has been very easy for me to work on this with him, he had a very clear idea of what he wanted and in those few areas of uncertainty he was brilliant at finding the solutions by picking the brains of his colleagues.

“The life of Isaiah Berlin contained several episodes that cry out for theatrical treatment, and Lewis Owens here dramatises one of them, co-starring Shostakovich, with intelligence and flair.” Dr Henry Hardy, Isaiah Berlin’s editor, Wolfson College, Oxford

“A very imaginative and unusual play.” Peter Bien, Emeritus Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Dartmouth College, USA

“The play portrays, in sharp focus and with an immense attention to detail, not only the visit of Shostakovich to Oxford but, and as significantly, the various machinations that lay behind the apparent success of the visit. There are surprises too, both musically and politically speaking.” Alan Mercer, DSCH Journal editor

Performances include the play in the first half and a recital of music for piano and ‘cello by Liszt, Poulenc and Shostakovich in the second half.

13th June, 7pm – Lilian Bayliss Studio, Sadlers Wells Theatre, Roseberry Avenue, London EC1R 4TN. Tickets

14th June, 7pm – The Dukes Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5HT. Tickets

3rd July, 7pm – The Sheldonian Theatre, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3AZ. Tickets

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