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

I’m not sure I can really attribute it to any one thing in particular. I always wrote music, even as a child, but I didn’t think it was an unusual thing to do. (Perhaps coming from a family of artists and musicians gave me a slightly odd perspective!) Strangely enough, a really key moment for me in my youth was giving up the violin: I absolutely hated learning the instrument, and once I’d stopped, I suddenly rediscovered my love of classical music, and began to play the piano and compose again.

I was very lucky at school too; we had an incredibly skilled and inspiring Head of Music who encouraged and supported me in my last-minute decision to apply for music degrees rather than languages.

Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?

Perhaps it’s a trite response, but the musicians who have influenced me the most tend to be those I can identify with on a personal level as well as musically. There’s always been something about Toru Takemitsu’s life and career, his struggle to come to terms with his cultural heritage and the difficulties of writing in Japan after the war, the fact that he was self taught and, by all accounts, an incredibly warm, humorous and unpretentious man that somehow strikes me as a good model of how to be a composer in these complex and ever-changing times.

Billie Holiday has also always been a heroine of mine; her ability to bear her soul in every recording she ever made (and no doubt every performance she gave), in spite of the many adversities she faced in life, inspires me continually.

Of course my teacher, Julian Anderson, also had a profound influence on me as a composer. I couldn’t really compose before I studied with him; I was full of ideas, but only had my instincts and a few very basic tools for realising them. He was incredibly encouraging, but also equipped me with the means to be constructively self-critical, which I’m immensely grateful for.

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

There were some very difficult periods for me as a student. Composing has always been something of an emotional outlet for me, and I think it’s sometimes very exhausting to confront your emotions when life can seem so complex and uncertain. But then composing is always so much harder than you expect it to be anyway!

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?

It’s always a privilege to be commissioned to write a new piece, but it’s not really that different from writing in your own time, apart from having the pressure of a deadline. That can be a useful catalyst for getting the piece finished though!

What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?

It’s always a great honour to be commissioned by a specific performer. Knowing that they have selected you to write for them based on their appreciation of your previous work is hugely reassuring as a starting point, and of course, it’s always wonderful when you can work closely with them on the work in progress, and even better when they’re pleased by the final composition and play it with enjoyment and commitment.

Working with Richard Uttley recently on my new Dance Suite has been fantastic. We live close to one another and the process really has been very collaborative. I’ve written bits of the piece, played or shown them to him, and he’s then responded and helped me with very practical suggestions; I’ve learnt so much from the process, and it’s only really possible to do that when you’re writing for a particular soloist.

On the other hand, it can be quite scary when you’re writing for a really prestigious group. I remember composing for the LSO and occasionally thinking – oh god, the LSO’s first violin section are going to play those notes: they’d better be good. I try not to let myself worry about that too much, however; otherwise I’d never be able write anything at all!

Which works are you most proud of? 

Someone recently told me that when a composer admits that they’re proud of a piece, it usually means they know it’s not very good! Personally I find it difficult to be completely happy with anything; the critical faculties you need to write your best music are also those that can make it difficult to enjoy them afterwards, because you’re always aware of what you could have done better.

Having said that, I am quite fond of a few short pieces that I had to write very quickly (one of them in just one day!) – perhaps it’s because I had somewhat reduced expectations of myself in those circumstances. Many others I’m relatively pleased with, but still have niggling doubts about passages I think could have improved with slightly more time and a better sense of focus.

Who are your favourite musicians/composers?

That’s hard to answer; there are so many, and I’m always on the look out for new pieces and performances to give me ideas and enrich my listening.

I suppose I would certainly want to name Guillaume de Machaut, Tomás Luis De Victoria, Henry Purcell, J.S. Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Szymanowksi, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, Oliver Knussen, Henri Dutilleux, Hans Abrahamsen, Jonathan Harvey, Claude Vivier, Gerard Grisey and Franco Donatoni, but that’s far from an exhaustive list.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

I’ve many fond memories of concerts and it’s hard to rank them, but one that really sticks in my mind is a Chick Corea gig I went to with some friends back in 2004; he and his band just gave an utterly sensational live performance.

More recently I attended an incredibly good concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra that included Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë and the premiere of Julian Anderson’s Violin Concerto; it was an exquisite performance of the perfect programme. I also loved the Orchestra of the Age Enlightenment’s performance of the St Matthew Passion directed by Mark Padmore just before Easter this year.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

Retiring, once I’m old and tired of working, to somewhere beautiful in Italy where I can eat amazing food everyday and enjoy the good weather.

What do you enjoy doing most? 

Walking and cycling in the countryside and making things for the flat. (My dad is a furniture restorer and instilled a love of woodwork and DIY in me as a child.)

(interview date: June 2015)

Born in London, Matthew Kaner studied Music at King’s College London and was jointly awarded the Purcell Prize for graduating top of his year in 2008. He then gained a distinction for his Masters at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, supervised by Julian Anderson, where he subsequently continued his studies as a Composition Fellow for a year. He has been teaching on various undergraduate courses at both King’s and the Guildhall School since 2009, becoming a Professor of Composition at the latter in 2013, in which year he was also made a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Matthew has composed works for the London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia, members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Workers Union, Siglo de Oro, King’s College London Choir and Orfea amongst others, and soloists including Richard Uttley, Julia Samojlo and Sam Corkin. His music has been performed at various venues in the UK and abroad, including Seiji Ozawa Hall, the Barbican, the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room, LSO St. Luke’s and Snape Maltings. It has also been broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and featured in the Aldeburgh, Norfolk & Norwich, City of London and Victoria International Music Festivals.

In the summer of 2012 Matthew was the Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow in Composition at the Tanglewood Music Center, Massachusetts, where he worked and studied with composers George Benjamin, John Harbison, Oliver Knussen and Michael Gandolfi. He attended the Britten-Pears Contemporary Composition course in 2011. In 2013, he was one of the winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize and was consequently commissioned to write a new work for the Philharmonia’s Music of Today series,  premiered in the Royal Festival Hall on 31 May 2014. He was also the recipient of a London Sinfonietta Writing the Future chamber commission. His quartet for flute, clarinet, viola and cello, Chants, was premiered in the Purcell Room as part of the New Music Day on December 8, 2013.

Matthew was the 2013 Composer-in-Association with the Workers Union, composing a work with electronics entitled Organum which they premiered with the support of the PRS for Music Foundation, culminating in a final performance at LSO St. Luke’s on 9th November 2013. His commission for the London Symphony Orchestra, The Calligrapher’s Manuscript, was premiered under the baton of Robin Ticciati in the Barbican Hall in September 2013 and received with critical acclaim.

matthewkaner.com

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`I was delighted to be invited to participate in this live and online conference at the London College of Music, University of West London. The conference is part of a year-long research project exploring ways in which performers can create new and exciting sonic worlds in the production of live and recorded performances of the classical repertoire (further information about the project here http://cmhp-conference.com/index.php/about-cmhp).

The first session I attended, entitled ‘3D Audio Piano’, involved pianist Emilie Capulet working with Andrew Bourbon and Simon Zagorski-Thomas to record a layered performance of Debussy’s La Cathedral Egloutie (Preludes Book One). The score was divided into separate elements, such as “bells” or “monks’, which then informed the treatment of each element in the recording process to create a more intense and colourful sound when played back through a 3D Audio speaker array (like surround sound). I found this process most interesting, specifically from an interpretative and performance point of view and I could see the possibility of encouraging piano students (and myself) to think in terms of separate layers and multiple elements within a piece of music when attempting to highlight certain aspects or create a more intensely expressive performance. It strikes me that Debussy’s music lends itself particularly well to this approach, but it has an application in other music and composers too.

The second segment involved a live 3D Audio mix by Greg Smith of Emilie Capulet’s performance of Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau. Here, hyper production effects such as reverb were used to intensify the sense of the different fountains which Ravel illustrates in his score. The session finished with  a playback of a 3D Audio Remix by Simon Zagorski-Thomas of Emilie Capulet’s MIDI performance of Haydn’s Piano Sonata in C (XVI: 50). Here, Simon sought to capitalise on the wit inherent in Haydn’s writing as well as the composer’s interest in the rapid developments in the piano at the time of the Sonata’s composition. Listen to the piece here:

Later, I participated in a panel discussion where we considered a number of points including

  • Do recordings using hyper production techniques have any commercial potential?
  • Why are classical musicians so concerned with perfection in the recording studio when they know there is the “safety net” of editing?
  • Are performers unduly influenced by high-quality recordings and do they seek to replicate them in live performance?
  • Do high-quality recordings raise audience expectations about perfection in live performance?
  • Would experimental recordings using surround sound and 3D audio techniques attract a younger/new audience to classical music?
  • Do wrong notes really matter in a recording which is rich in expression?

I would be interested in readers’ views on these issues – please feel free to respond using the comments box below or by contacting me via the Contact page of this blog.

(A video of the panel discussion should be available shortly).

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Thoughts on teachers and pupils

c30ce6cf83f8001725853cc16de3bf33Music is the only field of study that requires regular and extended one-on-one interaction between student and teacher. The student-teacher relationship is a very special one, based on mutual trust and respect. Young students are often hungry for knowledge and experience: they turn to their teachers for support and advice, they share their insecurities and emotions. Music is all about expressing emotions, plumbing the depths of the soul or soaring in ecstasy, and a certain vulnerability and emotional intelligence is essential if the musician is going to communicate with honesty and passion. Good teachers know this – they encourage their students to know this too, enabling them to let go and free their spirit to play with feeling and musical colour.

For many students and teachers the relationship can be long-lasting: some of my students came to me when I first started my teaching practice 10 years’ ago and they are still with me now. I have watched them grow up, move on to senior school, develop as musicians and young people. I will miss them when they leave – to go to university or into a career – and I hope they won’t forget me…… Musicians who studied with some of the great pianist-teachers of the last century remember them with fondness – and profound respect – and carry with them their teacher’s unique wisdom and approach to music making, passing it on to the next generation of musicians.

Former students continually relate how her pragmatic and positive approach to problem solving remains with them in their daily lives. Her ability to demonstrate the simplest and most potent interpretation of any phrase was infallible and her emphasis was always on providing the pupil with the means to continue independent development. In addition to her ability to articulate what would be of most use to the student…..

(Obituary of highly respected teacher Phyllis Sellick, who died in 2007)

It is important that we like our students – and vice versa – regardless of their musical abilities. Such mutual regard enables us to work better together because we demonstrate that we value our students as human beings and recognise that each one is different. In doing so, we can tailor our teaching to suit each student individually: there is no “one size fits all” approach to music teaching (though, sadly, I still come across teachers who believe that there is). Creating “bespoke” lessons for each student, which demonstrate our understanding of their particular strengths and weaknesses, their musical tastes and character, will enable us to teach them better and for them to feel supported and valued. This virtuous circle means that students feel motivated and progress more quickly because they feel confident that they have their teacher’s support.

The relationship is so special that sometimes certain students will place the teacher on a pedestal and take what they say as gospel or confide in the teacher about matters which are not directly related to musical study. As a teaching colleague of mine remarked, “they take what we say very seriously and we need to be extremely careful how we phrase our comments and advice”. Of course, it may be flattering that our students feel sufficiently comfortable in our presence that they can confide in us, but in such instances the teacher should be mindful not to step over the teacher-pupil boundary, nor say things which may conflict with the student’s parents (if the student is a child or young person). Where one is concerned about a student, it is of course crucial to discuss one’s concerns with the parents as well. Then both student and parent know that the teacher has the student’s best interests in mind.

When the relationship becomes unbalanced and the teacher seems to wield an unhealthy control or power over the student, a student may feel demeaned or threatened by the need to please the teacher at every lesson in order to win praise. In such instances, progress may stall and the student may become anxious or even afraid of the teacher. At this point, the student should consider moving to a new teacher.

It can be hard to leave a teacher whom you like and respect, but sometimes it becomes necessary when the relationship has run its course or the student feels they need a different approach to provide new stimulation and inspiration. A number of adult pianists whom I know like to see several teachers, taking from each one the advice they feel will benefit them the most. Recognising that no one teacher has the answer to everything is an important stage in a musician’s development – and teachers themselves need to be respectful of this too. By the same token, making the decision to be independent of a teacher is also an important stage in the musician’s journey.

A good teacher also appreciates that they are not “always right about everything” and will encourage their students to challenge and question them. I enjoy such interactions with my students, and actively encourage them to question me: it keeps my alert and reminds me that my own learning journey is continuous.

Above all, a good teacher will convey his/her passion and enthusiasm for the piano and its literature: this is my main motivation for being a piano teacher, and if I had to distill my mission statement into a snappy one-liner, I think it would probably say “Because I love the piano!”.

And for the student, when they meet the right teacher, everything seems to click into place. They look forward to their lessons and can see noticeable progress and improvement, thus inspiring them to go on studying (hopefully!).

 

More on teachers and pupils

Teachers and Mentors

Exploring your music teacher heritage

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(Photo: Allan Jenkins)

Who or what inspired you to take up singing and pursue a career in music?

We had a large selection of Maria Callas recordings when I was growing up, which inspired me a great deal. I thought that if I could achieve even just 1% of the vocal and communicative power that she possessed, then I would be very happy. I also could not have begun to study music without the unfailing support of my mother.

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

In terms of live performances that were formative in my early love of opera, I would have to cite Joyce DiDonato’s much-feted Rosina at ROH in 2006. She is a singer whose attitude I admire greatly. I think she is a living shrine to professionalism, and is an absolute queen on stage. Similarly I followed Renée Fleming’s ‘Thaïs’ in 2007 from ROH to the Lincoln Centre, as I just couldn’t get enough of her poise and vocal clarity. And during that same season I went three times to see Dessay/Florez’s ‘La Fille du Regiment’, which I found endlessly gorgeous and beautifully executed. I saw these performances when I was just beginning to study opera and they were incredibly influential. They were all witnessed from the standing gallery and this in no way limited their impact on me. (I diverge but, when people tell me that opera is expensive, I have always to remind them that most of these world-class performances can be experienced for the meager cost of £6 if you’re a student, and only about £10 more if you’re not…!)

More recently, witnessing at close hand Krassimira Stoyanova’s enchanting Marschallin was a huge inspiration. And one singer whose recordings have always been top of my wish list since I was a teenager are those of Cecilia Bartoli. Both her song and opera recordings are always so cleverly and sensitively curated, and I admire very much all of the work she has done to bring to light many of the lesser-known late Baroque composers. Getting to see her live for the first time last summer at the Salzburg Festival in her hero role as La Cenerentola was a dream come true!

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

I have been very blessed with a full compliment of incredibly supportive friends and family, and so any challenges I have faced have been greatly minimised by the simple unwavering encouragement of this support system. Of course, as musicians we face daily internal ‘challenges’, but really these are best embraced, because they cause us to think creatively about our profession. To paraphrase one of my heroes above (Ms. DiDonato), we aren’t surgeons; we aren’t tasked with the daily responsibility of protecting people’s lives and livelihoods. We have responsibilities – yes – and sometimes very big and important responsibilities, but our job as artists is to practise hard and to bring joy into people’s lives through the music we sing and interpret. We are just vessels after all, and I reckon that if we overestimate our importance within the general scheme of things, then this in itself can lead to unnecessary challenges. Far better to put our time into learning our craft flawlessly and not to worry (too much!) about the challenges along the way, I think.

Which performance/recordings are you most proud of? 

I was thrilled last summer to get to perform one of my favourite bel canto arias last summer with the Camerata Salzburg, ‘Il segreto per esser felici’ from ‘Lucrezia Borgia’. I am proud of this performance and recording mainly because of how utterly stunning the orchestra sound! I felt very fortunate indeed to be on a stage with such an esteemed group of musicians (including Maestro Theodor Guschlbauer).

Which particular works do you think you perform best?

My very favourite composer both to sing, and in general to know about and learn about, is of course Mozart. It so happens that many of his travesti roles (Cherubino, Annio, etc) sit in a comfortable range in my voice, but actually learning to sing Mozart is, for any singer, a veritable masterclass in the operatic artform. This obviously isn’t an unusual opinion but I cannot recommend the study of Mozart highly enough.

I also adore a wide range of operetta, particularly Offenbach (especially because he wrote so many excellent and well-drawn mezzo roles), but truly my all-time favourite opera would have to be Carmen! This was another one I was exposed to an early age (as are many people I imagine), and I never cease to get goosebumps during almost every number when I hear it performed live. Anita Rachvelishvili’s Carmen at the Met last season is my newest favourite!

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

I suppose as opera singers we have little choice over what we are cast in (within reason), but I feel very lucky to have recently had more time to put together a number of my own recitals in recent months. In terms of choosing song repertoire, well I have always loved Schumann’s ‘Frauenliebe und –leben’, and so I had been desperate to sing this for a while. I have performed it twice now in the last year but I still don’t feel as if I have scratched the surface. As the Schumann cycle is only 25 minutes long, I had been searching for something to pair it with, and a lovely friend recommended to me Shostakovich’s ‘Spanish Songs’. I have always enjoyed Shostakovich’s symphonic works but had never sung anything of his, so I very much enjoyed studying these charming pieces from an academic as well as a musical perspective. They are Spanish folk songs, translated into Russian, and while mainly sung by women, are written from a male perspective. I undertook my own English translations of them – a project which gave me endless joy.

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

In terms of recital venues, I very much enjoy singing at St. James’s Piccadilly. It has such a warm acoustic and is visually breathtaking (designed by Christopher Wren). Another incredible Wren venue is the Painted Hall of the Royal Naval College, which is fairly echoey, but visually arresting. One of my favourite venues in the world is the Musikverein in Vienna, which I have not yet performed in, but in which I was lucky enough to rehearse last year with the Wiener Philharmoniker. The Musikverein is heavenly-looking, and also has such a rich history, from Bruckner to Brahms.

Another jaw-droppingly beautiful venue that I have performed in is the theatre at Giardini La Mortella, a roman-style amphitheatre carved into a mountain on the island of Ischia. This was the residence for many years of William Walton, and still boasts his wife Lady Walton’s sensational walled gardens.

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to?

To perform, it would have to be Mozart, Handel, Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, and Britten. And of course ‘Der Rosenkavalier’, which I think is one of the most transcendent pieces of art (words and music) ever to have been made.

To listen to, I would have to choose Ashkenazy’s famous Chopin recordings on Decca from the 1980s. They are so precise and yet so full of life – a very inspiring combination!

Also, my new absolute favourite piece ever written or performed is Jake Heggie’s ‘Camille Claudel: Into the Fire’, performed with complete fervour, tenacity, and vocal majesty by Joyce DiDonato earlier this year. I am deeply in love with this music, poetry, and Ms. DiDonato’s rendering of it. It is recorded on a CD entitled ‘Here/ After’, and I would very strongly advise everyone to buy and listen to this!

Who are your favourite musicians?

Apart from the singers I have already mentioned variously above, I have also to include Grace Bumbry, Monsterrat Caballé, Fiorenza Cossotto, Sophie Koch, Elina Garanca, Jennifer Larmore, Sarah Connolly, Anna Netrebko, Stephanie Blythe, Thomas Hampson, Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann… The list goes on! In terms of musicians from other styles I would choose Sarah Vaughan, Kurt Elling, and Jennifer Pike, who I recently saw in concert and was totally in awe of!

What is your most memorable concert experience?

This wasn’t exactly a concert per se, but the most memorable moment of my nascent career to date (memorable mainly for the combination of abject terror I felt in the minutes leading up to it, and the complete relief I felt for the hours after it!) was opening the International Opera Awards in 2014. I sung Rossini’s ‘Cruda Sorte’ and was incredibly nervous about performing this characterful and fast-moving aria in front of an audience of 800 of the world’s opera singers, intendants, creatives, and critics (!). But I was so grateful for this priceless opportunity, and I have my sponsors at the International Opera Awards, and my fairy godmother (you know who you are!) to thank for this incredible experience.

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

The thought that has been the most useful to me is the idea that this is a marathon, and not a sprint. Once we have learnt a little bit about music and the whole funny business of being on stage, the next part to tackle is our stamina, and also our attitude; to always remind oneself of the big picture is a very important tool.
 British-American Mezzo Soprano Phoebe Haines studied at the University of Cambridge where she obtained a Double First Class Degree, and recently completed her MMus at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under the tuition of John Llewelyn Evans. She continued her training at the Guildhall as a Fellow in 2014/15, and was also a 2015 Opera Works trainee at the English National Opera. 

In 2014, Phoebe became a Britten-Pears Young Artist, partaking in the Aldeburgh English Song Project. Also in 2014 she was named a Concordia Foundation Artist, an Iford Arts Young Artist, and a Salzburg Festival Young Artist.

Last summer, Phoebe made her debut at the Salzburger Festspiele as Zweite adelige Waise in Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, and as Tisbe in La Cenerentola für Kinder, a co-production with Teatro Alla Scala. She participated in many concerts during her time at the Festival, including a concert of arias with the Camerata Salzburg under Theodor Guschlbauer, and sang in master classes with Thomas Hampson and Helmut Deutsch. Her engagements with the Festival also took her to Castell Son Claret, Mallorca, where she sang in their annual gala concert, ‘Opera Under the Stars’.

Also a talented recitalist, Phoebe has given recent performances at 22 Mansfield Street, the Pushkin House, Castell Son Claret, Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Villa Kyrélos, Giardini La Mortella, Villa Del Balbianello, Belvoir Castle, Bloomsbury Ballrooms, the Handel House Museum, Christ Church Spitalfields, The Savoy Chapel, Asia House, the British Embassies in Rome and Budapest, and the Lebanese Embassy in London. She performed Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben at St. James’ Piccadilly in October 2014 for the Concordia Foundation, along with her own translation of Shostakovich’s Spanish Songs. She is a passionate advocate for charitable causes, and very much enjoys working for Concordia Foundation on a number of outreach projects at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Phoebe opened the International Opera Awards on April 7th 2014 and has performed at many other events throughout 2015 under this auspice. This summer, Phoebe returned to Austria to join the prestigious American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, where she was a finalist at the Graz Meistersinger Competition, under the direction of conductor Karen Kamensek. Phoebe worked with the legendary Montserrat Caballé in masterclass in September 2015 at the Auditorio Zaragoza, Spain. In September and October 2015, Phoebe takes on two modern cantatas: Britten’s Phaedra in London, and John Eaton’s El Divino Narciso in New York. She then goes on to sing the countertenor role of Katte in Scott Wheeler’s critically-acclaimed Sorrows of Frederick for Center for Contemporary Opera, NYC.

phoebehaines.co.uk