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christina2bmcmaster

Who or what inspired you to take up piano, and make it your career?

I am the youngest of three girls and I always wanted to do everything my sisters did including piano – which I think they found quite annoying! I begged my Mum to allow me to have lessons too, and when I was finally allowed there was no stopping me! A few years on I remember listening to Ashkenazy play Beethoven’s ‘The Tempest’ Sonata in the car and feeling so excited about this fantastic piece and thinking how amazing it would be if I could play it one day. Forging a career as a pianist is not something I really thought about until I went to the Purcell School. Being surrounded by musicians already performing on the International circuit was slightly intimidating, but it motivated me to strive for a career as a performer.

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

There have been so many. More recently my mentor Joanna MacGregor has been an immensely important figure for me. Whilst at the Royal Academy of Music she taught me so much about programming, presentation, life skills, all in addition to playing the piano!  My parents have also been influential. They have been very supportive in a non-pushy way which has allowed me to find my own path and have a genuine passion and drive for what I do.

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

Maintaining balance and focus between my many musical projects, overcoming the post-concert come downs and performing Birtwistle’s Harrison’s Clocks in front of the composer!

Which performance/recordings are you most proud of? 

I have just recorded my debut album Pinks & Blues which will be released later this year. It’s a mix of classical and contemporary to jazz and blues and includes music by György Ligeti, Bill Evans, Gerswhin, Rzweski, Ravel as well as two new commissions. It took me a long time to decide on the content and order but am proud of it because as well as being my first album I think it takes the listeners on an excursion of familiar and unfamiliar sounds which I hope they’ll enjoy discovering!

Which particular works do you think you play best?

I feel a strong affinity to American Music of the 20th Century. The American ‘can do’ attitude resonates strongly with me. I love a challenge and that is what is often presented by these composers. Charles Ives’s music can often be extremely complex – 13 note chords for example! Ives, Henry Cowell, John Cage and others pushed boundaries, proving that we are not limited by the piano or traditional techniques.

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

My concerts are often curated and informed by my interests – I like to keep adding new repertoire or presenting the old in new ways. For my next performance at St John’s Smith Square (June 25) I have programmed the Debussy Preludes interspersed with the lesser-known Ruth Crawford-Seeger Preludes for a new perspective. Other concerts coming up include an American programme with violinist Lizzie Ball, a two week residency at Dartington International Summer School performing Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine with fantastic soprano Sarah Gabriel and a Film and Piano programme – so I like to keep it varied!

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

This year I performed at the Holders Season in Barbados; it was a grand outdoor venue and a beautiful place – I would definitely like to return there! I also recently performed in a private house concert in Holland Park; I loved the freedom of playing in this relaxed and intimate atmosphere, with some people sitting on the floor, others standing. Here I felt a real involvement and concentration from the audience.

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to?

This changes all the time and depending on the season or even what time of day. I go through phases: recently I had a Mozart Sonata period, listening repeatedly to the complete recordings by Maria João Pires – this is good before noon and it helps to clarify my thoughts. The Britten/Pears recordings of Schubert’s Winterreise are another favourite – I would love to work with a singer on this work. I also spend a lot of time of Spotify exploring new pieces and for when I go running I definitely need something with a beat!

Who are your favourite musicians?

I have so many, but to name one of them: Radu Lupu. I adore his deep and warm sound and in particular his Schumann and Brahms recordings.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

Martha Argerich at the Royal Festival Hall. I was just a few seats back from the front row watching her play Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto and I could hear, feel and see everything – WOW!

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

Well, I am still learning myself, but I would say enjoy challenges, avoid imitation and explore other interests. There never seems enough time to practise at music college, but developing your character and having substance is absolutely crucial.

What do you enjoy doing most?

Practising (with a good coffee and high quality chocolate). When I first left Music College I found I had to do so much aside from practising in order to progress in my career. It was a basic yet incredible discovery for me that I am only happy if I have practised at least several hours a day. Without this I definitely notice a feeling of incompleteness and I’m probably not very pleasant to be around!

Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?

New York. It’s a city I’ve always been drawn to – it’s a City for dreamers and big ambitions – I love that it never stops – a bit like me and I guess that’s why I am so attracted to it!

Christina is a highly innovative pianist and curator with a continually growing reputation for bold and vivacious performances.  Christina has performed extensively in major venues including at the Southbank Centre, Kings Place, Aldeburgh Festival and The Holders Season, Barbados. She has won numerous prizes including the Jacob Barnes Award, The Royal Academy Christian Carpenter Prize, The CAVATINA Chamber music trust prize and audience prize, and the audience prize in the Jacques Samuels Intercollegiate Competition.  

Christina attended the specialist music school Purcell School and achieved a first from the Royal Academy of Music in 2013, where she studied with her mentor Joanna MacGregor. Christina has continued her education and exploration of 20th Century French Music taking masterclasses with Maestro Bernard Flavigny who has a direct lineage to Debussy.

She has collaborated with a diverse mix of genres and arts, recently working with the Brodowski Quartet, violinist Lizzie Ball, rapper Tor Cesay, Director Richard Williams, actors from Central Saint Martin’s and a number of designers for London Fashion week. Christina is a strong supporter of diversity within and outside of the arts and recently founded Ensemble WOW – an organisation dedicated to promoting equality through unique and imaginative programming.  

Christina is a dedicated performer and discoverer of new music working with established composers including Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Tansy Davies and Stephen Montague as well as emerging composers – collaborating most recently with Freya Waley-Cohen and Richard Bullen.

Christina McMaster is a 2016/17 St John’s Smith Square Young Artist

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Hot on the heels of the release of their new disc of works by Bartók, Debussy and Stravinsky for two pianos, French pianists François-Fréderic Guy and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet returned to London’s Wigmore Hall to present a programme of music featuring these composers. Three 20th century orchestral scores written within just four years of one another – Bartok’s Two Pictures, Debussy’s Jeux and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring – were brought to life in a concert replete in colour, rhythmic vitality, sensuality and split-second precision.

I first heard Guy and Bavouzet perform Jeux and The Rite of Spring in 2012 in a concert which brought fire, daring and vertiginous virtuosity to a weekday lunchtime at the Wigmore. To hear the same pianists in the same repertoire three years later was revelatory, for it seems as if the music has matured, like a good wine. This second performance was slicker, yet full of even greater spontaneity and vibrancy.

Read my full review here

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A guest post by Tom Wilson

John Nash, American mathematician and Nobel prize-winner gained recognition as a Nobel laureate, but became really famous when he was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the hit film “A Beautiful Mind”.

Nash won his Nobel prize for conceiving the The Nash Equilibrium which spawned Game Theory. The Nash equilibrium is the same as the MiniMax theorum in game theory, which states that “with a zero-sum game, each player does best for himself by minimizing the other player’s payoff”

The easiest example to understand is the pie game. It’s a game of 2 players who can share a pie if they follow 2 rules:

  1. One player cuts the pie any way they want
  2. The other player has the first choice of slices

The winning strategy for Player 1 is to cut the pie exactly in half. Player 1 maximized the minimum size of the piece of pie that would be left after Player 2 chose.

Can game theory explain why new composers find it so difficult to break into mainstream concert programmes?

Here’s how the MiniMax Theorum might be applied to concert going: the concertgoer has a choice between a recital of familiar works by Bach or a recital of unfamiliar contemporary music. MiniMax Theorum  says choice is made by minimizing the maximum regret and suggests that the concertgoer’s winning strategy is to choose the Bach recital since he/she knows they won’t regret hearing Bach but could regret hearing the new piece. So it doesn’t matter how good the new music might be, mathematically the optimum choice is Bach!

Unfortunately, the concertgoer’s choice is further determined by the paucity of new music in mainstream programmes and venues. It comes back to the argument that if we are not exposed to new music, how can we decide if we like it?
For promoters, agents and venue managers, a rather more straightforward strategy is at work: that it is simply too risky to programme new music when a concert featuring familiar works by Bach is likely to ensure a full house, a contented audience and decent revenue from ticket sales.

With the odds apparently stacked against it, how can new music be brought to a wider audience? One very effective way is via social media: “teaser” tweets and imaginative Facebook posts can tempt audiences to try a concert featuring new music, and the promoter/concert organiser can reassure the prospective concertgoer that this may well be music that they will enjoy. One organisation which is doing this very creatively is New Dots, established in 2012 with the aim of creating connections between composers and musicians, and bringing these connections to a broader audience. Concerts take place in unusual venues, further stripping back to the perceived barriers between audience and musicians/composers.

Further reading:

Our Narrow Repertoire is Holding Classical Music Back (guest post by Simon Brackenborough)

New Music Needs Curators

Where has all the new music gone? (guest post for The Sampler blog)

Tom Wilson is an independent revenue management consultant and software developer.

http://revenuenexus.com/

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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