Who or what inspired you to take up the recorder and pursue a career in music?
From a young age I was fortunate enough study with very inspiring teachers – although in the first place I came to the instrument by chance. A childhood friend of mine wanted to learn to play the instrument but did not want to go to the lessons on his own. Further along the way I was also extremely lucky to be given the opportunity to play with other musicians of my age and the chance to experience manifold concert situations in Germany and abroad. When I was old enough to start thinking about what I would like to do for a living, I could not imagine my life without playing recorder and making music everyday…
Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career?
There were several, including studying at three different conservatoires, attending master classes with numerous renowned musicians. Most recently, being chosen as St John’s Smith Square Young Artist for the 2015/16 season has been a major influence and given a boost to my musical development and career!
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
Making potentially life and career changing decisions, such as deciding to complete a Master of Music in London, rather than somewhere “at home”.
Which performance/recordings are you most proud of?
Which particular works do you think you perform best?
That’s very had to say.., It’s always the questions if the works that I would identify as the ones “I perform best” actually come across like that to an audience. I particularly enjoy baroque music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann, but I also love to perform contemporary music for recorder solo or chamber music ensembles – these pieces require a completely different approach to the learning process and the presentation.
How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?
I have an long and ever-growing list of pieces I want to play or arrange for my instrument, and I therefore try to include at least a few of those into programmes I am planning. Of course there are many other factors to consider: the venue, its size, the occasion and the audience who will be listening, the scope to bring in other musicians, a possibly already existing overall theme. And finally I always strive to include different facets of recorder repertoire, old and new, solo and chamber music etc.
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?
I could not say I have a favourite venue! Smaller venues, such as an art gallery, a chapel or small concert room have an intimacy and direct exchange with the audience which I value very highly. On the other hand, larger spaces, like London’s St John’s Smith Square, are fantastic as well, as they challenge the projection and presence of the performer in a very different way.
Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to?
Probably music by Georg Philipp Telemann – he played recorder himself and through his music one can feel this deep understanding of the instrument’s capacity and special qualities. He has his very own musical language, which is still very flexible and changeable, which for me as a performer opens many doors to creatively engaging with his music. At the moment I often listen to JS Bach Cantatas, as this might related to a future project I am thinking about putting together, but I love music by Henry Purcell, especially his (semi-) operas.
Who are your favourite musicians?
Too many to name all…
What is your most memorable concert experience?
It’s hard to choose one! Perhaps playing as part of the Singapore Youth Festival in 2011 – we were preforming in a huge venue, but it almost seemed as if the audience was with us on stage. There was a lot of spontaneous applause, even in the middle of a movement, which is how it should be! One should be allowed to show and react when something is enjoyable and fun, or even the opposite…
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
Travelling and having lessons with as many different professionals as possible would be a vital advice – both for the own instrument and others. Also, one can gather so many ideas and concepts by collaborating with other instrumentalists, singers and composers and by embracing different styles of music from medieval to contemporary.
What do you enjoy doing most?
Arranging new repertoire for the recorder is definitely a favourite! I get very excited when there is the chance to include something “new” in a concert programme, to discover repertoire primarily intended for other instruments and make this repertoire my own.
Tabea Debus had her first recorder lessons with Gudula Rosa at the Westfälische Schule für Musik, Münster. Since then she has received many special prizes, including awards from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, the Manfred Vetter Society, the Ministry of Family, Women and Youth as well as the Irino Foundation.
Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
Music has been my number one passion since I was a child. I started with classical piano, but then had a realization that I wasn’t fully fulfilled performing others’ music, and that I needed to take a risk and try to find my own musical voice. I went on to study electronic music composition and piano at the university, and have been on an obsessive never-ending journey since!
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
Growing up my biggest influences were my grandmother and father. Both were very passionate about classical music. My grandmother played classical piano and organ until her early 90’s, and my dad listened to classical music constantly and took our family to Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts. Then in my teens the big influence was Chicago house and Detroit techno, and then next IDM music on labels like Warp and Ninja Tune, pre-fusion jazz, and soul music. It was inspiring to be in Chicago in the 90’s when post-rock took off too. Thrill Jockey and bands like Tortoise were combining electronics into rock music in a new way, and it was an exciting time to experience music evolving.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
The biggest challenge was rising above being a local musician. Taking my career from local shows to other cities in the states, and then touring and releasing music internationally, took a lot of hustle. My husband is also from Chicago, so it wasn’t easy for us to pick-up and leave. He agreed we could move to London if I was accepted into the Royal College of ‘Music Composition for Screen’ Masters program. The program accepts about ten students per year, but I was determined! I felt trapped and like I’d hit a creative wall in Chicago. So I think the greatest challenge was extracting myself from that situation, and putting myself in a better place to create and expand.
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?
I love working on commissioned pieces. Whether a film score, a song for a compilation, or a bespoke piece for a performer, I really enjoy having set parameters going into it. Like Stravinsky’s famous quote, “The more constraints one imposes the more one frees one’s self. And the arbitrariness of the constraint serves only to obtain precision of execution.”
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?
The biggest challenge is organizing it! We’re all busy people, so finding a time we can all be in the same room can be like a Tetris game. There are so many pleasures. I’ve met so many incredible people who dedicate their lives to their passions and bettering themselves. It’s a a great little bubble of a world.
Which works are you most proud of?
The debut London Electronic Orchestra album. This is a few years of exploration and experimentation all coming together, and I’m very excited for it’s release.
Who are your favourite musicians/composers?
John and Alice Coltrane are two of my favorite musicians. My favorite composers are Chopin (piano works), Eric Satie, Philip Glass, and Steve Reich.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
The first big London Electronic Orchestra concert in 2014 for a 36-piece orchestra at the Britten Theatre. I was figuring it out as it went along, but we pulled it off! It gave me the confidence to keep going with the project.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
Believe in yourself and focus on your craft.
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
I would like to be touring internationally with London Electronic Orchestra, composing new music, and writing film scores. Basically continuing on the same path.
London Electronic Orchestra
DEBUT ALBUM RELEASED MAY 6, 2016 ON THE VINYL FACTORY LABEL
Kate Simko has carved an international career as an electronic music producer, film composer, live performer, and DJ. Hailing from Chicago, Kate’s music reflects the influences of the city’s underground sounds, as well her background in classical piano and jazz music.
Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music?
Chance circumstance! I grew up in a tiny cottage with parents and three siblings, but close to my tenth birthday my grandfather died suddenly and it was suggested that I should go to live with my grandmother in her large farmhouse. From there being no space suddenly there was a great deal! There were few luxuries, but there was a piano, and my grandmother also had a general interest in music. Somehow I think that these two influences got me started. Before I had ever seen an orchestral score I had “invented” it, and by the age of 14 I had written three schoolboy symphonies etc…
Until the age of 16 I attended a very ordinary ex-Secondary Modern school (metalwork, technical drawing, milking the cows and horticulture). I recall taking my Midnight Symphony (80 pages of full score) to the music master one day who practically fell off his chair. He was very supportive and the piece was even performed by local music teachers. But my second stroke of fortune happened when I was awarded a scholarship place to the adjacent independent school. There they fostered my (probably quite thin) talent and enthusiasm for composing, and I was encouraged to apply to read Music at Cambridge.
How does a simple country boy end up there?.. Or three years later taking a doctorate?… I still wonder….
Important though all those were, I really had little idea of what I was doing, even less a voice or much technique. The Professor at Cambridge (I will not cause embarrassment by naming him) honestly told me as much; though I resented it at the time, he was quite correct. A few years ago I helped to commission a work from him, and gently reminded him… – we were both able to laugh!
In fact not long after my doctorate, and despite a fair degree of apparent success, I decided to abandon writing altogether. I looked through the microscope to see nothing; I also increasingly came to despise the whole new music world. So I hibernated for twelve silent years…
In 2001 I was suddenly fired up to write again. My good friend Michael Bell, pianist, directly challenged me to write again – it was a necessary, if rude, awakening! One of his students showed precocious musical gift and somehow these two catalysts, both playing in front of me daily, conspired to open my eyes to what had lain dormant. The result was a sudden flowering – it was as if a voice arrived ready-formed – the pen moved itself. I had never felt such confident ease in writing. This flood has remained undiminished now for fourteen years.
Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer?
I am sure we can all think of specific “moments” – little glimpses of another plane. From my humble background of course everything was eye-opening, but as a teenager I was especially struck by encountering Schubert’s Die Winterreise, the delicate transparency that opens Peter Grimes, Strauss’s 4 Last Songs, Boris Godunov and so forth.
But the greatest sculptors of my musical psyche are the works of Leoš Janáček and Gustav Mahler, both of whom, like the painter Edvard Munch, dared to “compose their lives”, “to live in their compositions”. They taught me that music is not about playing games with notes, or some kind of “progressive scientific research”, but about conveying that life force that drives us, warts and all. We are each individual pebbles on the seashore, and each make our own splash in the ocean.
There have also been personal encounters: Robin Holloway, my first teacher, showed that one could fly in the face of orthodoxy (and God knows there is far too much of that “Emperor’s New Clothes-ishness” in the contemporary music world – …and recently, too!). His 2nd Concerto for Orchestra and Scenes from Schumann are personal favourites.
I learnt most perhaps though from Michael Bell. I truly think, through working with him daily in a music department and on recordings, that I finally understood how to listen, especially to articulation. There is a huge debt…
Recently I have become close friends Ondrej Vrabec, solo horn of the Czech Phil, and their Assistant Conductor. He has taken my music to his heart and become my greatest champion, commissioning and playing my horn concerto, and conducting other works.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far? What are your frustrations?
I could mention having had to juggle my composing with a full time teaching post for many years. But far more significant is “the glass ceiling”, and sad to say, especially the glass ceiling in this country. The greatest challenge for any composer is a lack of interest. We need to hear our work performed in order to grow, and we are also fragile things on whom constant rejection takes its toll.
My real sadness is that so many of the people with power have no genuine interest in music, no inquisitiveness, and often no ears! I have lost count of the “jobsworths” who cannot get rid of one fast enough because the preconceived box cannot be ticked – it would not even occur to them to listen simply out of curiosity. Had I Beethoven’s talent it would be just the same. That is the greatest frustration, not anything more intrinsically related to inner struggle or personal compositional development.
Who are your favourite composers?
First and foremost, Leoš Janáček! I have held his walking stick, his conducting baton and the autograph scores of the Sinfonietta and Glagolitic Mass – incredible! One always hears his music as if it were for the first time. I admire hugely his coherent, cohesive sound world, his passionate drive, clear ideas, cunning textures and sparkling colours – how can one not smile every time!? I always do! Most of all, however, his was an utterly personal language but one which never lost its roots, or its connections with the listener. Compare this to what one now sees so often: a manufactured (and all-too-familiarly) empty desire simply to break the mould, or merely to relay the baton of progressive Modernism “logically” from one’s teacher to one’s pupil. No, Janáček had real genius.
….And then.. all the “wrong” people for a 21st Century composer…. Mahler, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Prokofiev, Nielsen, Sibelius…
What are your most memorable concert experiences?
Mahler 10, both as a young man and a few years ago at Symphony Hall, Birmingham with CBSO; and Jenufa at Opera North in 2015 – legs of jelly on both occasions!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working with particular musicians, singers, ensembles and orchestras?
As mentioned above, I am still at heart a simple country boy. The sheer magic of hearing one’s music played at all whether by an orchestra, ensemble, or musician, has never left me; particularly working with an orchestra, a beast so varied and “improbable” – a mysterious coalescence of so many musical minds! And one never, never stops learning!
What are the special challenges/pleasures of working on a commissioned piece?
Challenges?… Well – in short, a deadline! How many composers have missed those!? But also not having total freedom in the parameters of a piece. I will say, perversely, that I have been fortunate enough not to have been commissioned that frequently and thus have had the freedom to decide my own agenda and timescales. However, contrarily, sometimes an awkward restriction, or unforeseen stipulation can force a creatively productive exploration – perhaps my Storyteller is an example – a mini-concerto for double bass and ensemble..
Pleasures?…. The opportunity to work with specific performers who “share the investment”. That combined journey is truly special. Of course a guaranteed performance is always welcome, and the time spent with like minds, often in a nice location!
Of which works are you most proud?
This is hard. For me I only succeed when there is a feeling of communion with the listener; of conveying some powerful idea successfully – and if I am shaken up by hearing it, myself! If I may slightly sidestep this question, I feel that perhaps my most significant work is the ongoing Steps piano series, which is an unusual and wide reaching project. This format, five large cycles comprised of smaller pieces, has great potential for colour, variety, and feeling of “journey” over a long time span without exhausting the listener. Like a song cycle, these short pieces can say a great deal.
But I hope also that in time my symphonies and concerti will stake a claim to scheduling. Perhaps my 2nd Symphony is the most epic of them – like Mahler’s 2nd it is my own “Resurrection”!
How would you characterise your compositional language?
This is often asked and so difficult to describe. My sensibility is Romantic rather than Classical. For me both emotional drive and a sense of free, organic growth are vital. I am with Mahler: music should contain all of life! My work is quite traditional in terms of genre, motif, development and perhaps also formal structures. One commentator said that I wilfully ignored recent stylistic trends, yet sounded distinctively modern. I hope so….
How do you work?
I grew up with pen and paper, but predominantly now I work on a computer with Sibelius software. I rarely use a piano. This might be surprising, given my general stance, but I have gradually made the process quite spontaneous. I work interactively with “realised instrumental sounds”, which again I have learnt to “hear past”.
Another composer once said that he had changed from a traditional “successive accumulation” technique to become more like a potter with a wheel – throwing on a slab of clay and subconsciously moulding “on the fly”. This is my method, too. It all starts very crudely, and hopelessly wrong, but gradually refines.
However, I never cease mentally doodling – all day, every day!
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
For composers, maybe also for others, too, it is important not to try “to manufacture” a voice. So much of the 20th century is riddled with shallow people like that. One trick ponies who have grabbed a little nameable “-ism niche” for themselves. My “honest professor” above always used to say that a student should simply try to compose the best piece he can, and that if a voice is there it will emerge when it is ready.
Unfortunately the whole current arts system glorifies all the wrong things. Thus young composers and performers are thrust into the limelight (as I was) long before they should be, and are often discarded just as fast. What does one know at the age of 25!?…. To resist the “industry” and not simply to fill the expected template is very hard when one’s shelf life is ten years. For composers finding a true voice can take a lifetime. I wish this were better realised by promoters and broadcasters.
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
In truth, on a small island with perfect peace! Conversely, to avoid the tinnitus and deafness that may slowly now be robbing me of my art.
But more practically, I would like simply just to be writing, with others finding performances and recordings for me. So much time is wasted in being one’s own manager.
Artistically, I suspect that my voice is now quite settled and may not actually change that much… I am not a Stravinsky! But who knows… I would love to reach the obligatory nine symphonies (and Steps volumes)…
What is your present state of mind?
The “full half” of the glass is content to explore further my sound world, with plenty of projects in mind; the empty half is endlessly frustrated by being ignored and banging my square head on the institutional round hole.
World Premiere of Peter Seabourne Piano Concerto no.2 given by Kristina Stepasjukova with the Academy Orchestra of the Czech Philharmonic. The performance took place at the Martinu Hall in the Lichtenstein Palace, Prague on 12th March 2016 and was received with tumultuous, sustained applause and much comment. It has already been partly broadcast by Czech Radio:
Who or what inspired you to take up singing and pursue a career in music?
The thought of singing and acting appealed to me from a very early age. I was always the performer in my family and as the middle child, it was the best way to get attention! Singing was a part of normal family life. I enjoyed singing at home, (although most of the time my brothers wanted to shut me up!) My parents always had music playing and were always singing. We sang regularly at our church, so it always felt quite normal to sing. I started to write songs from the age of 13 and had piano lessons from around age 9.
Singing always made me feel good, although I hadn’t ever considered it a career choice. When I started to pursue my acting career, I took up singing seriously. Singing was originally to add a feather to my bow as an actress. However, unexpectedly, I completely fell in love with the classical technique; I had found a medium that would let me fully express myself. I was able to use my body in a way that allowed me to channel my energy and emotions. I could pour my heart and soul into it. It felt inevitable that this was going to be my career.
Who or what were the most important influences on your musical life and career?
The most important influences on my career have to be my voice teacher Maryliese Happel, Mark Crayton and my mum. Maryliese introduced me to classical repertoire and opera. I had no idea about singing in this genre before I met her and to her I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude. She taught me solid technique, taught me about my own voice and has always been an inspirational teacher. She helped me ‘free the beauty of my voice’.
Mark Crayton (Roosevelt University, Chicago) who over the years helped me find my inner confidence through technique and performance master-classes. He has helped me find freedom of expression in my voice.
My wonderful mother, who calls me her little songbird, always wants to hear me sing. From the moment she wakes up, she is always singing around the house. My mother always made it feel really normal to just sing.
What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?
Self-belief and self-doubt. I have done lots of work to help myself through these challenges. My top tips that have helped me include; meditation, positive affirmations, healthy diet & keeping fit. I am a great believer in healthy body, healthy mind.
I always come back to a couple of sayings, allowing yourself to be both a work in progress and a masterpiece simultaneously, and my favourite quote from Martha Graham:
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others” ― Martha Graham
Which performance/recordings are you most proud of?
Probably my recital ‘Dans L’air du Temps’ at the Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair and the recording that I wrote and sang for a performance at Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi
Which particular works do you think you perform best?
Puccini; I love his songs, his operas, and his characters. On the surface they can seem simple, but underneath there is a complexity and strength to them. The way he writes is inspiring. There is always a leading melody, and long beautiful lines. As a songwriter, I know how hard it is to make something sound ‘simple’ and that is what I love about his compositions. I also think I perform my own compositions pretty well, because I have written them. I know every feeling and every memory that has gone into the writing of every line, lyric and melody. I do hope one day that other singers will want to perform them.
How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?
I try to choose pieces that are well known with the audience, combining them with unknown or rarely-performed works
Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?
Not really, I just love performing wherever I have an audience.
Who are your favourite musicians?
Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel, Prince, George Michael, Faithless, Massive Attack, Andre Previn, Richard Rodney Bennet, Michael Nyman, Gabriel Yared, Hans Zimmer, Eric Serra, Puccini, Bellini, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Renee Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu and Maria Callas.
What is your most memorable concert experience?
My first ever concert.
What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?
Practice smart, know your words/notes, know yourself. Get trained in the business side of things. This can take up a lot of your time! Be determined. Don’t give up. Try to get a little bit better every day. Make time for family & friends, and most importantly, have fun!
Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?
In my beach house in Bermuda.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Any of the following: Summer barbecues, listening to old LPs on a Sunday afternoon with family and friends, roast dinners, long beach walks, my poodle every time I look at her, getting to sleep in a bed with my favourite pillow and a duvet, waking up to another sunny day, the sound of rain, the smell of a forest, the touch of my grandmother’s hand, skiing, ice-skating.
What is your most treasured possession?
An 18th-century French dressing table which has been ‘dipped and stripped’ about three times, it was my mum’s dressing table from when my parents first got married, and it has finally been restored and I use it everyday.
What is your present state of mind?
Excited – relaxed – grateful.
Natasha’s new production ‘Lost in Love’ is premiered on Saturday 30th April at Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead, London. Further details and tickets here
Natasha Hardy is a soprano whose eclectic repertoire seeks to demystify the traditional operatic world. Trained in both Classical and Contemporary traditions, her maverick approach has seen her work on several classically inspired projects, most recently an intriguing concert series of her favourite operatic works as well as those she has penned herself.
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