Music Education – Alban Gerhardt

Bach at Train Stations

Alban Gerhardt — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 17:34:12 +0000

It is just such a gorgeous day in Berlin, not too hot, lovely breeze on our terrace, looking into the green of the trees, my wife

taking a nab after our intense Brahms Double rehearsal, which gives me time to fulfill my promise and write about the rather unusual little tour I did May 21 and 22.I arrived from San Francisco on May 20th, just in time to celebrate my wife’s birthday – the preparation for the Bach Suites I did during my five-day stint in San Francisco together with re-learning the Unsuk Chin Concerto; quite a pity considering the fact what fun I could have had in San Francisco instead of practicing for six hours every day…

Luckily I arrived with no jet-lag in Berlin, because the next morning I had to rush at 8 am to the train station with cello and a huge suitcase in which I had only a few clothes plus my entire sound amplifying system (Bose L1) in order to be heard at all at the six different train stations awaiting me the next two days. First stop was the smaller station in Hamburg, called “Dammtor”. Charming station, not too far from where I had performed my very first Dvorak Concerto pretty exactly 23 years ago, at the famous Musikhalle, and here I was to open my mini-tour of performing all Bachsuites at train stations in Northern Germany. It didn’t start out so well: I had troubles connecting the amplifier to an electrical outlet, and once I succeeded I had to play the Suites Nos. 1 and 6 in front of only a few people – not the busiest of all stations, people did stop, but somehow it wasn’t the same experience like a year earlier, when I played all the suites at the Berlin main station and a lot of listeners had transformed my little platform into some kind of concert hall.

I worked hard, but I must admit it didn’t feel right and I was afraid that maybe the success in Berlin had just been sheer luck and that it was indeed a silly idea trying to bring the Bach Cello Suites to travellers instead of just sticking to the good old concert hall or at least church. No time for complaints, next stop was Bremen – the train was in time, and while setting up my equipment already quite a big crowd gathered around me and made the performance of the Suites Nos. 2 and 5 a much more rewarding experience; they listened really well, this core audience of maybe 150, while many by-passers stopped for a couple of movements and then continued their way. A former classmate of mine from University, now principal cellist of Munich Philharmonic, happened to be one of them, and we had a lovely talk afterwards, until I had to catch the next train to Hannover, where I sat in the middle of the train station’s “quasi shopping-mall”, being grateful that I had my amplifier, [...]

Artist in Residence

Alban Gerhardt — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 15:57:42 +0000

The busiest one and a half months in a long time with seven concerti, almost complete Beethoven Sonatas and Bach Suites were topped by my very first artist-in-residency with an orchestra. In between concert in Sevilla (Dvorak), Amsterdam (Frank Martin), Oslo (Chin), London (Schumann), Barcelona, Madrid and Valladolid (Lalo), Berlin (4 Beethoven Sonatas), Fort Worth (another Schumann) and now Hangzhou (Elgar), I flew to Portland (no, unfortunately not connected with the set of concerts in Fort Worth with the wonderful Fort Worth Symphony and a great conducting musician, Josep Caballé Domenech) to play three times the Rococo Variations plus Silent Woods by Dvorak, starting the first week of a three-year residency in this lovely city. While other orchestras have their “artist-in-residence” come several times within one year to play different pieces with the orchestra and maybe also give a recital, the idea of the Oregon Symphony and its chief conductor Carlos Kalmar was rather unique:

After they had invited me already in 2011 (with Prokofiev Symphony Concerto), by 2014 I will have come and performed with the orchestra at four different occasions, each time staying for a week and doing a wide array of activities besides performing different concerti with the orchestra in their concert hall, the Arlene Schnitzer Auditorium. As I had to rush back to Europe to rehearse the Lalo Concerto in Barcelona with Pablo Gonzalez (another excellent Spanish conductor) we had to cut my week short by a day, but I made up for it by being willing to “work as a donkey”, as the artistic administrator Charles Calmer put it. Their plan was to make a connection with the community as well as with donors by using my German lack of tact (some people think it’s charming, how very strange!) and work ethics, and funny enough, it seemed to work 🙂

After my arrival in Portland in the evening (nine hours time difference) I was driven straight to a rehearsal with the concert master from the orchestra and a local pianist for a donor’s concert the next day at a private home, playing Mendelssohn’s d-minor Pianotrio. In the following days I spoke at another donors luncheon (gosh, I mentioned the O…. word in front of big-time donors who were rather Romney supporters…), played a couple of movements at a sponsoring bank (Umpqua, what a cool name for a bank, and they have these inspirational meetings in the morning, quite unique!) played three Bachsuites in a Mall (not amplified, but somehow the acoustics were so good that people gathered around me, especially some kids which stayed for the entire 65 minutes of unaccompanied cello-playing!), another three suites at two schools, more Bach at three locations at a huge childrens hospital, spontaneously in a cable-car connecting two sections of that hospital, teaching a masterclass for students of the Youth orchestra, another masterclass for the Oregon Cello Society (they had planned for me to also play some Bach, but I didn’t bring my cello, thus I performed on a [...]

Adrenalin Pure – Three weeks of craze!

Alban Gerhardt — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 10:15:54 +0000

The past three weeks have been maybe the most demanding in my life so far, at least in regards of concertising (not talking about emotional private stuff which I won’t mention since I’d be hit on the head by too many people about being too open and I would have to justify it with the lack of privacy-filter and apologizeâ€¦). After playing a week of Bachsuites at unusual venues as described in my last blog while practising the highly intense and demanding Pintscher Celloconcerto (Reflection on Narcissus), I travelled to Cleveland on the 2nd of November to play the Pintscher (by heart, couldn’t do it any other way as I like the feeling of authority to know the piece inside out) with this most amazing Cleveland Orchestra. Right after I had two days in Berlin to get the Chin Concerto back into my hands which I had to play in The Hague and Amsterdam, and now I am coming back from a week of Barber-Concerto in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte.

I find it rather fascinating how humans cope with stressfull situations: some might collapse under pressure, but most people rise to the occasion, will find out that they need much less sleep than they thought and that they are much more efficient and productive when being faced with challenges. My sleep average dropped from about 7 hours to 4 (well, this also has to do with the mentioned above emotional stuffâ€¦. :)) and I had plenty of left-over time to continue for example playing Bach at unconventional venues: the orchestra in Cleveland had jumped on my idea and created a new concert series “Off Stage” which I “opened” at Dave’s Market, playing Suites No. 1, 5 and 6 in front of a extremely well listening audience in the produce section – normal shoppers mixed with classical music lovers who had heard the news of a Bach-Concert at that specific supermarket on the radio. I was impressed that inspite of the constant humming of the refrigerating machines there was something like a concert atmosphere, and even though I didn’t play every single repeat, I did play these three suites en bloc with not much talk in between the same way I would perform it on any major stage – playing for almost one hour just a bit louder than I would normal play (to overcome the fridge-humming). After playing for the new-born baby a week before at the maternity ward in Hamburg where I had to try to express everything within the piano-pianissimo range in order not to wake the baby, here I had to play everything above a healthy mezzo-piano or rather mezzo-forte. Yes, I was rather exhausted after that hour.

It was the fifth time I played the Pintscher Concerto, and definitely the best – the orchestra gave all it had, the duo in the fourth movement with the phantastic principal cellist Marc Kosower (I LOVED his solo in Ma Mere L’Oye in the second half) was [...]

Tour with Asian Youth Orchestra

Alban Gerhardt — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:52:29 +0000

Almost 25 years ago I joined the Federal Youth Orchestra of Germany (BJO) in which I played altogether for three years every summer, Easter and winter (and one extra session I don’t remember when). This absolutely changed my life as a musician because it brought me together with young people like me, talented and dedicated to music, different to the other kids in school, sometimes outsiders, but never really geeks or nerds. Playing music together in an orchestra after practising all these years on my own was mind-blowing, an experience so elevating that after the first session I just knew that I would not want to have any other profession than playing music, for the rest of my life. When I was asked to play five concerts with the Asian Youth Orchestra I agreed, first a bit half-heartedly because I wanted to provide real good summer holidays for my son JÃ¡nos, but then nostalgia took over and I wanted to relive the time in a youth orchestra.

Two weeks ago we arrived in Hong Kong, Janos and me. The AYO had gracefully accepted inviting him along myself, and in these two weeks we absolutely had a blast together, playing concerts, travelling from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and Seoul for these five concerts, but also doing fun stuff like wind surfing in Cheung Chau, visiting the fun Ocean Park, beautifull located on the other side of Hong Kong island, shopping, playing games and in the pool, reading and just enjoying the wonderful food and restaurants in these Asian cities. But for me even more fulfilling was the artistic experience. With conductor (and friend) James Judd I performed three times the Schumann Concerto, participating twice in my fery first Mahler Symphony ever (No.5) in the second half, and with the founding conductor Richard Pontzious we did Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote, one of my all-time favorite orchestral works – always glad to play it, even though I find it harder than a “proper” cello concerto.

From the first rehearsal on I was amazed by the abiltiy of these youngsters from ten Asian countries to really listen to what I was doing, especially in the Schumann. At yesterdays last performance in Seoul I felt inspired to take as much freedom as I hardly ever do, because I knew they would be with me. For me the amount of freedom depends on the willingness and abilty of the people collaborating, because for me the most important goal is the over-all performance, not just my little part. I am play so freely that nobody can actually be (and feel) with me, it just feels (and sounds) wrong to me, and yesterday I felt I could do anything coming through my mind and the AYO and James would be there already! The Don Quixotte is obviously much less of a concerto, but even there we had some wonderful interaction and at certain passages we all were very spontaneous. I felt really sad leaving the orchestra last night, [...]

Prokofiev and Masterclass in Houston

Alban Gerhardt — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:26:05 +0000

Exhausted and flattened by a somewhat more tiring than usual Prokofiev-Sinfonia-Concertante I am sitting in my dressing room while Hannu Lintu is conducting the second half, Sibelius Symphony No.2 with the Houston Symphony. Oh yes, I would have loved to play this great piece, even asked for sitting in the section for the second half, but then suddenly I felt such fatigue after my performance that I am glad that it didn’t work out (they didn’t have an extra part for me). In Strasbourg I played this symphony after a Dvorak Concerto, but the Prokofiev requires even more energy.Quite a conincidence though that Sibelius 2 is the first work for orchestra both Hannu and me played as children, he as a 12-year-old cellist in a youth orchestra, me being 15. We forget so many things, but something meaningful like the first ever experience in an orchestra you can never forget. I would have turned out a different human being if it wasn’t for my participation in this German Youth Orchestra, sharing the passion for music with youngsters from all over (back then) West-Germany. Looking back I realize without regret how old I have become – 25 years is a long time, a quarter of a century, and time has accelerated since then that I believe I don’t even have a chance enjoying a real mid-life crisis since I come to realize that two thirds of my life have passed already.

Oh no, I don’t expect to die with 60, but the first twenty years passed soooo slowly, that I suspect the 40 years after won’t feel much longer – and this means the middle of my life was at about 30 and I missed my chance for a legitimate midlife crisis. On the other hand, it’s never too late for a nice crisis 🙂

Do I miss being young? Not at all, life is much better like that, not at least because I don’t have to practise as much anymore. And this is not because I am a better cellist now, but I have learned to be much more efficient (and stingy with my time). While I used to practice scales, arpeggios, double-stops, etudes and bow exercises for about 2 hours every day, I have managed to boil it down to about 15 to 20 minute daily. I dare say that in this short period of time I probably get more done than in the 2 hours before; the focus, the concentration and experience not do anything unnecessary brought me to a point where every minute, every second counts.

Before a concert I arrive at the hall just in time to go slowly through the entire concerto I have to do that evening which normally proves enough even if I didn’t play the piece for a while. It refreshes the short-term memory, calms down the nerves and brings me fresh ideas so that I can feel freer during the concert itself. We had a concert here two nights ago, after [...]

Kommt die musische Erziehung in unseren Schulen zu kurz?

Alban Gerhardt — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:58:33 +0000

This is an article I spoke for the radio station RBB in Berlin last year, and since I am trying to get politically more involved in improving music education in Germany I am posting this article, in German though, sorry…

Bei dieser Frage handelt es sich offensichtlich rein rhetorisch gemeint, denn dass der Musikunterricht in der Regel zu den unwichtigsten FÃ¤chern gehÃ¶rt, deshalb im Zweifelsfalle als erstes vom Stundenplan verschwindet und dies in einigen BundeslÃ¤ndern zu 80% sogar bereits getan hat, wissen wir alle. Die eigentliche Frage, und es beschÃ¤mt mich als BÃ¼rger dieser Kulturnation Deutschland, dass wir sie stellen mÃ¼ssen, sollte sein: Ist uns eine musische Erziehung Ã¼berhaupt wichtig und wozu brauchen wir sie? Geht es uns nur um das Konzertpublikum von morgen oder gibt es tiefer gehende gesellschaftliche GrÃ¼nde, den Samen der Musik frÃ¼h genug zu sÃ¤en? Nein, nicht um spÃ¤ter mehr Profimusiker zu ernten (von denen gibt es genug), sondern damit hier nicht eine Generation heranwÃ¤chst, die sich nur noch Ã¼ber Playstation und Computerspiele auszudrÃ¼cken weiÃŸ.

Jeder Mensch ist musikalisch, jeder Mensch kann singen lernen, und Musik war immer ein elementares GrundbedÃ¼rfnis der Menschheit, in sÃ¤mtlichen Kulturkreisen. In Zeiten groÃŸer Not spielte Musik schon immer eine wichtige Rolle um mit dem Elend umgehen zu kÃ¶nnen. Da aus verschiedensten GrÃ¼nden in den ElternhÃ¤usern der Kinder meist keine klassische Musik mehr gehÃ¶rt, geschweige denn gemacht wird, ist es die absolute Pflicht des Staates, auf mÃ¶glichst kreative Weise dieses in meinen Augen hÃ¶chste Kulturgut durch einen hochqualifizierten und interessanten Musikunterricht von Kindergartenalter an den jungen BÃ¼rgern zu vermitteln.

Es fÃ¤llt mir schwer, hier Ã¼ber den “Nutzen” von Musik und Musikerziehung zu sprechen, da ich ja auch niemandem erklÃ¤ren muss, wie wichtig das Lesen- und Schreibenlernen ist. Man kann nun die verschiedenen wissenschaftlichen Studien auffÃ¼hren, in denen bewiesen wird, dass sich bei Kindern, die Klavier vor ihrem 12.Lebensjahr erlernen, die GehirnhÃ¤lften viel leichter verbinden, dass der IQ von Kindern in musisch-orientierten Schulen hÃ¶her ist und dass KonzentrationsfÃ¤higkeit, soziale Kompetenz und selbst kommunikative FÃ¤higkeiten durch das gemeinsame Musizieren entwickelt werden.

Musik ist eben weit mehr als luxuriÃ¶ses Ornament der Gesellschaft, sondern Medium und Bestandteil menschlicher Selbstverwirklichung, sie hilft dem Musiker, seine eigene Stimme zu finden. Wenn ich nicht das Ã¼bergroÃŸe GlÃ¼ck gehabt hÃ¤tte, von frÃ¼hester Kindheit mit Musik berauscht worden zu sein, so wÃ¤re aus diesem menschenscheuen, Ã¤ngstlichen Kind gewiÃŸ niemand geworden, der sich traut, hier am Radio irgendwelche Meinungen von sich zu geben. Und das Gleiche erlebe ich jetzt bei meinem 10jÃ¤hrigen Sohn, der ein ganz neues SelbstwertgefÃ¼hl erlebt, seit er im Weihnachtskonzert mit einem StÃ¼ck von Kabalewski seine Freunde beeindrucken konnte.

Und wie viele erfogreiche Ã„rzte, RechtsanwÃ¤lte, Computerprogrammierer und Wissenschaftler habe ich getroffen, die mir beteuerten, dass sie ohne die Inspiration der Musik niemals in ihrem Gebiet so weit gekommen wÃ¤ren.

Der Komponist Hans Werner Henze sagte einmal treffend: “Jeder Mensch sollte die MÃ¶glichkeit haben, mit der Musik vertraut zu werden wie mit sich selbst und seiner Sprache… In den Elementarschulen mÃ¼ÃŸte sie Hauptfach sein und von besonders geeigneten [...]

Teaching and Performing

Alban Gerhardt — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:47:48 +0000

My father is one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever come across. Since more or less 50 years he has tought the violin, starting at the tender age of 17, and now, after retiring from playing in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for 43 years, he will still have his students at the UdK in Berlin as well as his work with the German Youth Orchestra to make a smooth transition into full retirement (as if this would ever happenâ€¦). His dedication and enthusiasm for teaching has made a very big impression on me with a very funny affect: I love to teach, and I grab any possibility of a masterclass to teach – nevertheless because of my father’s dedication I refuse to take a teaching position. I would not be able to fulfill it with the same responsability and care he has shown and which I am convinced is necessary; students seek and need a lot of attention and help, and with me travelling extensively and trying to be as dedicated a father as I can be, I know some of the three things (family, playing, teaching) if not all three would suffer.

This said it might explain why I agreed to accept to teach two masterclasses and play two concerts in two rather different cities within 34 hours this passed weekend: on Saturday I tought four (highly gifted) cellists from the New World Symphony from 11am-2pm in Miami Beach, playedÂ the same evening the second concert of our Haydn D Major, flew Sunday very early (after a delightful late-night party with the young players of this highly inspiring orchestra – their Brahms IV had great passion and emotion in a way of a youth orchestra, but with the perfection of a professional group) to Montreal, rehearsed with Cecile Licad and played an afternoon recital, attended the reception afterwards and then tought 4 students of Matt Haimowitz from 7-9pm.

To be honest I feel rather inadequate at teaching; I know that I can analyze technical problems very well, and because of the excellent teachers I had (especially Markus Nyikos in Berlin) I can also explain and solve them. But as soon as it comes to music I feel much less able to help the players. Different reasons: first of all I don’t really like any kind of pretentious talk about music – using metaphors and images which sound good in theory and might make the teacher look good don’t really help the student much, at least in my experience. Well, let me rephrase it: I have heard numerous times empty musical comments from teachers, conductors and musicians in my life that I have become a bit allergic against meaningless images. But there are some who are masters in using them, and I have greatest respect when somebody manages to put a musical thought into words in a way, that a gifted student (or orchestra musician) can actually change the way he or her plays a certain phrase.

Carlos [...]

Elgar in Rhode Island with the substitute bow

Alban Gerhardt — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:07:44 +0000

Larry Rachleff, the conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, told the audience in the post-concert talk that I did these two concerts in Providence as a “run-out” from Berlin which is actually nicely put – it almost feels like that, and I love it. My manager once asked me if she should connect the dates in the US so that I don’t have to fly for single engagements across the Atlantic, and I declined that offer because it would mean that I have at least three free days in between, and in these three days I could be home, practising the piano with my son… 🙂

And since I don’t suffer of jet-lag I can afford to come over even for only one concert (as long as somebody else pays for the tickets….) and fly back right away, as I did on Thursday, arriving in Boston at 4 pm with a rehearsal from 6:30 – 9 pm. Yes, I admit, towards the end of that Elgar rehearsal I was pretty much wasted, but I adore this feeling of floating, as if suspended in time and space, not sure where one is – and the following night I slept like a baby, 9 hours almost straight, from 10 pm until 7 am. Perfection!

Less perfect was the story of my bow. As I wrote in my last entry, I am in love with my one and only Kittel bow, so much, that I had nightmares for the last 8 years, being afraid that I could loose it or break it to the point of unfixable. Well, with the last breaking of it right before the Wigmore Hall concert and me having glued it with super-glue, my luthier Ingeborg Behnke told me that this kind of fixing won’t work anymore. She sent it to the bowmaker Hans-Carl Schmidt in Dresden who was supposed to build a new tip and somehow connect with the rest of the Kittel bow (the break is right before the tip). He had the bow for more than two weeks, but when I called him to make sure that I could have it back next week, he told me that he hadn’t even started yet. He couldn’t find the same wood and would recommend anyway that I should come to Dresden to try out his newest bows. I had played on one before, as a student, and they are a far cry from the quality of my Kittel; how sad is that when a bowmaker doesn’t recognize a great stick when he sees one and even tries to trick me out of one of the greatest bows ever made.

My luthier was furious, she felt betrayed that he tried to sell me a bow while his job was clearly to repair this gorgeous bow of mine. It is being sent back as we speak, and I hope I can find somebody who sees it as a real duty to safe this bow and build a tip with which [...]

Playing for Youngsters and with Legends

Alban Gerhardt — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:01:38 +0000

I refuse to spend 27 Euro per day to be able to use the internet in my hotel (Hilton in Brussels)! Yes, these hotels are criminal, if you think that for already 10 Euros you can get a flat rate for an entire month. At lesser fancy hotels the wireless access is included, but since the Orchestre National de Belgique is generously paying for my (very nice) room in this hotel, I am writing these lines in a cafÃ© before meeting the conductor Walter Weller for dinner. This morning we played a so-called open rehearsal at the Palais des Beaux Arts of about 600 children from and around Brussels. “Open Rehearsal” for which we had to have a rehearsal in order to get all the bits and samples right the moderator wanted us to play. It was a very well crafted analysis of the first movement of Brahms’ Third Symphony and the first movement of the Walton Celloconcerto.No, nothing to do with a rehearsal, but very informative and interesting for the kids, because Michael, the narrator, wanted to give them some tools how to listen to music. There are so many ways how to reach out to the younger population with classical music, but one has to want to make an effort. Today was a wonderful experience, seeing this hall half packed with kids who are not into classical music, but who, after being told what to look out for (little bits of themes being imitated, some rhythms reappearing throughout a movement), listened very attentive to the soft and melancholic beautiful first movement of “my” Walton Concerto. And I am glad we didn’t play the obvious scherzando-like second movement but challenged them with some real emotions. At the Q&A session afterwards they presented me with some pretty profound questions (how does one put emotions into music?” for example) and just showed me that we totally underestimate the desires of the young ones.

Two weeks ago 60 children came to a rehearsal in Bremen, stayed for one hour and received me warmly the following day in their school. 80% immigration back ground (or whatever the political-correct way of saying is) and no music teacher in the entire school, but a director who knows how much Art and Music can give sense and hope to the lives of the little ones. He was shocked to hear from me that it is difficult to find schools in Germany who will receive professional musicians to play for their children (for free!) but it seems to be a fact that in some of these proud Europeans “cultured” countries the culture can only be found in the big concert halls, theaters, opera houses and museums, the “high-culture”, but that there is very little effort to touch the younger generations. I love going to classrooms with the cello, play for and talk to them about how music benefited my life, and the amazing thing is, they listen with their eyes and hearts open – incredibly rewarding feeling, [...]

Paris: City of Love and the Arts

Alban Gerhardt — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:48:38 +0000

Actually I wanted to write this text on my way from Paris to Cologne in the train, but sitting together in the TGV (train grand vitesse = French superfast train) next to my good friend and pianist Steven Osborne prohibited me to do anything else but talking to him about life, love and music – which means this text had to wait until my next journey, which was obviously not theÂ drive in a rent-a-car from Cologne to Berlin the night after our concert in Siegburg, but now, a day later, on my flight from Berlin via Frankfurt to Boston (long live the online-checkin: I am sitting in the exit-row with endless leg-space – no seat in front of me!)..

In Paris Steven and me had probably given our best concert yet, wonderful program with a great improvisatory sense to it (we did the StÃ¼cke im Volkston by Schumann, Piazzolla’s Tango and the Sonatas by Alkan and Shostakovich). Unlike the concert in Antwerp where in my opinion we didn’t have the same confidence to be as free and spontaneous, in Paris’ Theatre de la Ville we had discussed our “game-plan” to explore a greater freedom in this repertoire which can easily become a bit measured (especially the Alkan can get stale when being performed to strictly).

It felt like being one of these story-tellers of the middle-ages who sit near the city’s walls with their curious audience around them, following carefully each word because otherwise they would miss the sense of the story. The Theatre de la Ville is located vis-a-vis the Chatelet, right at the Seine, in the heart of Paris, and while it looks all pompous and beautiful from the outside, the hall itself is modern, a bit like a University lecture-hall with the audience sitting in a half-circle around the stage, very close to the artists. Every row is substantially higher than the other one, so from each seat one has the perfect view over the stage – maybe that’s the reason why people love to come there (each time I have played there, the room was packed, and I think it seats at least 600 people, but this is a pure estimate).

But it might also have to do with the director of the hall, an old friend of mine, George Gara; he doesn’t care much about the “big names” but faithfully brings in younger and lesser known artists, most of whom he had kind of “tested” in his festival “Juventus” in Cambrai; this is a very different festival to what you might be used to normally: Each year he invites a couple of young, promising talents, let’s say in average four or five, the so-called “Laureats” who present themselves with a little recital – but they are also encouraged to play Chambermusic with the Laureats from earlier years who come back frequently like to family reunions. I am ashamed that I haven’t been back in quite a while (I am always torn in between having [...]