Interviews with musicians, composers and conductors
I was born into a musical family, my mum teaches piano and my dad plays and teaches the dombra, which is Kazakhstan’s national instrument. The piano was my choice straight away.
Life becomes much brighter and more colourful when one lets music into their heart and I feel so lucky to be a musician to let these wonderful miracles happen.
Singers are great. I love the voice, and there can be no better instrument to write for.
As a soloist, performing Ligeti for 100 school kids in the Queen Elizabeth Hall for the London Sinfonietta was particularly rewarding – it was the best (and noisiest) cheer I’ve ever received!
The sense that people you respect and care about are straining every sinew for the sake of your compositional efforts and their realisation is a uniquely humbling experience. At times it has made the music seem to stare back at me, externalised and somehow become ‘other’.
MEET THE ARTIST 