Interviews with musicians, composers and conductors
The greatest challenge is the first attempt at composing every next work: inevitably I ask myself ‘Do I have something to say with this work? Are these notes relevant to the human condition of today?’
The moments when I’m on the podium, making music, and diving into a piece, connecting with all the musicians – those are the most rewarding and fulfilling aspects of being a conductor for me.
I love music that makes me feel so completely immersed and joyful that nothing else in that moment really matters. Music that takes you on a journey and can completely alter your mindset. As a composer, I suppose those attributes have started to seep into how I put a big emphasis on melody.
The concert is a chance to share the music and live a pretty irreplaceable experience, but I think I’m happiest, not accepting applause at the end of a concert but rather at the beginning of the process, making a cup of coffee, sharpening a pencil and opening a score for the first time, full of hope and possibility!
To be taken seriously as a musician or composer, you must always create the best quality music possible, and never settle. A composer never “arrives”, only to rest on their laurels. You traverse various stylistic phases, only to seek a whole new set of challenges.
I believe the greatest challenge for today’s composers is that contemporary classical music is still not seen as an undeniable part of the classical music world. Worshipping the great masters of the past has been for a long time the main aspiration for musicians all over the world. But a lot is moving in an exciting direction right now.
