Barbara Arens, composer

Who or what inspired you to take up composing, and pursue a career in music? My career in music came first: as a harpsichordist and organist. It was having been brought up on Bach recordings that inspired me to want to play baroque music. There came a point, though, where I felt I had said…

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Music@Menlo at Meet the Artist

To coincide with this year’s Music@Menlo festival, an internationally acclaimed chamber music festival in the San Francisco Bay Area, founded by David Finckel and Wu Han at Menlo School, Meet the Artist will feature a series of interviews with participating artists, commencing on 2 July with violinist Aaron Boyd. Visit the Music@Menlo website for full…

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Daniel Elms, composer

For composition, subconscious processing is one of your most powerful tools, as long as you “feed it” with tasks to process: don’t wait for inspiration, instead confront the empty page and work on it; put the time in. Even if you discard everything by the end of the day, it is the process that stimulates the subconscious and you’ll find that inspiration follows.

Thomas Farnon, composer

Trust your instincts – I think the only way you’ll ever come up with something truly original is to be instinctive and experiment – and write lots and lots of music.

Jasmina Kulaglich, pianist

success is journeying towards ever more authentic and creative personal expression – never copying but searching for its own inner pearl. If this expression is sincere and profound, in agreement with our soul, the public will feel it

Katharina Nohl, pianist & composer

Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music? Fazil Say and Cyprien Katsaris have encouraged and urged me to compose and also to believe in my very creative and individual approach. Who or what were the most significant influences on your musical life and career as a composer? Fazil Say and Arvo…

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