A deep-dive into the intricate world of classical music and all that comes with working in it. Host Ella Lee chats to a bunch of brilliant guests from across the profession, discussing their best career high, their worst career low, and other things that show you a different side to the one you might see on their website.
21. Alexandra Whittingham: online authenticity, classical guitar's growing popularity, and finding joy in informal concerts
Episode 21
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 • Duration 37:19
Alexandra Whittingham is a prominent figure in the guitar world. At the age of 16, she began filming and editing videos of herself playing popular guitar repertoire and posting them online, rapidly catching the attention of viewers all over the world. Since then Alexandra’s online community continues to grow, and her videos have amassed over 50 million views since. She's also a recording artist on the Decca Classics label, and a member of the guitar faculty at Chetham’s School of Music (where she first started her own musical journey at the age of 11).
In this episode, Alexandra talks about how she manages her online presence with such a large following, and how her approach there hasn’t changed much over the years, despite the internet and social media being a very different place to when she first started out. We discuss how the guitar is still a relatively new instrument in the classical realm, though fast-growing in popularity, and Alexandra talks about the enjoyment she's found in playing to intimate venues. She also recounts the repressed memory of the time she didn’t have a visa the day before she was due to set off on tour...
20. Guy Johnston: nurturing young talent, finding roots in community and reflections on his BBC Young Musician win at 18
Episode 20
Tuesday, July 9, 2024 • Duration 36:50
British cellist Guy Johnston has had an exciting and varied career since winning the BBC Young Musician competition in the year 2000. He has performed with many leading orchestras worldwide, and collaborated with a host of illustrious conductors including the late Sir Andrew Davis, Sakari Oramo and Yuri Simonov. A passionate chamber musician, Guy is the founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Music Festival, which takes place annually, and performs regularly at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe; he is also a prolific recording artist, with much of his discography championing contemporary British composers. Alongside his work as a performer, Guy is an inspiring teacher: he is a visiting Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music, and recently moved back to the UK after six years at New York's Eastman School of Music as Associate Professor of Cello.
In this episode, we talk about nature versus nurture in the context of developing musicians, and how since becoming a father Guy has discovered certain parallels with teaching. He also reflects very honestly on his BBC Young Musician win aged just 18 (and the whirlwind aftermath) and tells the heartwarming story of taking his Tecchler cello on a journey from Cambridge to Rome.
Did you enjoy this episode? If so, ratings and follows help a lot with visibility, if you have a spare moment... *bats eyelashes*
11. Timothy Ridout: formative musical experiences, tools for handling an intense schedule, and his BBC Proms debut
Episode 11
Tuesday, May 7, 2024 • Duration 33:38
Timothy Ridout is one of today’s most sought-after violists, being a former BBC New Generation Artist, a Borletti-Buitoni Fellowship recipient and winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award. As well as having performed with many major orchestras and conductors worldwide, Tim is a celebrated chamber musician, bringing programmes regularly to the likes of Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. He records regularly for Harmonia Mundi, and his recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto (as transcribed by Lionel Tertis) and the Bloch Suite for viola and orchestra - with Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra - won the Gramophone Concerto Award in 2023.
In this episode, Tim speaks about his formative experiences with the viola and how he stays on top of his game amidst a hectic performing/travelling schedule. He also spoke about his long-standing relationship with Walton's Viola Concerto and the journey to his Proms debut in 2021, plus a little insight into his methods for blowing off steam in the face of frustration…
Did you enjoy this episode? If so, ratings and follows help a lot with visibility, if you have a spare moment... *bats eyelashes*
No offence taken if not.
10. Julian Lloyd Webber: music education in schools, working with Yehudi Menuhin, and the injury that ended his cello career
Episode 10
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 • Duration 35:07
Julian Lloyd Webber's musical life is remarkably varied. As a solo cellist, he has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors, as well as every leading symphony and chamber orchestra in the UK. His discography includes his BRIT Award-winning Elgar Cello Concerto, conducted by Yehudi Menuhin, and ‘Variations’, a collaboration between him and his brother Andrew, which has sold over a million copies. Julian has premiered more than fifty works over his career and inspired composers such as Malcolm Arnold, Joaquín Rodrigo, and Eric Whitacre to write new music for the cello. He was also the London Underground’s first official busker, and he was also the only classical musician to perform at the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.
Julian is a leading advocate for accessible music education, and has been throughout his whole career. Founded by Julian in 2007, the In Harmony programme has introduced the power of music to more than sixty thousand school children from the least privileged parts of England. He was also Principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire for five years, a place at which he still holds the position of Emeritus Professor.
In this episode, we dig into the topic of music education, along with various issues the industry is facing at the moment. Julian also talks about working with Yehudi Menuhin, and the injury that forced him to retire from his cello career.
9. Yasaman Mashhouri: choosing music over medicine, presenting music in modern settings, and the problem with competition age limits
Episode 9
Wednesday, March 27, 2024 • Duration 27:22
Recorder player and baroque violinist Yasaman Mashhouri was born in Tehran, Iran. Her musical education began at the age of ten with the Orff method, then subsequently taking her first violin lessons and teaching herself the recorder. After graduating with a biology degree from Tehran University, she decided to follow her heart and pursue her musical studies, moving first to Vienna to study recorder performance, and later to Germany. Yasaman is currently based in Switzerland, where she teaches in Schwyz and Ingenbohl.
In this episode, Yasaman spoke about the difficult decision to leave home and the non-musical path that was planned for her; her love of presenting music in new and modern ways; the importance of personal connection; and the upper age limit of many competitions overlooking those that began their musical careers later than most.
8. Matthew Johnson: the parallels between music and photography, working with dyslexia, and accepting he wasn't going to be a professional cellist
Episode 8
Wednesday, March 20, 2024 • Duration 32:33
Matthew Johnson is a London-based photographer, best known for his work in classical music and portraiture. Having originally trained as a cellist, his approach to his work is shaped by the knowledge and perspective gained from his musical experiences. His impressive client list includes Platoon, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian Embassy, and Britten-Pears Arts – as well as huge numbers of musicians, ensembles, festivals and concert series. Outside the world of music, his vast portraiture portfolio is underpinned by themes of community and well-being, and his work has taken him all over Europe and the UK.
In this episode, Matthew talks about how his musical background helps him to photograph live music in a very human way, the parallels between being a musician and being a photographer, working with dyslexia, and how he bounced back after being told he would never be a professional cellist.
7. Sumina Studer: embracing social media as a classical musician, finding inspiration in her students, and creating a bespoke career outside of performing
Episode 7
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 • Duration 35:03
Sumina Studer is a violinist, educator, and content creator who, having captured the hearts of audiences across multiple social platforms, is passionate about bringing classical music to younger generations. Having performed across the globe and won prizes in many international competitions, she now enjoys a varied career teaching, selling violins, making content and, more recently, giving lectures at music colleges on the topic of ‘Modern Communication and Social Media for Musicians in the 21st Century’. Sumina’s latest business venture, Animus, is a social media management/brand agency tailored to classical musicians, with the aim of helping them to build additional income streams separate from that of concert fees.
In this episode, Sumina shares her passion for education, the ways in which social media can be useful, and how she finds balance between making content out of her life whilst also living and being present in it. She also talks about the initial discomfort around deciding whether to let go of life as a performer, and the good that followed when she did.
6. Jamie Walton: building trust with an audience, the art of programming, and what he gained from stepping back from his solo career
Episode 6
Wednesday, March 6, 2024 • Duration 32:55
Jamie Walton is a cellist, cultural entrepreneur, and Artistic Director of the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival and Ayriel Studios. As a soloist, he has appeared and recorded with the UK’s finest orchestras, including recording three concerti with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and no less than ten concerti with the Philharmonia Orchestra (including the Dvorak and Schumann concerti under Vladimir Ashkenazy). Turning his focus to chamber music, he launched his festival in 2009, which has sold to capacity audiences ever since and was shortlisted twice for a Royal Philharmonic Society award. It was also one of the only organisations that went ahead as planned during the Covid pandemic (in both 2020 and 2021), adapting quickly to house concerts in a five thousand square foot acoustically-adapted marquee.
Jamie was also the Patron and lead campaigner for Cedar’s Hall, a brand new concert hall at Wells Cathedral School, which he helped officially open in 2016. And, more recently, he initiated the building of a new state-of-the-art recording studio in the heart of the North York Moors - Ayriel Studios - which opened in 2022.
In this episode, Jamie talks about what drives him and his creative process, the parallels he finds between music and food, why he doesn’t miss the conventional concert circuit and why he’s so passionate about showing young musicians a world outside of the conservatoire bubble.
5. Jack Pepper: balancing a portfolio career, why university wasn't for him, and the importance of knowing your worth
Episode 5
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 • Duration 52:04
Jack Pepper is a composer, broadcaster and writer. He is one of the UK’s youngest commissioned composers and in 2019, aged 19, he became the UK’s youngest-ever national radio presenter when he joined Scala Radio. Jack writes classical orchestral works, music and lyrics for musical theatre and pop songs, and composed for the likes of the Royal Opera House, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra whilst still a teenager. Last year, Jack devised and led a new UK music education campaign with Music For Youth, 'A Thank You Note' #ThankYourMusicTeacher, which culminated in two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, and saw 3000 young people come together to perform music written by Jack in tribute to his piano tutor. As a writer, he has written for many national and industry publications, and is a contributor to Gramophone Magazine. His debut book (published by Templar/Bonnier books), 'Raising The Roof: The Colourful Characters Of Classical Music', with illustrations by Michele Bruttomesso, will be available from June 6th 2024.
In this episode, Jack talks about how he balances a portfolio career, his one week at Oxford University, and how to avoid burnout. He also offers brilliant advice for young people either starting out or feeling stuck in their careers, perhaps because of a lack of contacts or lack of resources.
4. Jennifer Johnston: the struggles our industry is facing, the importance of access to music, and getting sacked for being 'too fat'
Episode 4
Wednesday, February 21, 2024 • Duration 41:31
Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston is one of the UK’s most distinguished singers, particularly celebrated for her interpretations of Mahler, Wagner, Elgar and Britten. She has performed across the globe with some of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors, and is closely associated with the Bayerische Staatsoper (with whom she won Gramophone's Recording of the Year award) and also with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, at which she was formerly Artist in Residence. She was the winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer award, and is a former BBC New Generation Artist... yet Jennifer was a barrister in a previous life, before going on to pursue a singing career.
In this episode, Jennifer shares her honest observations of the new classical music landscape (born from a perfect storm of circumstances) and the struggles our industry is facing as a result. She also talks about why music education in schools is so crucial, flies the flag for contemporary music, and recounts the time she was sacked by an opera company for being 'too fat'...
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