Photo by Martina Novak
JAMES STRECKER: If you were asked for 50 words for an encyclopedia to summarize what you do, or have done, in the arts, what would you say?
KINAN AZMEH: I would like to be described as Syrian-born, New York-based, genre-bending clarinetist and composer. I do believe that music is a continuum and I would like to bring that philosophy in the music I make where my music reflects all the different interests that I have in life.
JS: What important beliefs do you express in or through your work?
KA: I think being open and free is the most important, music for me is an act of freedom. Had I been able to express more concretely what I try to say with my music in writings, then we would not need the music itself. The best aspect of music making is that it enables us to experience emotions that we don’t have the luxury of experiencing in real life.
JS: Name two people, living or dead, whom you admire a great deal and tell us why for each one.
KA: I am more fascinated by the collective; I am not a fan of singling individuals as I have a wide palette and appetite for a variety of influences.
JS: How have you changed since you began to do creative work?
KA: I am not sure how to answer this as I grew up doing creative work (music, drawing etc), so I don’t have a “before” and “after”, but what I feel every time I am on stage, or even when I am at my desk composing, is that making music is incredibly empowering.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
KA: Deadlines!! Even creative work has deadlines. When I am composing for example, most of the time I cannot just sit and wait for the inspiration to come out of nowhere. I have to dig and research my own brain at times. But it is an exciting challenge.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life.
KA: Two things that come to mind that helped me become who I am, one is winning the Nicolay Rubinstein competition in Moscow in 1997 which gave me the self-confidence I needed at the time. The other one is the Syrian uprising in 2011 which made me relate to the art in a totally new way and made me realize that art is not simply a luxury, but rather it is our main tool to express ourselves.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about what you do?
KA: Most of the time people see you on stage and they don’t realize the amount of work and attention to details that goes behind what you do. Additionally, being every night in a different city sounds insane for so many people (which maybe is!!)
JS: How and why did you begin to do creative work in the first place?
KA: I started playing the violin at 5 years of age, but that didn’t work out well for me. Because I am left handed, controlling the bow with my right hand seemed impossible. My family even considered changing the strings on the violin so I could play with a bow in my left hand, but that would have made an orchestral life comic—I would poke an eye out from my stand partner. The alternative was to switch to an even-handed instrument, so we chose the clarinet. My parents are both music lovers and amateur instrumentalists.
JS: What haven’t you attempted as yet that you would like to do and please tell us why?
KA: Among many, many things: Skydiving, I would love to do that one day, but am simply too scared to do it. I have also had one time the dream of working on a fishing boat for few months, which I did not have the opportunity to do yet.
JS: What are your most meaningful achievements?
KA: My family, my loving wife and the life we have at home.
JS: What advice would you give a young person who would like to do what you do?
KA: You have to keep asking yourself; what keeps me in a practice room all this time? You have to cultivate the passion you have for the music, and not get dragged into “achievement”, “rewards” and “acknowledgment”. You need to be in touch with the pleasure that making music creates.
JS: Of what value are critics?
KA: Music critics add an incredible volume of literature to humanity. I truly enjoy reading reviews that have an artistic form. I believe that one should keep his/her ears open to everything, balancing what you hear from others while paying close attention to what you want to say.
JS: What do you ask of your audience?
KA: To dig deeper in the experience and not wait to be entertained. I also want them to have the freedom to empower their imagination. I think the art is created within the connection between the senses and the brain of the audience.
JS: What specifically would you change about what goes on in the world and the arts?
KA: One cannot even begin to describe what needs to be changed in the world: Democracy, freedom, human dignity. Art is not isolated from life and it deserves the same values. I would like to see people treating the arts as a basic human right. Art for me is what human culture is all about.
JS: If you could relive one experience from your creative life, what would it be and why would you do so?
KA: I am optimistic by nature, I don’t like to look back, I try to think about what is coming next. Additionally, some of the best moments in one’s life are that because we lived them once.
JS: Tell us what it feels like to be a figure who is presented somehow in the media. What effect does this presence have on you?
KA: It does not have any real significant effect on me, I feel I have a good connection with myself and I try to present something that is honest and I work very hard on that. Of course, you cannot control how people/media perceive you. I don’t think about that much.
JS: Name two places you would like to visit, one you haven’t been to and one to experience again and briefly tell us why.
KA: I would truly love to go and see Aleppo again back home in Syria, which I have not seen for close to 10 years. I also would love one day to go to Baghdad, a city that I have never been to.
JS: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on, are preparing, or have recently completed. Why do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
KA: I am now working on several projects. I recorded an album with the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra in Berlin with my own orchestral works but also works by Syrian composers who write me clarinet concertos (Kareem Roustom, Dia Succari and Zaid Jabri). I am also writing a new clarinet concerto for the Seattle Symphony which will be premiered in February, and two more pieces: one for musicians from the New York Philharmonic, and another for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Lots of writing is what I am doing these days.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s society, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
KA: As I said earlier, we all need art, it gives me hope to see that people still go and experience live music. What worries me is that there is a tendency to replace art with entertainment and I believe that there should be room for both.
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising thing about you?
KA: Three things that come to mind:
A- I am an electrical engineer (I did a double degree music/electronics)
B- I love to do triathlons (I have done 8 so far)
C- After hundreds of performances, I still feel a little nervous before every concert!!