Photo by Nikki Wesley
Photo by Jeewon Kim
JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on or have recently completed. Why exactly do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
RACHEL MERCER: One of my most personal projects is just coming out; an album of violin & cello duos by Canadian women, recorded with my sister Akemi Mercer-Niewoehner, including 3 new commissions. This project grew out of a need and want to work with (and see!) my sister, who is an amazing musician, and we are really close, plus a desire to feature Canadian women composers in rarely performed works plus new ones. We honour the “grand dames” of Canadian music, Jean Coulthard and Violet Archer, and celebrate 2-3 generations of current composers with the music of Barbara Monk Feldman, Alice Ho, Jocelyn Morlock and Rebekah Cummings. These are all unique, diverse and fascinating voices that deserve to be heard.
As well, my piano quartet Ensemble Made In Canada is putting final touches on our recording of the Mosaïque Project; a project we’ve been working on for the past 3-4 years. It includes a 14 movement work each by a different Canadian composer of various genres, each inspired by a different region of the country, which we have toured to every province and territory over the past 16 months. At each concert, audience members draw on prepared cards which are then uploaded to our project website to be viewed. The material is a result of the composers’ imaginations, through our playing, through the listeners’ ears, to their art, through the net, to others’ eyes…a truly original view of this country through many minds.
JS: How did doing these projects change you as a person and as a creator?
RM: I think these two projects particularly really helped me experience how much the human connection can be a part of an artistic work; that it’s not always just about the music in a bubble on a concert stage. I also like when it’s just about the pure music, but adding the human element adds another layer of meaning and appreciation for the audience.
JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about the work you produce or do?
RM:Maybe for non-musicians, one thing might be that, yes, I play the cello in various roles (orchestra, chamber music, solo), but every role has totally different demands and technique. From the difference of playing a solo cello piece in a small venue to playing a concerto in a huge hall with an orchestra, or playing cello in a string quartet vs. a piano trio, or playing in a section in orchestra or leading, or playing in a group with people who always play solo repertoire vs. people who play regularly in an orchestral setting, to performing for a seniors’ home vs. playing standard repertoire in a traditional hall, every situation is completely different. And I believe they should be approached differently, from the actual presentation and interaction with the other musicians and audience, to the goals of each performance, to the actual technicalities of things like intonation, sound and articulation. Every situation demands different kinds of energy, leadership or collaboration, amounts of personal input, while all trying to remain true to the actual music!
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?
RM: Despite all this activity described above, my “day job”, or at least my main activity is playing Principal Cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. This position has completely different demands from the other projects I work on, and I wholeheartedly throw my energy into it to contribute all that I can. I’ve had a huge learning curve that continues to grow over my few years in this position and I hope my colleagues feel that I offer complete dedication to the music and the role, including the responsibility of communicating and leading, all while trying to stay true to my values and beliefs as a musician and human being. I think anyone can tell when an artist is being honest and true to themselves and the art, and I believe that is the only way to connect to an audience.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
RM: These days probably most people’s challenge is time! For me, any creativity or creative thought needs time and space to grow, and one of the biggest challenges I find is allowing myself to have that time, particularly with the cello. Time to “play” (not practice, or “play the cello”, just “play”) and just explore and let anything happen without any specific goal in mind. Luckily my schedule often includes long drives, where, after I’ve listened to the music I am working on, my brain has time to wander and thinks up all kinds of things! Most of my projects and ideas come during these drives.
JS: Imagine that you are meeting two or three people, living or dead, whom you admire because of their work in your form of artistic expression. What would you say to them and what would they say to you?
RM: I don’t think I’d ever have the courage to actually ask these things – basically fan letters!
Yo-Yo Ma: You and your music transcend physical, emotional, racial, intellectual borders, and you work constantly to connect people. How can I use my activities and music to do that on a deeper level? How can I start? What should I do more? – I’m sure the answer would be deeply philosophical and inspiring!!!
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Can I please have a masterclass in sound production? How do you infuse every work you perform with such depth and nobility? – No idea what he might say. Maybe that I should watch more of his masterclasses!
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that helped to make you who you are as a creative artist.
RM: Right out of school I joined a touring string quartet, the Aviv Quartet, and had an amazing 8 years with them – it was what I had always dreamed of doing as a career. When for various reasons it was time to leave, suddenly I didn’t have that core work, and while it was scary and hard to not have a regular position, in a way it felt like anything was possible. I had to learn how to find chances to perform, to make a living, while actually having time to dream a bit and think up long term projects. The “freelance” life as it was really forced me to learn how to create and follow through with projects, building tools and opening up possiblities.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
RM: The projects that I’ve been so lucky to work on really take over my and my groups’ lives at various points. There are so many details involved beyond the actual music that is presented on stage or on recording, and these days musicians do most of the work themselves. We have to know about contracting (from fee rates to creating legal contracts), PR and marketing, budget management, fundraising, grant writing, design, music editing, the technicalities of cd production and the digital world, tour booking, publishing, licensing, royalties, distribution, concert presenting, audience relations, all while trying to maintain and evolve our artistic standards. Even though we have professionals working with us in most of these fields, and great support systems, it has been tough at times trying to make sure it all comes together at the right moment! But the result is always worth it and we’ve learned a lot.
JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts? Why the delay so far?
RM: There are many projects that bounce around in my brain just waiting for the right time and for the need to do them to increase enough for action! But most of them are activities that I have done in the past, just with different people or repertoire, so I know how to get them done, how to execute them, and I have some idea what the result would look like. But, the real answer to this question is the same as your first interview with me; a collaboration with dance! I’ve played with dancers in different formations from orchestra with dancers on stage, to small ensembles being actually onstage with the dancers. For me the physical act of playing instruments and the arcs and shapes of the actual music could be realized in dance. I think even a literal realization of certain pieces would be beautiful! Almost like seeing a graph of the note shapes and lengths, but live by a human being…this is so far from my comfort zone and would be really an experiment in working with a dancer or choreographer, so I haven’t had the courage yet to explore further. I think I will eventually get there!
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?
RM: I don’t think I’d want to re-live anything differently. I have been so lucky, from a really natural and happy progression of studies, through many different career experiences that just keep evolving and changing. Honestly, there is still so much possibility and things to explore, and while sometimes it seems obsessive, I love even just the day-to-day activities of making music and working with others. I’m really lucky to be able to perform so often, constantly reminding me the purpose; to connect to others through music.
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?
RM: What gives me hope is realizing that audiences are actually quite open and ready to experience new things. Possibly crazy availability of anything on the internet has made us aware of so many things that we would never see otherwise. Also that the younger generation is creating and inventing at a huge pace! It’s hard to keep up
I don’t know about depressing, but when I see people, or even catch myself, working on autopilot, as if this is just a job, not a mission, I get a little sad. It’s almost impossible to avoid at some point, especially if one is not always in control of the creative output – we’re only human! – but when it happens, I wonder what has happened – where did that spark go that made us want to become musicians in the first place?
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create and/or do?
RM: I love the feeling of physcially creating sound and making music with my cello, alone or in collaboration with others, and sending that sound out to a listener, telling them a story, helping them feel something. I love bringing people’s attention to a story in music, a particular musician, a particular composer, or a project that I feel is interesting, whether it’s mine or someone else’s. Anything that might inspire or enlighten or help someone feel lifted above the day to day, enhancing their life.
JS: In your creative life thus far, what have been the most helpful comments you have heard about your work?
RM: That I have moved them. Or that they understood the music better from watching me or hearing me play. These remind me why I’m doing it in the first place. As for constructive criticism, one I get a lot is that I’ll tend to play collaboratively all the time, even when a solo line possibly needs more “oomph” or a little more “ego” in it. I’m working on that, and I understand why it’s necessary, but I think I usually still find it really comforting to keep as much connection to the other parts around me that I can!
JS: Finally, what do you yourself find to be the most intriguing and/or surprising things about you?
RM: While I’ve lived with it all my life, I’m still sometimes surprised by my imagination. It has served me well (thinking up projects, playing music, making all kinds of connections), it has been challenging (night terrors, and years of little sleep as a kid after reading some scary books, or even just the hint of something otherworldly), and it constantly fascinates me through my dreams, of which I have a lot and are full of symbolism.
Photo by Bo Huang