ANDREW ASCENZO – AKA CELLIST, PERFORMER, CONDUCTOR, COMPOSER, LECTURER, MUSICAL DIRECTOR, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TEACHER, PRODUCER, AUDIO ENGINEER, MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST – LEADS “A DEMONSTRATION TO SHOW HOW CLASSICAL MUSIC CAN THRIVE IN THE TIKTOK UNIVERSE” AT THE GLENN GOULD FOUNDATION’S GLENNGOULD@90 SAT, SEPTEMBER 24 3:45 PM – 4:30 PM, ISABEL BADER THEATRE, 93 CHARLES STREET WEST…… A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on September 22, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or as both if such is the case?

ANDREW ASCENZO: My favourite thing about being an artist and a musician is the opportunity that art creates to form a connection with your audience, whether that be in the concert hall, in a school, a hospital, online, or any space where we can share music with others. Music affects us in so many ways: emotionally, socially, cognitively, physically, and spiritually. Being a performing musician allows us to open up these different realms for the audience (and fellow musicians) and connect deeply with ourselves and others. Being a part of that experience is one of the most incredible things in the world

JS: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labour to make it exist?

AA: I approach everything I do in the arts with an audience-first mindset. I believe that the entire audience experience must be at the forefront of everything, from programming to ticket-buying, the experience of walking into the venue, the lighting, the transitions, if and how we speak to the audience, and everything in between, because without the audience, there is no performance. This applies to online content as well. How we present ourselves on camera and in photos is incredibly important, as is how we engage with our communities. If everything is done with an audience-first mindset, everybody wins.

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

AA: My work in the arts is a wonderful variety of things that I think represent the “21st Century Musician.” I am primarily a classical cellist, and as such, I can be found on stage as an orchestral player with various symphonies such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Concert Orchestra, and others, and as a chamber musician with my piano trio the Bedford Trio. I am also a freelance performer and recording artist in the studio recording with artists in many different genres, and teaching in my studio at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music.

In addition, I have cultivated various other skills that have been a great complement to my performing and teaching: I work as an audio engineer and video producer for many institutions such as the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the University Health Network, and U of T. I work as a producer with Ottawa Chamberfest, and I produce concerts virtually for OurConcerts.live, an American production company who presents many top international performers such as Mark O’Connor, Rachel Barton Pine, and the Miro Quartet. I work as an administrator for the Gryphon Trio and Chamber Factory, and was the Artistic Producer for the “Evolution” summer classical music programs at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. I have been the Artistic Director for Music in the Atrium at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre since 2016, a weekly philanthropically supported concert series that has been running at the hospital since 1995.

I have worked as a music director, having directed many musicals, both regionally and professionally, most recently with Eclipse Theatre’s original production ‘Til Then in the summer of 2022. After completing my doctorate, I continue to keep my foot in the academic door as a researcher and as a peer reviewer for the Canadian Journal of Music Therapy. I have been collaborating with my wife, music therapist Dr. SarahRose Black on a project we call Pulse, in which we use our platform to discuss how music affects our lives on a daily basis from a health perspective. We have presented with the Canadian Opera Company, Union Station, the Toronto Public Libraries, and the Room 217 Foundation. I have also gained a significant following on online platforms Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, sharing my music, opinions, and educational material, which has been a fun and exciting journey into connecting with hundreds of thousands of followers from around the world.

As you can see, I take part in a wide variety of work, and it keeps me engaged in many ways and with so many different and exciting colleagues and institutions. As technology and our society evolve, I believe that musicians have an incredible opportunity to cultivate skills in different areas and apply them to create a multi-faceted career that was not possible to this degree in the past.

JS: In what ways is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize? Why is it so?

AA: All of my work is related to music and takes an enormous amount of creativity, which I find challenging and fun. The variety in my work keeps me engaged. Often, I have the privilege of seeing, firsthand, the benefits that my work brings to an audience or to other young musicians. All these things make it easy to stay motivated in my work.

Sometimes things can get difficult. When dealing with such a wide variety of jobs and skills, things can get overwhelming quickly if you aren’t able to manage your schedule. I have uttered the phrase “when it rains it pours” more times than I’d like to admit. Sometimes I must practice for a premiere with my trio, while knowing I have two video edits to finish by week’s end, and a 52-concert season to book at the hospital, all while maintaining a teaching studio…you can see how things can add up quickly! But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

JS: How does doing the kind of work you do in the arts change you as a person – and as a creator?

AA: I think working in the arts forces you to learn empathy, which is one of the most important skills that a person can have. In a chamber group or symphony, you learn how to truly listen and collaborate in a healthy way. You learn how to read and react to non-verbal cues, and you learn how to put aside your ego and work together for the greater good. So many skills that we take for granted as musicians are valuable in our interpersonal lives and relationships, and ultimately help us to be better artists.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

AA: As you can probably imagine from my “bio” above, I work with a wide variety of audiences.

In my work at the hospital, I am focused on bringing “the concert experience” out of the concert hall and into a building full of people who may not be able to go to a concert due to their disease. Patients, families, and staff all benefit from the incredible musicians who come in to perform, many of whom you would usually have to buy an expensive ticket to go see at a top tier venue in the city.

In my work as a cellist, I am often playing for lovers of classical music and the traditional symphony crowd, but I make every attempt to bring music to new audiences as much as possible. My piano trio works with the students of Earl Haig Secondary School each year as part of an ongoing project, and we visit other schools to share our music as much as possible. I have also spent the better part of two years connecting with new audiences online on various social media platforms. I have amassed almost half a million followers, many of whom message me privately to tell me that they have never listened to a cello or classical music before but want to thank me for sharing my music with them and that they have become converts.

In my work with SarahRose and our project Pulse, we share stories of the power of music in healthcare settings with a number of people who you wouldn’t consider your “typical” classical music fan. We have worked with healthcare providers, schools, long-term care homes, young musicians in the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and are always looking for new audiences to connect with.

I believe there is something in music for everyone to enjoy, and often it takes putting a creative spin or providing context for the music in order for someone to really connect with it. Someone may have never heard a Beethoven cello sonata or even know of its existence, but if you tell a powerful story of how someone with advanced dementia was able to recall memories and connect with a family member because of that piece, the audience may suddenly be eager to listen to the music simply because of that new context. There is nothing more exciting than seeing someone light up when they listen to music and truly connect with it for the first time.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

AA: I think my personality is largely reflected in my varied career in the arts. I like to think fast, move fast, and be efficient, but also execute at the highest level and maintain a deep level of focus when I am working. I don’t think I could do half of the things that I do if I wasn’t obsessed with efficiency and with being detail oriented. I love the challenge of moving from job to job and I believe it keeps me sharp!

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person in the arts?

AA: The biggest challenge is always dealing with some of the real-life logistics of being an artist: budgets and funding, administrative woes, things like that. Being a performer often looks very romantic from the outside, but the reality is we spend an equal amount of time (sometimes more) on planning, logistics, and mundane day-to-day tasks that are necessary so we can share our art.

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

AA: I have a very specific turning point in my life that I always come back to. In my final year of high school, I had every intention of pursuing a science degree with the goal of eventually becoming a doctor. Two weeks before applications for university were due, I went to see cellist Steven Isserlis perform the Haydn C Major Cello Concerto at Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. I knew this piece well and had been to countless concerts, but something about that night was magical, and from my seat in the 10th row, I suddenly couldn’t see myself doing anything else with my life. The next morning, I went straight to the guidance counsellor’s office at my high school and asked if it was too late to apply for a degree in music. She said “of course, as long as you can be ready for an audition in about a month!” and the rest was history. I often think about that concert and how pivotal of a night it was in my life. Steve Isserlis is coming back to Toronto this fall to play a concert and give a masterclass at U of T and you can bet I’ll be there for both events!

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

AA: The amount of time and dedication that it takes to even dream of being successful at any level is very difficult to comprehend if you haven’t experienced it. I have many friends who have very successful careers in fields that they only decided to pursue during or after their undergraduate degrees. I don’t mean to take away from any of their successes as some of them are quite brilliant at what they do, but it is a very different story to start an instrument at 3 years old, practice for thousands of hours over the course of your lifetime, constantly refining your craft, receiving specialized education for most of your life, and still have to compete with a huge pool of talent all over the world trying to achieve the same thing as you. It can be very stressful and overwhelming but also extremely rewarding!

JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts.

AA: One project that is currently in the works is writing and releasing an album of original music for cello, keyboard, and electronics. I have written music in the past, but I am attempting to write in a genre that is new to me that is a hybrid of classical, folk, indie, and electronic instrumental song writing. We’ll see how it goes!

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?

AA: I would go back in time and tell my 18-year-old self to start making videos on YouTube way back in 2006! In all seriousness, I have really enjoyed my journey as a musician to this point, and I think I have learned something from every experience. I am not sure I would change anything else!

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

AA: We are living in unprecedented times, where it is seemingly easier than ever to “connect” with one another and at the same time we are often left feeling anxious, hollow, and lonely because of the low-value nature of many of the platforms we use in our “connected” lives. Social media’s artificial nature, along with the algorithms designed to keep us addicted to the endless scroll, often leaves us feeling inadequate and subject to even more insidious things like disinformation and radicalization. This can be depressing in many aspects of life, but it also applies to the arts. A beautiful performance by a musician who has spent their life cultivating their craft may end up with a few thousand views and a few hundred likes, while inane videos of pranks, dance-trends, and other even lower-value trends receive hundreds of millions of views and likes. How society at large values the arts is mirrored in a very similar way on social media.

The fact is, however, that these platforms are not going away any time soon, and in order for artists and creatives to stay relevant, we must contribute and try to remain relevant. We are forced to be incredibly creative and engaging in order to compete with other lower-value efforts by so-called “influencers.” We must learn how to use a cello to capture the viewer’s attention in less than 5 seconds and then retain it for the whole video. We are forced to evolve as musicians and artists and continue trying to move the needle and attract new audiences. The endgame is usually not related to social media. Social media is a tool that we can use to spark interest and support the arts, with the goal of eventually being engaging enough to attract a fraction of the followers to try attending a concert or listening to an entire piece of classical music.

I have seen this work with friends and colleagues (Kristan Toczko, harpist @harpistkt) and others around the world like TwoSet Violin and Hillary Hahn. We know it’s possible, and this gives me great hope for the future of classical music.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

AA: I have always embraced technology in my life, and the pandemic allowed me time and energy to use my love of technology to connect with new audiences around the world. Building this online community of followers and music lovers has provided countless opportunities both online and in the real-world, and it has taught me the value of building and being a part of a community.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

AA: I am not sure if the pandemic has changed me as a person, but it has certainly made me appreciate what I do for a living and how incredible it is to be able to share a performance with a live audience. Technology has made connection easier and more convenient, but nothing compares to collectively sharing the vibrations and sounds in the same room with a group of people.

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your life in the arts?

AA: The plan over the next several years is to grow my Pulse project with SarahRose, build a collective of musicians that we collaborate with, and bring those presentations to wider audiences across Canada, the United States, and the world. We believe that there is huge potential and value in sharing these stories about the power of music in healthcare and how that relates to all of us in our everyday lives. We believe music can change your life and these stories and experiences, along with live performance, can show you how. Our live performances were abruptly stopped in March of 2020, and we have recently had our first child, so we are adjusting to family life and hoping to return to live performances together in the near future.

In addition to Pulse, I will be continuing to cultivate the online community that I have built and will continue to build my studio at the University of Toronto and perform as a cellist as often as I can.

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THEATRICAL RICHES IN SHAW FESTIVAL PRODUCTION: SHAW’S TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD IS, WELL, TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!

Posted on September 16, 2022 by strecker

Last Sunday during the first interval of Too True to Be Good, I was reading the play’s program and realizing again how the Shaw Festival has long provided an unending treasury of theatrical riches in my life. My first memory, oddly, was when, around 1968, it was announced just before curtain that Frances Hyland was unable to perform. This was at the Courthouse Theatre which, in the beginning, was the Shaw Festival. And back then, there was certainly no vegan food available in town!

The Shaw – we’ll talk about Stratford another time – fueled my passion for events theatrical and after a summer practical course in theatre I switched majors and did a two-year program for an M.A. in Drama at U of T.  Before the second year, however, my wife and I did five months of backpacking through Europe which ended with yours truly sitting in a balcony in a London theatre, with my now only pair of shoes falling apart, and watching John Gielgud in The Battle of Shrivings by Peter Shaffer for six shillings.

The point is this: on my return to Canada, I gradually found the Shaw Festival to be something of a continuation of London’s West End, a Canadian mecca where challenging and delightful drama, incisive direction, inspired acting, and top-notch production values offered a unique art form at very high – often highest – standards. Not all members of the audience turned out to be of such quality, however, and artistic director-actor-director Christopher Newton once complained to me about some reaction to a production of Lulu: “How can some people criticize theatre when all they know is painting on velvet and comic books?”

But, yes, I felt lucky about seeing Shaw’s play last week. After all, some years before I had sat in the living room of Michael Holroyd to interview Shaw’s – in four volumes, no less – biographer. Around then, folk singer Ewan MacColl had told me that the only advice he received from Shaw, when invited for a weekend, was this observation: “The more you help people, the more they hate you.”

So, I did read the first volume of Michael’s densely detailed bio and I did acknowledge after visiting Ewan for a lunch-interview that some of the people I had helped over time were a bunch of ungrateful shits. And I did feel all the while that Shaw, the human being, was becoming some part of my life. I was feeling closer to the man, his mind, and his artistry. Not only Shaw, of course, but Granville-Barker, Ibsen, Strindberg, Tennessee Williams, Wilde, Feydeau, Noel Coward, Emlyn Williams, and the list does indeed go on. Talk about a treasure house of modern theatre and you had a unique one at the Shaw Festival.

We have to remember that creating and maintaining an impressively accomplished company is one of the Shaw Festivals’ unwavering traditions. As a result, one usually comes to trust the company to deliver the playwright’s intention with committed artistry that helps to fuse the watcher’s imagination to the goings-on on stage. One experiences the arts in full bloom while, at the same time, taking an inward journey of personal realization and growth. After many a play at the Festival, one reflects on what it means to be human, for a very long time. And sometimes the artistry there inspires awe.

And here I was, watching another imaginatively produced, freshly surprising, inherently buoyant while deeply serious, theatrically inviting while challenging, performance. Many of the cast were long-time residents at the Shaw whose work I had often reviewed, come to appreciate, respect, and eagerly anticipate – and let me count the years they have been Company members: Neil Barclay (32), Jenny L. Wright (26), Graeme Somerville (20), Patrick Galligan (19), Martin Happer (17), Marla McLean (16), Jonathan Tan (12), Travis Seetoo (8), and Donna Soares (2). That’s 152 years of experience in theatre for three hours of Too True to be Good, and I haven’t even mentioned actor-director Sanjay Talwar (8)!

Yes, I have been theatre-starved these long COVID days, but this was a production full of  endless theatrical gems to remember: Jenny Wright’s pushy, meticulously annoying, and potentially hysterical Mrs. Mopply; Donna Soares’ defiantly and dangerously spoiled Miss Mopply with an understated edge; Travis Seetoo’s fascinating, mysterious, and agile Microbe; the ever-versatile and always captivating Martin Happer skillfully drawing us inside two lives, those of a soldier and a doctor; the subtly alluring, cute-with-depth, always driven by perky scheming and always unpredictable Nurse/Countess, from Marla McLean.

And there was more! The emotionally elusive and strangely touching humanity of Graeme Somerville’s Burglar/Bagot that kept us locked in to his every move; the wealth of implied human complexity in Neil Barclay’s Colonel Talboys laced with nuances of inner pain; Jonathan  Tan’s one hundred per cent accuracy in nailing the magical heart and precise gestural existences of Private Napoleon and Meek; the implicitly volatile yet always humanly wounded and exciting presence of Patrick Galligan’s Elder, a man of unsettled and almost god-like energy.

Theatre does establish a special place in our lives, one where we witness creations of distinct pulsations and meanings. I always know a play has made my life richer when, while leaving the theatre, I think – as I did with Cyrano de Bergerac, Everybody, and this production, so far this season, that I want or need to see it again, to savor its nuances one more time. Every performance is different and we never tune in to all its wealth of information and creativity on offer at any given time, of course. Which doesn’t say much for the value of one-performance reviews, does it?

After the performance last Sunday, two of the actors seemed moved when they commented to me about the “good” receptive audience they had just had. Theatre is made from collaborative effort, and the involvement of the audience produces a vibration of sorts in reaction to the performance, a “vibe” that feeds and inspires the actors. Maybe that’s why theatre can be such a gripping experience, because we’re all in it together. We are putting preconceptions aside, opening our minds and our hearts, reacting to both a performance and our own reactions to it. We are moving into to another dimension of our lives.

I feel so lucky to have the Shaw Festival just one hour from my home.

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DANCER KIMBERLEY COOPER, WITH DECIDEDLY JAZZ DANCEWORKS! AT THE DANCE NORTH FESTIVAL, OBSERVES “WORKING IN THE ARTS MAKES A PERSON MORE CURIOUS, COMPASSIONATE, THOUGHTFUL, GOOD AT WORKING WITH SCARCITY, NIMBLE WITH CHANGE, INVENTIVE. IT ALSO GIVES YOU THE POSSIBILITY TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS, THE WORLD, AND YOURSELF, IN DEEPLY PROFOUND WAYS. I BELIEVE THIS IS EVEN MORE TRUE IN WORKING IN JAZZ.”  …..A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on September 15, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or as both if such is the case?

KIMBERLEY COOPER: I love what I do.

I guess the short answer would be the journey, the process, the collaborations, the groove, the research, the energy, the joy, the blues…

You raise an interesting point re: originator/interpreter, what am I exactly? I’m a jazz dance artist, I’ve been working in this form professionally for a long time.  I love the music of jazz and its family; it’s why I dance and make dance.  It’s like an invitation to me, it fills my body and mind with movement, images, stories and characters. I am a guest in jazz, which is a Black American artform with African American roots and I am a White Canadian. Though I am a guest, I am connected to a lineage of people, some I know personally, some I’ve read about or have seen film footage of, that I feel I am indebted to.  I am an interpreter of traditions, cultures, histories and music and I strive to work with reverence and respect for them. My work is historically informed AND I am a jazz artist of this time, creating “original” works that come out of my experience and research and this time.

JS: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labour to make it exist?

KC: I believe the arts are essential. They connect us, identify us, make us feel and think.  I know what it feels like to sit in an audience and see dance, to hear music, to stand beside someone and look at a piece of visual art, to read a novel.  And I know what it’s like to dance with people, and for people, it’s deeply humanizing and kind of divine at the same time. So generally, working in art feels important to me and I am very passionate about it.

Then there is working in jazz…

Jazz dance and music were born in North America of African roots and the Black American experience.  Jazz dance, authentic rooted jazz dance, is a rare in the world find. I happen to work for one of few companies globally with jazz as it’s raison d’être.

A short company bio: Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (DJD) was born in 1984 with a mandate which we have worded differently over the years but essentially is about preserving, promoting and evolving jazz through performance and education.  In 2016 after a billion (ok, 11) years of planning, fundraising, etc., we opened the incredible DJD Dance Centre, a purpose-built space with seven studios, including a 230-seat studio theatre. It’s home for our full-time professional company, our professional training program, one of the largest recreational dance schools in Calgary, many resident companies and independent artists. I’m proud to say it has become the dance hub of Calgary.

Working responsibly in jazz, especially as guests requires a tonne of labour that has been part of our process since the company’s inception. And of course, you know what you know when you know it, so in the company’s history, and in my history, that depth of knowledge and reverence for the form and culture continues to grow as we continue to dig, and seek, and collaborate with like-minded artists, and try to help create new ones.

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

KC: I’ve been dancing since I started walking. Dancing and making dance have always gone hand in hand for me. I fell in love with DJD when I saw their first performance as a teenager in 1984.  I joined the company as an apprentice dancer straight out of high school, became Resident Choreographer and Artistic Associate in 2001, as well as continuing to dance with the company until I was appointed Artistic Director in 2013, second in the history of the company. That’s over 3 decades with one company that has supported my journey and growth as an artist within the company, as well as allowing independent projects and research that I still continue to do.  I’m a very lucky artist.

JS: In what ways is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize? Why is it so?

KC: Hmmmmmmm… honestly the most difficult part of what I do is the administration part, the logistical part, the finding enough money part…

That being said, the creative part is hard work, and I love it.  I’m so lucky that I work with artists who are passionate about what we do and trust me. We are vulnerable working together in a studio, we put our hearts and ideas and bodies on the line and if someone isn’t into it, or an ego gets in the way, or there is a lack of trust in the room, it can make things difficult… but truly, that is rare, almost every one I work with and have worked with has been down for the gig and the art, and then the “hard” things become “easier” because we are all in it together.

JS: How does doing the kind of work you do in the arts change you as a person – and as a creator?

KC: I think working in the arts makes a person more curious, compassionate, thoughtful, good at working with scarcity, nimble with change, inventive. It also gives you the possibility to connect with others, the world, and yourself, in deeply profound ways. I believe this is even more true in working in jazz.  Working in jazz teaches us how to listen and collaborate because the work is communal and democratic. It teaches us empathy and humility because of its birth and history, which also gives us hope and inspiration. It helps us find ourselves through groove and rhythm which is an invaluable connection point- it is both elusive and concrete at the same time.  These aren’t my ideas, many jazz folks have said these things way better than me.

I’ve been lucky to be on this particular path as an artist and a human, and during my career the kind of work I do encompasses a lot of things and continues to change, and I change with it.  Each person I work with, each project I work on, changes me and how I think about and approach what I do in dance, but also in life. And not just the people I “work” with, the people I meet, the conversations I have, the life I lead, all of this contributes to my constantly evolving self.  Art making is not formulaic, it’s process based, and that process for me is rooted in many things, but there is a kind of plasticity to it, and it’s jazz- improvisation is essential.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

KC: Humans for sure. I guess aliens also are welcome if they are friendly. Once a dog came to my show, it was training to be a service dog, it barked at a really inopportune moment which was not cool…

In all seriousness, I hope my work interests lots of different kinds of people. People who like jazz music, people who like seeing dance and music together… Someone once said to me that they found dancing to music to be redundant, “music for the eyes” is something that people say about my work and the work of DJD artists in general – so if that isn’t your jam- this work isn’t for you.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

KC: My identity is very much wrapped up in my work.  I’m not sure if that is healthy…

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person in the arts?

KC: You are asking me these questions in the fall of 2022; the last 2.5 years have been a real trip.  What wakes me up at night the most of late is the big picture, how are the arts going to get through this? How are we- as a civilization, as a sector, as a company, me as an artist, going to survive? And to leave those worries at the door when I’ve just come from a budgeting or planning meeting, or from watching the news, and it’s time to make the show- that has been tricky.

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

KC: Seeing that inaugural DJD show, Body and Sole in 1984, changed everything for me.  I was only 13 and before that I danced and knew I wanted to be a dancer, but that show… I was gone- head over heels.  And somehow it worked out.

It feels like another monumental moment to be performing in Toronto this Sept/Oct at Fall for Dance North, the same weekend the founders of DJD – Vicki Adams Willis, Michèle Moss and Hannah Stilwell – are being inducted into Canada’s Dance Hall of Fame.

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

KC: I think dance is a hard career to understand, it’s kind of abstract, people wonder what our “real” job is or even just how we make money, what we do all day, how we remember all the steps…When I tell people I am a choreographer they generally think I teach dance to kids, or they tell me about a Broadway show they love. And being a jazz dance artist is equally baffling because it is such a misunderstood artform.

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?

KC: Shoulda coulda woulda is a dangerous game- haven’t you seen all those movies where characters go back in time to change things and something even worse happens? We only have from this moment forward to change our lives.

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

KC: I hope the arts can thrive in this new world.  Wars, climate change, pestilence, what role does art play? How is it important when you can’t grow food?

And when I get down, I listen or dance to some blues and feel a little better.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

KC: At DJD we were so lucky because we were still sort of able to work in the last two years. We hired our full dance company for 2 full seasons even though a lot of the time we couldn’t work, and/or the restrictions kept changing how we could work.  We were able to invest in some different creative endeavours, we shot a dance film that we are still editing, we were able to do a couple of drive-in dance performances which were pretty cool. We did what we could. And we are not through it, we are in the midst of it, so we are still learning. In the last 2.5 years the company dancers and the work we did and continue to do has been my sanctuary.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

KC: I’m learning to embrace the moment more.  I’m learning to listen harder. I sense that people are generally more tender, emotions are amplified. I’m learning to be more receptive to this in others and myself. The journey continues, I’m changing all the time.

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your life in the arts

KC: I’m just concentrating on the next couple of weeks! Hoping we can get through our Toronto performances without anyone going down, touch wood!

The 2022/23 season is exciting, DJD’s first live season since 2020. I’m working with a new composer on a new full-length piece for DJD that premieres in April ’23. I also have a couple of cool residencies in the US this season. AND I’m hoping to finish editing and release the film we shot last fall in ’23 as well.  Of course, things are in the works for beyond that but really, I’m trying to stay in the moment, everything feels very uncertain and precarious. I saw a United Nations talk about climate change the other day, and the thing that really resonated with me was the discussion on how polarised we are becoming and how that division, of wealth, beliefs, resources is really what is messing us up.  We need to figure out how to come together, maybe the arts can help play a role in that.

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DANCER STUTI MUKHERJEE, WHO PERFORMS AT THE EIGHTH ANNUAL DANCE NORTH FESTIVAL, EXPLAINS “I LIVE, EAT, SLEEP, WALK, TALK DANCE EVERY DAY. MY THIRST FOR THIS ART FORM MADE ME QUIT MY PH.D.! “……. A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on September 13, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as the originator, interpreter, or both if such is the case?

STUTI MUKHERJEE: As an interpreter, representing my roots-South Asian cultural heritage, Bharatanatyam, to the Canadian audience brings a sense of pride in my identity and ethnicity. As a performer, my work helps connect with my audience emotionally, and that’s the part I love about my work.

JS: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labour to make it exist?

SM: I feel that Bharatnatyam helps me express my different emotions. I think I find my voice through dance. It is ultimately an expression of my mind, heart and soul. I want to take the audience on an emotional journey through my work. I like the audience to connect and feel the character on stage; if I can achieve that, all my hard work is paid off.

I also believe that bringing different art forms from different cultures allows us to understand, accept and respect each other in a country like Canada that prides itself on its multiculturalism.

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

SM:  I am a Bharatanatyam(Indian classical dance) Artist, so my career includes performing, teaching, choreographing, collaborating with other artists, workshops, lectures/demonstrations and learning. I also run a school where I teach Bharatanatyam to our community’s youth and adults.

I was born and raised in a traditional art-loving family in India. I grew up prioritizing dance and academics equally. However, my love for arts grew every year as I found my dance practice time relaxing and meditative. In dance movement, I found my freedom of expression. That’s another reason I do not shy away from working around bold themes like women’s voice, women’s equality, women empowerment and gender equality. I love collaborating with women of colour and minority women in our community to present women-centric themes.

JS: In what ways is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize? Why is it so?

SM: Origins of this art form are from my birthplace; therefore, understanding this dance form’s technical aspects has been less challenging.

This art form is audio-visual. Apart from dancing, the costumes are the primary aid to the visual aspect of this art form. Arranging the costumes here in Canada has been a challenge. Songs in this art form tell a story that, as performers, we enact on stage. Connecting with local artists whose primary livelihood is not music has also been challenging. Living in Canada and connecting with Bharatanatyam Artists/ Gurus in India is slightly tricky because of the time zone. Sometimes I have to be up till 11:30 pm dancing for workshops/classes in IST (Indian Standard Time).

JS: How does doing the kind of work you do in the arts change you as a person – and as a creator?

SM: Bharatnatyam has taught me to be humble and disciplined. This Indian classical dance has many rules and techniques that form the foundation. Mastering those techniques is demanding physically and mentally. I have discovered that this art form will not come to a mind full of ego. The physical aspect of the dance has made sure that I am mindful of how I nourish my body.

As a creator, I believe that I evolve with every new venture. In my initial years of training, I depended on my Gurus for every aspect of a dance piece. Now I strive to present the art as an independent artist. My goal is to connect with the audience at an emotional level through my dance.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why do both questions?

SM: Since Bharatanatyam is a minority art form, my work primarily attracts South Asians. However, Bharatanatyam has travelled the globe with people from China, the UK, Europe, Russia and North America, learning and performing this artform worldwide. With more performance opportunities at prominent platforms in Canada, I intend to attract more Canadians to appreciate and connect with my work on an emotional level.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

SM: My work involves all aspects of me. One can say my dance is a reflection of me. I put my emotions, thoughts, movement training, techniques and a zillion hours of rehearsals into my work.

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person in the arts?

SM: I will lie if I say finances are not a challenge. Procuring arts funding/grants in Canada is highly competitive. Procuring just one or two grants/funding a year does not reasonably support new/original artwork for the whole year.

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

Stuti: About a year after I moved to Canada, I got accepted into Ph.D. studies in Cellular and Molecular Medicine. So, for a year before I got accepted, dance helped me handle all the stress that being a new immigrant brings. I realized that my studies and work caused a lot of stress and fatigue. I was left with no time to practice dance daily. I could not do justice to the Ph.D. studies or Bharatnatyam. So, I had to make a choice. That was the most challenging call I had to take in my life. I chose Arts over my Scientific career, and arts is a hard but satisfactory career choice indeed! Now, I live, eat, sleep, walk, talk dance every day. My thirst for this art form made me quit my Ph.D.!

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

SM: In India, our success is determined by the number of degrees one holds. So, I don’t expect most of my relatives back home to appreciate any success that dance brings me. Also, I don’t expect outsiders to understand I am always busy with dance rehearsals, and I have no time and money for trips or to socialize or party.

JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts.

SM: With a little more visibility of Bharatanatyam in Canada, I dream of collaborating with jazz musicians, opera musicians and other western classical musicians to create original work.

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?

SM: I would make sure not to get distracted by what naysayers have to say and continue my dance education with no pause. I would also make sure I learn other dance art forms to help me create new unique work.

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

SM: I feel there is a lack in the representation of minority art like Bharatanatyam in Canada. As a result, the audience has less awareness of this highly technical art form. That’s another reason people cannot differentiate Indian classical dance from Indian movies/ Bollywood dance. As a teacher, I share my knowledge with kids of all ages. These kids give me hope that one day they will be the torch bearers of this art form. As a performer, I try daily to promote this art and contribute to the multiculturalism that Canada strives for.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

SM: I trained hard in the last two years. Performances were canceled, travelling plans got cancelled, and events got cancelled. The whole situation caused a lot of financial and mental health issues. However, I connected with my Gurus back in India and trained daily during the lockdown period. Somehow, I am thankful for those lockdown days, which made me a better performer as I trained hard in Dance, Yoga and Resistance training.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

SM: Pandemic has made me super patient, and I appreciate the importance of technology that helps connect us remotely. I have now also learned to edit audio tracks and zoom things away like anything.

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your life in the arts?

SM: Although the type of dance I do is a minority art in Canada, I dream of taking Bharatanatyam to more robust platforms like National Arts Centre (NAC).

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DANCER SOFÍA ONTIVEROS AT DANCE NORTH, WHICH CELEBRATES ITS EIGHTH ANNUAL FESTIVAL, EXPLAINS, “I FIND IT IS EASY TO GET STUCK WITH BIG THEMES/CONCEPTS/IDEAS IN MY HEAD, BUT ONCE I BEGIN TO PHYSICALLY CREATE, THESE COMPLETELY TRANSFORM INTO SOMETHING I HAD NOT FULLY PICTURED BEFORE” ……. A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on September 13, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or as both if such is the case?

SOFÍA ONTIVEROS: The part I enjoy most about creating is being in the studio exploring and playing with ideas. I find it is easy to get stuck with big themes/concepts/ideas in my head, but once I begin to physically create, these completely transform into something I had not fully pictured before. I love seeing where the process takes me as I expel movement into my body or other’s bodies. This is where I learn the most as a choreographer and interpreter, as I either have to adjust or let go of specific plans based on how it reads when seeing and feeling its full form.

JS: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labour to make it exist?

SO: Something I hope people can translate out of my work is the real experiences and reflections within it. My movement ideas always come out of my journal, where I write reflective texts of personal journeys. I labour to make my art exist because I have found it the most healing to create movement out of these texts. Additionally, when in community with other dancers, the concept expands further as they include their own experiences into it. I do not aim to labour my art for praise or to stake a claim. I bring my creative ideas to life for the sake of self-expression, and providing a space for people to communicate both verbally and physically. Having a safe creative space as what brings you money is just an additional, a way to take the work we do (which is a lot) seriously in this capitalist system.

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

SO: I am an artist, mover, choreographer, and researcher who aims to explore my identity and others’ identities through multidisciplinary work. I was born and raised in Monterrey, México, and immigrated to Tkaronto, Ontario in 2017 to pursue my dance studies. I graduated with a BFA in Performance Dance, and a minor in Environment and Urban Sustainability at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2021. My art form is strongly influenced by my identity as a cis, queer, white, Mexican, Latina woman, questioning and exploring social constructs and how they play a role in individual and interpersonal relationships. Texts always play a part in my choreography, whether as pre-choreographic inspiration or as part of the movement. Merging and embodying texts in dance composition aids not only in the research process, but also in growth and healing. I am constantly left with important reflections post-choreographic research.

JS: In what ways is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize? Why is it so?

SO: Creating my work feels easy, mentally at least, once in the process. Getting to the creative process and realization is what feels extremely difficult at times, especially as an emerging artist and recent graduate. Having to juggle working a stable job that allows me to pay rent and other necessary expenses, while simultaneously figuring out ways to finance and showcase my art can be exhausting. Once I am in the studio creating, I feel more at ease. I try to not put pressure on the outcome of what I am choreographing by focusing on concept exploration more than the final product. As an emerging artist, I am also still in the process of networking and searching for training, performance, and choreography opportunities. I am still learning what I want to get out of my dance career. This is an aspect that makes creative work even harder to do. There are so many training and performance experiences I want to have besides creating my work. Juggling these opportunities while also creating work is quite difficult at times.

JS: How does doing the kind of work you do in the arts change you as a person – and as a creator?

SO: I think I did not end up being a creator because of a mere coincidence of dancing at a young age. Since I began to take my dancing seriously when I was a teenager, my mind began exploding with ideas. I have struggled with mental health issues since I was a child, and expelling this into dance was a form of releasing anxious thoughts. I could not figure out where they stemmed from at such a young age, but I knew I needed some form of emotional release even then. Now with experience and ongoing healing journeys, I realize I chose a hard, slow, yet fulfilling path for myself. Dance is not my savior anymore, but simply a tool I choose to use for expression, connection, exploration, and reflection. Dance has taught me through the years that a fast path never works for me. It has taught me to build slowly, with care and love. It has built patience, taught me my goals and dreams actually look completely different than what I once pictured.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

SO: I think as of now, my audience is mainly contemporary dancers. I am still trying to break out of simply creating contemporary dance movements. My instincts when I explore or improvise at times still tend to follow a certain rule book, which only dancers understand most of the time. I seek to interest non-dancers with my work, by incorporating more than dance movement in my work. I am currently in a creative process where, for the first time, I am incorporating more daily human movement and verbal communication with dancers. I want my work to translate humanity, rather than a Western contemporary aesthetic. This takes work and research, so I do not expect to reach non-dancer audiences right away.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

SO: I think the most important parts of myself I put into my work is my passion, openness, and curiosity. When I set my mind to a creative process, it is all I think about for a while. I tend to come to the studio with motif ideas and many images I thought about prior. I am passionate about creating work and I believe it shows when I talk about it in process. I have learned throughout the years to not be close-minded with certain expectations during creative processes, especially if the movement I choreograph comes from other dancers. I have also learned to be curious to how dancers interpret my choreography, and be willing to change a set idea, for the sake of exploring further something I had not seen before. These three parts of me are what have driven me to the most fulfilling work outcomes.

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person in the arts?

SO: My biggest challenge as a creative person is definitely finding the right spaces for me. I think everyone thrives in different artistic environments, and not all are for everyone. I have found it challenging to find the right space because I am interested in many areas of dance and the arts in general. I never wanna close myself to one area as I wanna learn as much as I can. However, focusing in one area is necessary in order to have deeper, long-term learning. I find this challenging because I do not want to put myself in one box. I am afraid of feeling stuck in one path, fighting that fear and trusting my process has been challenging.

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

SO: I think there have been many, but if I had to point out one it would be when I almost gave up on dance during the beginning of the pandemic. I was highly considering changing careers and not choosing this path. I was extremely discouraged, there was a time where I did not even want to dance at all. This was a major turning point for me because I had to sit with myself and really ask myself why. Through time, I realized I lived in a toxic mindset with dance. I thought dance came before anything in my life for so long. Being constricted from dancing during the pandemic was exactly what I needed to realize dancing was not the problem, the pressure of equating my art to my worth was.

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

SO: I find it is hard for outsiders to understand how healing dancing and moving your body is. Non-dancers tend to see, specifically contemporary movement, as random, weird, and dramatic. What they don’t realize is that many creators are in exploration processes, that at times we don’t search to produce something beautiful or entertaining, but simply research where a concept can take us, even if the product ends up being extremely strange. Getting rid of this pressure is so healing. It is like dancing with your friends at a party with no care in the world. It feels joyful.

JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts.

SO: I want to attempt to move into more interdisciplinary arts. I would like to get comfortable with acting, dialogues, singing, and moving all at once. I find interdisciplinary work can reach many audiences and touch people more than just a dance piece. I am interested in getting to take more risks in these areas through my work.

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?

SO: I wish I had not done so much of what I thought would make me successful and noticed. It was that same thought that caused me to not take risks in dance environments. When I have felt the most free to be myself is when I took the most risks. I have learned since then, but if I was back in my first year of the dance university program, I would shake myself and tell her to calm down. I wish I had released myself of the pressures further, who knows what opportunities I wouldn’t have missed because of it.

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

SO: I feel hopeful about how our generation of artists is speaking out more towards mental health, unsustainable ways of working, isms in the arts, and existing abuses of power. Specifically in dance, where we tend to move more and speak less, this makes me extremely hopeful for what we can achieve in the future for artistic work spaces. The pressures of capitalism in the arts still exist and take a hold on creation spaces. Our awareness and positions towards it gives me hope to create safer spaces, where people do not feel excluded. Something I do find depressing is how difficult financially it still is to be an artist in this system, unless you are famous or extremely successful. I want to live in a future where artists can create without having to reach for a ladder to get to the top.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

SO: I would not be where I am right now, with a healthier mindset towards my artistic pursuits, if it were not for the pandemic. As mentioned before, the pandemic was a hit of realization of how I was putting my mental and physical health aside for the sake of my productivity as a dancer. The pandemic taught me to be more curious of my other skills, and how I can merge them in my work. It also taught me to accept my present moment as a dancer, where I am, and stop chasing this made-up future and expectations I created in my head. It simply taught me my artistic dreams are not actually what I thought they were. They have become something much more fulfilling and healthy.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

SO: As a person, the pandemic taught me to be more curious about my everyday life. I tend to focus on the big picture, big ideas, big everything. The pandemic taught me to start noticing the beauty in the little moments. I enjoy being with myself more now because of it. I learned so much from the nothingness of the pandemic. This nothingness opened my mind to give time to things I didn’t even have time to think of before.

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your life in the arts?

SO: For the coming years, all I hope is to expand my learning as an artist further, through opportunities, research, training, and creations. This with the hope I can take these experiences into my creative process. I desire to have more tools and resources to create more interdisciplinary art. On the other hand, I hope I can also expand my career as an artist outside of dance. I am interested in working more on acting, singing, and writing.

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SAEUNN THORSTEINSDÓTTIR: ICELAND- BORN CELLIST AT TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL EXPLAINS “IT TAKES COURAGE, VULNERABILITY, A DEEP CONVICTION, INTUITION, AND UNDERSTANDING TO GO BEYOND THE NOTES ON THE PAGE AND TO BARE YOUR HEART ON STAGE FOR A GROUP OF STRANGERS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, ARE JET LAGGED AND YOUR CONTACT LENSES ARE DRYING OUT”…..A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on July 16, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labour to make it exist?

SAEUNN THORSTEINSDÓTTIR:  I play the cello and my work is mostly engaged with interpreting and performing classical music for a variety of audiences. Ever since I was young, I couldn’t think of spending my time doing anything else, and my thirst for exploration and communication through music has only grown stronger and more urgent. I don’t play in an orchestra, so my work is mostly project based and I play in a variety of solo and chamber music settings and there is always something upcoming to sink my teeth into.

JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or as both if such is the case?

ST: As an interpreter and performer of music, I like diving underneath the surface to try to understand and express the humanness in the notes on the page. And when I get to do that with others, such as in chamber music, even better!

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

ST: I am a professional cellist, so my career includes performing, recording and most recently, I have also started teaching. I was born in Reykjavík, Iceland but have spent most of my life in the US and I take some of that perspective with me in my music-making. One of my main passions is in collaboration, whether in a chamber music setting performing a masterpiece of the repertoire, or with a composer on a new piece.

JS: In what ways is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize? Why is it so?

ST: Playing the notes is the easy part, but communicating the essence of the music is sometimes difficult. It takes courage, vulnerability, a deep conviction, intuition, and understanding to go beyond the notes on the page and to bare your heart on stage for a group of strangers, especially if you have traveled a long way, are jet lagged and your contact lenses are drying out.

JS: How does doing the kind of work you do in the arts change you as a person – and as a creator?

ST: The music that I have dedicated my life to has definitely changed me. The technical demands of the instrument have made me humble, the music itself has given me insights into the emotional landscapes of brilliant composers which has made me more empathetic as a person, and the relationships that I’ve built with my colleagues has taught me how to trust as we play this incredible music together.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

ST: I find that music interests most people, but especially those who are curious. Often when I’m playing new music, audiences tell me that they’ve never heard anything like that, or that they didn’t know the cello could sound like that. There might be an assumption that classical music is elevator music or aural wallpaper, but for me, there is always more to discover in a good piece of music. I think the best way to be open to that exploration is by going to a concert in a good acoustic and dedicating your attention to listening to discover something new. This kind of listening from an audience is so gratifying for us performers, because we feel that kind of attention on stage and it encourages us to be even more generous in our music making.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

ST: There is no separation between me and my work, it is wholly integrated into who I am so it is very hard to separate. If I had to choose, I would say creativity, passion and a collaborative spirit are the most important and wouldn’t be able to play without those parts.

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person in the arts?

ST: It is easy for me to forget to rest and recharge, and often there are more projects and exciting things that I want to do than there is time for, so scheduling and conserving my energy is always a challenge

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

ST: I was lucky enough to go to an orchestra concert when I was probably 8 or 9 years old that had a deep impact. The soloist was the great cellist Zara Nelsova playing the Dvorak Concerto, and I remember being blown away by her sound which filled the hall and gripped everyone’s attention. She was not only a wonderful musician, but also a generous teacher, and I had the privilege of playing in a masterclass for her, which had a huge impact on me and I think from that point, I knew playing the cello was what I wanted to dedicate my life to.

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

ST: Perhaps because it is so far from most people’s realities, I think the hardest part for an outsider to understand is that music is not just a job, it is a life. I don’t really have any “hours” that I work, because I am constantly marinating on a piece, or a phrase, or a fingering, and although I am trying to get better at taking real vacations, I miss the cello when I do.

JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts.

ST: I would like to see if there is a way for improvisation to be integrated in a classical music setting. Currently I am workshopping a concerto in which the solo line is completely improvised, as well as parts of the orchestra, and I think it could be interesting.

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?

ST: I think I would be more open and tell more people about my passions and ideas. I think finding others who have similar ideas, or complementary passions is such an integral part of a fulfilling life, and if I had been more confident in sharing mine earlier on, I think it may have been easier to find collaborators.

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

ST: I have a lot of hope for live music, especially on a smaller scale. I see people wanting a unique, meaningful musical experience and I believe that music can thrive when it is serving a community. What I find depressing is when organizations hold onto traditions or norms that no longer serve the music or the community and don’t even realize it.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

ST: The abrupt halt to live concerts had a huge impact on me, as I had more time to devote to a passion project, which was the performing of all 6 Bach Suites, and subsequently recording them. It gave me the time and space to explore them in a way that I don’t think I would have had the chance to if I was traveling and playing other repertoire as well.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

ST: The pandemic gave me a chance to reflect a bit which gave me a lot of insights into what was working in my daily life, and what wasn’t and make some adjustments. It also gave me a few grey hairs too!

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your life in the arts?

ST: Along with various projects and performances, I will be Artist-in-Residence with the Iceland Symphony next season, so I will be going home a few times over the next year, as well as releasing my recording of the Bach Suites in early 2023. I am also starting to teach at the Cincinnati College Conservatory in the fall, so I look forward to moving to Cincinnati in the next few weeks!

 

 

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BENJAMIN APPL: BARITONE, TO SING SCHUBERT’S DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN JULY 11 AT TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL, RECALLS “IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, I STAYED MAYBE 20-30 DAYS A YEAR AT MY HOME, IN MY OWN BED. I LIVE OUT OF A SUITCASE, A LIFE WHICH I COULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED WHEN I WAS IN BANKING.” …. A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS 

Posted on July 8, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labour to make it exist?

BA: On a different life path, I grew up in a family which was musical, my mother played the guitar, we sang a lot, and then I was a chorister. Afterwards, I wasn’t sure if I should become a singer. Therefore, I worked in a bank and studied business before moving to London in 2010. Music has always been an important part of my life, a love, and it hasn’t been always my profession. And it was just wonderful to experience how music shaped my entire life and became more and more significant. That’s something I love with the arts, or with music generally, and it can happen whether you become a professional musician or not. But music is something that doesn’t let you go. And this is a significant experience for me, and a realization which makes my daily life better. Listening to music or making music when I feel ill or sick, it just transforms me as a human being, it makes me happier. And that’s for me really something which is so significant and makes my existence better, my life better. And it’s the most wonderful thing I think that art, music, can do and does with me personally.

JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or as both if such is the case?

BA: Well, I’m not an originator, I’m an interpreter, and it’s interesting to be a medium for people of music of the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st century I perform. Like a painter, I paint every night, the song in a different way. When you think of a painting of Venice, for example, there exist many. Every painter paints the scene a different colour, paints the sky in a different colour. And we, every day, depending on our experiences we had throughout the day, shape it differently, and that’s what I like, it’s not in stone what we do. Every day we have a chance to create it in a different way, with the same piece of music, with the same text. And that I find very fulfilling.

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

BA: As I said before, coming from a chorister, studying business, working in a bank, becoming a musician, this is not a straight way forward but it is essential to who I am today. I started later than anyone else with singing, which I am now grateful for it. I think very often that particularly male singers start too early. You need certain experience in life, not just vocal maturity, but also intellectually. It’s a tough job, you have to be prepared, and that’s something why I’m very happy about it. And that I had this loop, that I really experienced something else, but made the step that music had to be the centre of my life.

JS: In what ways is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize? Why is it so?

BA: I think there’s not so much fairly easy with our job, apart from after finding a personal connection with the music and how to present it and communicate it with people. If you’re yourself and you try to find a good emotional connection and the way how to communicate it, then it can be fairly easy. Generally, it’s quite a difficult job. We carry our instrument 24 hours inside of us, and we can’t, like a pianist, leave the instrument at home for two hours in the evening and go to the pub. And that’s something we have to live with regarding our instrument, we have to accept it when it’s not working one day, we have to be kind to it. And that is quite a difficult thing to reflect and think about, but not become too self-centered and think only about ourselves – yes, that’s something very challenging and we have to cope with it.

JS: How does doing the kind of work you do in the arts change you as a person – and as a creator?

BA: It changes us very much. Again, in this reflecting process, we have to be open, we have to find inspiration and that’s something, of course, that has a huge influence on ourselves. We change our daily routine, we have to be careful with our voice, we can’t have the wildest life before performances, and so on. And the curiosity as an artist that we have to have influences us very much. The way of reflecting about ourselves, that we try to become better and better, is also something which changes us. I think, of course, the art and the voice are so dominant in our life, and really leading our lives, that we have to follow the music and the voice as a person with our life.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

BA: The field of Art Song is a bubble within the classical music world, which is a bubble in itself. So, I am very much aware that we will never have huge audiences or huge crowds and millions of people listening to us, but that is also fine to accept. I think that, generally, elderly people who have more time in their lives, who don’t have to worry about small kids, or making a lot of money in their jobs, or have to learn a lot in schools, and so on, they have more the luxury of time. And when you do some recitals, you have to focus fully on the music and the text. It’s not something which you can listen to on playlists next to a fancy dinner. It really requires full attention. And that’s challenging in the 21st century in a very “short living” time when everything’s very hectic. So that’s a reason why I think particularly people listening to song cycles are very often are in the second half of their lives.

I’m trying with my own program to go into schools and bring this Art Song into schools and make kids curious about this music. It’s very important to plant the love I feel for this music into the hearts or into the ears of these young people so that at least they have the first encounter and see that people are passionate about it.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

BA: It’s the emotional impact, we connect to these songs. In song recitals, you don’t have a stage director telling you what to do, it’s all your own work, it’s your own life experiences you put emotionally into these songs and communicate with an audience. So, of course, these are big parts of ourselves, we reveal our inner life on stage. On top of that it’s personal programs that you put together, concept albums about your life, about your life experiences. It’s a very personal signature on recorded albums and, for example, I created one about home and about belonging. Also with program notes, with contemporary compositions, working together with the composer, choosing the text. So, we shape the music history of our time within the centuries of music history through our commissions, through the work we sing. I think that’s very important that we never forget that we are a part of music history which is still going on and will go on in the future.

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person in the arts?

BA: Finding inspiration. We give so much on stage and every evening try to give what we can that we actually have to fulfil our inner inspirations – go to museums, watch in the underground how people walk, and think ‘This is a character in this song.’ Having a wonderful time with other inspiring people, listening to their stories, being curious, having every pore of your body open so we find inspiration again for a new way of interpreting songs. Asking questions why we do it this way, this tempo, why do we take time here, why is this word important for us. So that we actually create and never just deliver.

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

BA: I think it was really coming to London in 2010 from a small place in Bavaria and finding inspiration in all these museums, musical theatre, plays. All of that really shaped me as an artist, and the friends I found here. That was really a turning point where I was also certain I would become a musician for sure and not go back to banking.

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

BA: I think it’s the life living out of a suitcase. In the last few years, I stayed maybe 20-30 days a year at my home, in my own bed. I spend most of the time on the road or in hotels, a life which I could have never imagined when I was in banking. I had a very easy life living with my girlfriend, together cooking every evening, watching TV. It’s a completely different setup now, which is hard, but has also on the other hand wonderful experiences, and you meet very interesting people. But from outside, I think, it’s such a strange life and people struggle to imagine living it.

JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts.

BA: There’s so many ideas, interesting places to perform. I would love to perform song recitals for example like Schubert’s “Winter Journey” in the Arctic. Pushing boundaries with other art forms, collaborations. I have so many ideas in my mind that it’s overwhelming, I have to write them down. First of all, not to forget them, but also to focus my mind on one idea. So, it’s still a source of many ideas coming out. I would just love to go in different directions, work with different people.

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?

BA: There is nothing major I would like to change. Of course, there are small decisions which maybe were wrong or should have been done differently, but there is really nothing major I would do differently.

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

BA: I think it’s wonderful that there are so many young people interested in studying singing or classical music. In colleges there are so many applications, like never before, so that’s something very positive. I find the lack of interest in politics and people in arts quite worrying. There are so many studies around the world which show the impact of music on human brains, on kids, how it makes them better human beings with better social skills, but also they learn other subjects faster, like languages, and so on. There is only good, and I find it strange that no politicians really see the huge impact and how important it is. We have to plant music and art into the brains and hearts of young people. And even if they don’t like it in the beginning, I think it’s important that they have the chance to encounter it so that when they get older and listen to classical music they feel familiar with it. If they don’t get the chance from the very beginning, it’s very hard later on to really understand this world which is so important in shaping for everyone. That’s something I feel very passionate about.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

BA: I have to say that before COVID I was travelling around massively and it was somehow also very healthy having this reset. Before that there was always this part of being annoyed by small, unimportant things like hotel breakfasts and sitting at an airport waiting for an airplane. And having this massive break where everything stands still, when you have a chance again to look into music, to create, to ask big questions like why do you do this job, or if there is something else you should do? I see it looking back as a gift somehow, to have this objective perspective, one step back, and look at your life and overlook everything. And therefore it changes a lot as I had time to look into new repertoire, to think of new collaborations, to talk to people about ideas, and therefore every one of us had the chance in this past two and a half years to make the best of it, to use this time wisely, and to actually take your life again into your own hands and see what you’ll do with it, and therefore I’m grateful.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

BA: I think it changed me as a person to not take things for granted, to be grateful for the opportunities, for the relationships, for the private lives, for moments of calmness, for not accepting everything immediately and really stand up if things are not the way you think they should be.

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your life in the arts?

BA: It’s definitely exploring new directions, new collaborations, working with dancers, with painters, with visual artists. Just probing the horizon, being curious, not thinking in boxes but outside my box, and appreciating other people and their work and their love.

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SHEILA MURRAY: AUTHOR OF NEW NOVEL “FINDING EDWARD” (CORMORANT BOOKS) EXPLAINS “THE BOOK ASKS, “WHY IS WHITE CANADIAN HISTORY WRITTEN, AND CELEBRATED, WHEN WHAT BLACKS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IS DISMISSED, OR HIDDEN FROM PUBLIC VIEW?” ……: A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on July 7, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your new book. For instance, what exactly is it and why does it exist?

SHEILA MURRAY: Finding Edward is a book about two mixed-race men, one born in the 1920s, the other in 1990s. Cyril, the novel’s central character, was born in Jamaica. His coming of age is guided by his search for the story of the much older man who was born in Toronto. Edward’s history and his resilience become an inspiration for the younger man who is struggling to grasp his own potential.

At the same time, the book asks, “Why is white Canadian history written, and celebrated, when what Blacks have accomplished is dismissed, or hidden from public view? The Tulsa race massacre in the USA took place in 1921, around the same time that my character, Edward, was born. That massacre of Black American professionals, and the destruction of their achievements, was hidden for decades.

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to this book.

SM: My mother was English and white, my father was Black Jamaican, and I was born and raised in England. My starting point with the book was to explore what it is to be mixed race, and the tensions that affect those of us who are racialized by the cultures we’re raised in. We should be able to claim our place as equally rooted in both colours, but that’s impossible in today’s world. We don’t get to choose our ‘racial’ identity. If we are darker skinned, rather than lighter, then Canadian and American cultures identify us as ’Black.’ I identify as Black when there is not an optional mixed-race box to check. Racialized people experience a litany of disadvantages in Canada and the USA. An obvious response to all of this, is that everyone should be treated equally— but this is patently not the case.

JS: In what ways was this book fairly easy to do and in what ways was it difficult to realize? How long did it take and why that long?

SM: If I were to start writing the novel today, it would be a different story, at least for Cyril. I started writing Finding Edward in 2012. Since then, a new race-consciousness has surfaced in mainstream culture. My book’s central character, Cyril, arrived in what Canada considered its ‘multicultural’ heyday — before Black Lives Matter fiercely challenged the status quo, and prevailed. Trayvon Martin was murdered in Florida in 2012 and his killer acquitted in 2014. Michael Eligon was shot by Toronto police in 2012, and his killer cleared of responsibility a month later. By 2016, Black Lives Matters was established in Canada. In 2017, Colin Kaepernick knelt for the American national anthem, and I suspect that a whole lot of people saw for the first time that something was very wrong in their liberal, democratic worlds. Not only in the USA, but also in Canada. Had Cyril arrived in Toronto after Black Lives Matter was established, his trajectory might have been different. His personal experiences reflect the widespread ambiguities of 2012. Although many of those ambiguities still exist in the mainstream, Edward, whose mystery drives the novel’s plot, would have been astonished by the power of the Black Lives Matter movement.

I did have several occasions to rewrite the novel after the initial draft, but it wasn’t until my editor, Marc Cote, acquired it that it grew into its true life. Marc wanted to publish, and said that the structure was basically working, but the story needed more: more history, more scenes with the minor characters, more Edward. Those notes pushed me to go much deeper into Cyril and Edward. By the finish, I knew them so well that I felt I could stand in a room with them.

JS: How did doing this book change you as a person – and as a creator?

SM: As I said earlier, I began the book as an exploration of my own mixed-race identity. Part of that exercise was having my DNA analyzed, which was amazing. My ancestry turned out to span most of the globe. I am not a mix of two, but a wide mix of a great many. And that somehow supports the validity of my novel’s central question, which is, “What does it mean to be a Racialized Person in a society whose mainstream culture identifies as white? Especially for people of mixed, or in my case, multiple races?”

As a creator and first-time novelist, the tremendous response to the book has given me confidence as a writer. I know that I’ve achieved what I set out to do—and more. I want my next book to be equally challenging, and believe now that I have the skill and assurance to do it. (And, of course, hope that it will be equally well received!) Finding Edward has been a great learning experience, and the best part is knowing how well people enjoy the characters and the story.

JS: What kind of audience will this project interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

SM: Just a few weeks since its publication, I have a different answer to that question than I would have had before.

I hoped that Finding Edward would attract readers who are interested in the novel’s central issues—that the same prejudices and bigotry existed in 2012 as they did all through the history of Blacks in Canada. So, most achievements, hard-fought triumphs, were, and still are ignored, unheralded, and certainly not mainstream in our Canadian cultural narrative. More generally, I anticipated that the story would be of interest to readers of literary fiction whose values are rooted in social justice—regardless of how they identity.

But I’ve been wonderfully surprised by beautiful responses to the story from ‘old, straight, white men,’ who have found many points of true engagement, particularly with the life of the older character, Edward. But also, with the much younger, Cyril. They have been very moved by their stories. Neither of my characters is exceptional. But their lives are rich, and they clearly connect with a wide variety of readers.

I would also love to think that Finding Edward will interest young people. It is a coming-of-age story— a period over a year in 2012 where Cyril, age 20, figures out who he is and how he belongs. That’s every young person’s challenge. Young people will shape Canada’s future, and they should know our Black history. I particularly hope that young, Black, readers will find the book. I want them to know that Blacks have been in Canada for a very long time, and their successes have helped shape this country — something that’s rarely acknowledged. And I want young, mixed-race folk, to own both sides of their heritage.

JS: What might others not understand or appreciate about your book?

SM: That’s an interesting question. At the moment, in the early days of publication, my feeling is that the characters now belong to their readers. They’re not mine to defend, or champion, or to worry about. It’s not for me to say what’s been misunderstood, or under-appreciated. But if I’ve done my job well, readers will care about the characters, and, as they read, will come to understand how systemic racism operates, and how it has shaped Canada.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work?

SM: I tried to put my emotional self-knowledge into the writing. I want readers to feel what I felt for Cyril and for Edward. A strong sense of fear, trepidation, shyness, lack of confidence, embarrassment, shame, loneliness —equally tempered with pride, courage, certainty, daring, fellowship and self-assurance.

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?

SM: I have been in creative sectors all of my working life. But despite always giving a project my all, I have never identified as a ‘filmmaker’ or ‘sound designer’ or ‘journalist,’ or ‘fiction writer’. I’m going to change that. Finding Edward has had such a wonderful response, that now, instead of saying, “I will probably write another novel,” I can say that I will definitely write another. And because I’ve reached an age where there is less future than past, I will start it as soon as I can!

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to the creation of this work.

SM: It is, perhaps, recognizing in my early 40s that my life had moved along a rather unconventional trajectory. That was a time when I needed to know more about myself and the reason for my decisions. For instance, why had I not pursued a more traditional career path or family life.

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

SM: My life has been only incidentally in the arts, although I worked in the film world in different capacities for many years. Indeed, my first film, made in the early 1980s started as a documentary, morphed into a drama and included about six musical numbers. Canada’s first docu-drama-musical! Although it found some success, it was gruelling and my co-producer and I were broke. I had to make a living, and fast, which led me to sound editing. Outsiders may find it difficult to understand that people in the arts work very hard, often over long hours and weekends, and are generally poorly paid. I now work in the non-profit sector which has some similar characteristics!

JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts

SM: When I was a teenager in England my favourite times in high school were spent in the art rooms, where a handful of us passed long days with excellent teachers. Had I stayed in England, and my studies not been interrupted by our family’s move to Toronto, I’m pretty sure I’d have gone on to art school, as my friends did. I enjoy painting and drawing now, though I’m sure that I will never make things to show or to sell!

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?

SM: From my now outsider view, film and television seem to be thriving. I don’t know if it’s any easier, or harder to raise the money to create programming. What’s very different from my time—and I imagine this is true across the arts—is the competition. It’s so much harder to enter those fields, or to get into the universities or schools that credential the artists. The increased competition may simply be because our populations are much bigger — so many more people want in. On the other hand, it may be that more people can explore, develop and showcase their creative work through social media and other online venues. I am woefully absent from these, so really don’t know how well they work for artists generally.

Similarly, I don’t know enough about the writing world to comment, although I’m pretty sure that large publishing houses are less invested in nurturing writers than in making money.

JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create?

SM: Finding Edward is my first novel, but I’ve written and published a fair bit of short fiction. I start with very little, a sentence overheard on the street, or an image, a face, an expression. Once I have that spark, I start writing, and as I write, discover what it is I am trying to say, what’s been on my mind. It’s a wonderful experience. So, what I like best is the act of creating. Once that’s done, and the work exists—featuring people with names and purpose—it is pure pleasure to have a reader share what they found in the work.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

SM: As a writer, COVID has had very little impact on me. Although I can certainly say that it was truly great to be able to have an in-person book launch. That probably wouldn’t have happened had it been released any sooner!

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

SM: I don’t think it has, though I very much look forward to when we can look back at this time with objectivity. I hope it happens — that the pandemic really will end. Then I’ll know better how it’s changed not just me, but so many of us. I do think that there is a lot more anger, frustration and division than I’ve seen ever before.

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your creative life?

SM: Another novel. And to start writing as soon as I can, but certainly in 2022!

 

 

 

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NICOLAS NAMORADZE: GEORGIAN-BORN PIANIST AND COMPOSER IN SOLO RECITAL OF BACH, RACHMANINOFF, AND HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS, AT TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC 2022, IS “SOON LAUNCHING A NEW DIGITAL PLATFORM ON MUSIC AND THE MIND, IN ASSOCIATION WITH IDAGIO, THE WORLD’S LEADING CLASSICAL MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE” … A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on July 5, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labour to make it exist?

NICOLAS NAMORADZE: Whether as a performer or composer, the work I do stems from the feeling and conviction that I have something to say—and music is my means of expressing it. It’s much less labor and much rather a way of life. There are many fields I am interested in, and I often wish I could have several lives to be able to pursue various careers; however, if I had to pick just one, it would without a doubt be what I am doing now.

JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or as both if such is the case?

NN: Whatever the nature of my work, it is as honest and true to my artistic intentions as I can make it.

JS: Please give us a brief autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

NN: I was born in 1992 in Tbilisi, Georgia, and grew up in Budapest, Hungary. I completed my undergraduate in Budapest, Vienna and Florence, and then moved to New York for my master’s at The Juilliard School and my doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center. I was fortunate enough to study piano and composition with some of our era’s greatest masters, such as Emanuel Ax, John Corigliano, Zoltán Kocsis and András Schiff. I now pursue a busy international career as a performer and composer. It is a thrill to perform for audiences around the globe in some of the world’s most hallowed venues and collaborate with some remarkably inspiring colleagues.

Beyond my activities as a pianist and composer, I’ve also had for many years a keen interest in the cognitive sciences, and I’m currently pursuing postgraduate studies in neuropsychology at King’s College London, where my research interests include the effects of mental practice and mindfulness on musical performance.

JS: In what ways is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize? Why is it so?

NN: The difficulties are many, such as the relentless focus and dedication required, the immense technical demands as a performer, the challenges of interpretation, the grueling travel and performance schedules, the complex and taxing processes of composition, and so forth. However, I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing—and while it doesn’t make it easy per se, it is all enormously meaningful and gratifying.

JS: How does doing the kind of work you do in the arts change you as a person – and as a creator?

NN: Music of course is an expression of the human condition and imagination, and by engaging with it, whether as a performer or composer, I feel that I in a sense have lived many lives, through the myriad journeys and dramatic narratives of the art itself. This breadth of experience in turn informs one’s craft—a very special cycle.

I also think that artists often end up seeing life through the lens of their craft. Not only do my ears find interest in the sonic spectrum that accompanies our lives, but I also find myself being intimately attuned to the temporal structures of our day-to-day experiences, to their underlying rhythm.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

NN: While much of the audience of our genre consists of veteran classical music lovers, it is of course essential to bring in new audiences, and in particular the future generations of listeners. This is something of a cliché, but nonetheless true. The universality and accessibility of this music is not reflected by its current reach, and new digital media present unique opportunities that we can make the most of.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

NN: My artistic output is informed by my interest and curiosity in several fields, whether other artforms or realms such as the sciences; my many passions constitute the inspiration for my work.

JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person in the arts?

NN: Finding time! Between performing, composing, pursuing a neuropsychology degree, and launching a forthcoming digital platform, I’m doing my best to squeeze in more than 24 hours in a day.

JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

NN: In terms of my professional trajectory, my international career was launched in 2018 when I won the triennial Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary.

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

NN: I find that the many hours of practice and daily dedication to one’s craft involved in being a performer tends to be underestimated.

JS: Please tell us what you haven’t attempted as yet that you would like to do in the arts.

NN: I’ve written for many formations—solo instruments, chamber groups and orchestras, electronic and electroacoustic music as well scoring films and even installations—but I haven’t yet written for the stage. An opera sometime down the line would be an exciting project.

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it and why?

NN: While one may always have taken a few different turns along the path, I’m happy with the direction my career is taking—and I’m still at the beginning of it, so I’m mostly looking ahead!

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including the forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

NN: Classical music is less present that it once was in media such as TV and radio—and, more broadly, in education systems and the general cultural consciousness. However, I’d echo my answer above to the question of audiences in saying that new digital platforms offer much promise in expanding the reach of such artforms.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the COVID pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

NN: While on the one hand concert life and travel ground to a halt, many opportunities also arose on the other. I had the time to write my doctoral dissertation (which eventually became a book that has just been published), begin another degree in a rather different field, and pursue a number of unique projects in the digital sphere.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

NN: It has made me come to appreciate for many things we used to take for granted, as well as becoming more attuned to facets of the human experience that could sometimes get lost in the hustle and bustle of our life as usual; I think this has brought a new kind of patience.

JS: What’s next in the coming few years of your life in the arts?

NN: Many exciting projects are on the horizon for the upcoming season, including residencies at the Honens International Piano Competition and the Florida Grand Piano Series; recital appearances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Le Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier, Beethovenfest Bonn, Miami International Piano Festival, Kulturpalast Dresden and Lugano Musica, among others; a tour of duo recitals for piano and electronic marimba with Lukas Ligeti to mark György Ligeti’s centenary in 2023; and a series of concerto performances with multiple Canadian orchestras of a new work written for me by Kati Agócs. I am also soon launching a new digital platform on music and the mind, in association with IDAGIO, the world’s leading classical music streaming service—this will definitely be a major focus of mine during the upcoming period.

 

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AFARIN MANSOURI: AWARD-WINNING COMPOSER, LIBRETTIST AND MUSICOLOGIST, WITH NEW OPERA ZULEYKHA AT TORONTO SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL ON JULY 13, DECLARES “PRIORITY MUST BE GIVEN TO AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY” …A REVIEWER INTERVIEWS PEOPLE IN THE ARTS

Posted on July 5, 2022 by strecker

JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labor to make it exist?

AFARIN MANSOURI: I use my creativity as a vehicle for closeness of cultural traditions, creating awareness and values. My compositions are my adventures in exploring life and going beyond the limits of borders and cultures. To me, art is a tool to manifest and reflect our transcendental desires and thoughts, to make connections and to bring unity and closeness.

I hope that my artistic creations can act like a bridge, connecting my Iranian background to the world. Creativity is my nature and I try to use my art as a way of practicing gratefulness. I am inspired by everything in this world, from an emotional experience, to what I see in the nature, or a painting, a dance, poetry, listening to the news about science or war, and even talking to an unknown person. I believe everything in the world has an interesting story, which gives it depth and meaning, and I like to reflect these stories from my own perspective in my music and artistic creations.

I believe creativity does not have boundaries and limitations. Creativity is connected to a source that is beyond the borders and lines we draw as humans, lines such as race or gender that we have created in this world which only divide us. I believe as an artist that our legacy in this life could be the impact we have on our community and our making the connections we build through our art.

So why exactly do I labour to make it exist?  Why do I create? I believe being creative is like being a boiling spring in nature, it’s there, it happens and can’t be stopped. One must learn how to channel it, to use it properly and not to waste. To me creativity is like the power of life that wants to experience something unique through my body and mind. All I have to do is to let it happen and not block this force. It’s sometimes scary, but also very beautiful.

JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or both?

AM: There are so many things I like about what I create. Not necessarily the product, but the process. First phase is changing ideas to notes and words on the paper. Basically, creating something from nothing! It’s so magical, it finds its own way sometimes without my thinking too much or planning, I have just trusted this voice and let it find its own way! Then the second great phase is when performers give this music creation a life by playing it. I like to call this phase “Breathing the soul into a body!”. And then the third phase is the impact it has on the audience and the audience feedback. Hearing their experience and witnessing how they have made connection and what their experiences were and what they have learnt.

Originality is a very tricky subject to talk about. In my opinion and generally speaking, we are all a hierarchy and an extension of the past generations of human efforts and experiences. So, the only original thing is the nature and existence. Human creation is only a limited interpretation of a single being’s experience in this vast existence, which is affected by the past.

However, we can say that we try to be authentic when creating something. Meaning that we are not copying something and calling it our own.

Depends on who the audience is, my compositions may sound original to some, and strange to some others; and totally familiar and not original to come and super innovative to others. Everything is relative.  For example, A Persian Tango might be new and innovative to Persian ears because Tango is not Iranian, but is it original? No! Or a Farsi opera with an Eastern Tale and Eastern Exotic instruments might sound new and exciting to many non- Farsi speakers, but is it original? We may say it is authentic. Is my music new and original? In a way yes, it is because I do not steal my ideas from others! Is it original, because it comes from my mind, but it is also connected to a history of humanity and my relation to this history?

JS: Please give us an autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.

AM: I am a female Iranian Canadian Composer. I grew up in Iran, a country where women are not permitted to sing. So, to be a female composer/singer and writing an opera is an exceptional act of defiance and courage on a personal level. I started playing piano when I was 8. My love for opera began at age 14, when I saw the video of Bizet’s Carmen for the first time. Having access to such a video during wartime was a forbidden act but brought me feelings of joy. I remember those joyful moments were cut off by the sirens, warning us to find a secure place due to an air raid. Since then, I have developed a lifelong passion for opera.

When I came to Canada in 2002, I started my academic training in music and chose music composition as my path. I now hold a Ph.D. in music.  During all these years I found out how much I like to tell stories through my music, and that connected me more to opera.

In 2010, I co-founded Iranian-Canadian Composers of Toronto, a not-for-profit organization (now acts as a collective) along with 4 other colleagues of mine. I was acting as Artistic Director of this organization from 2010 to 2019. During this period, we produced more than 30 new musical productions and collaborated with organizations such as National Ballet of Canada, Nuit Blanche, and different festivals and orchestras. All of these productions had a story to tell: Love, identity, immigration, …

In 2016, after I finished my Master Studies at University of Toronto, I was lucky to be accepted by Tapestry opera’s LibLab and I could create 4 operatic scenes by working with 4 different writers, addressing different contemporary issues such as gender suppression, and political and social issues. Collaboration with Tapestry Opera resulted in creation of my first fully staged opera with this company. In 2018, my opera “Forbidden” gained national and international attention through the Globe and Mail and BBC as I explored my new approach to combine Eastern music with traditional opera. BBC Farsi made a documentary film based on this work for Farsi speaking people around the world. It was for the first-time that an audience could hear opera performed by Persian instruments and also mixed with hip hop music.

During 2010-2019 I collaborated with Canadian Opera Company as an advocate of opera, introducing opera to the communities who have not been exposed to this genre. For the first time in the history of this company, I gave a lecture in Farsi on some of the production to the community who has been banned from seeing an opera. I was also acting as a teaching artist, teaching multiple opera workshops to youth and children, plus being a member while working with COC’s diversity, equity and inclusivity committee.

My last production with ICOT was the creation of the operatic composition “Saffronic” as part of the stage production The Journey, Notes of Hope which considers the issues surrounding immigration and building of new identity. This operatic work is based on poetry of Banu Zan, a contemporary Iranian-Canadian poet writer.

In January 2020, I released my first Children’s Audio Opera “Little Heart” with Centre disc. This work is inspired by an Iranian children’s book about a girl who is trying to learn what love is!

After the Pandemic, I was lucky to be able to continue my composing and created my first digital opera AITCH ARR written by Donna-Michelle St Bernard. It was performed by Queen’s University opera.

I founded Cultureland, an organization to commission new works which centre on the exploration of non-western elements in terms of language, drama, music or design and I am hoping to create, produce and direct more operas in the future.

This summer I feel so lucky that the first Act of My Farsi opera “Zuleykha” is being produced and workshopped by Loose Tea Theatre and Toronto Summer Music Festival. This opera is introducing so many mystical and spiritual eastern symbols and poetry with opera to the Western audience. This opera presents the inner journey of the Biblical female character Zuleykha who was known as Potiphar’s wife. In texts, she has been regarded as a sinner and seducer of Prophet Joseph, however that perspective is from those that have been in control of her story: men. I have spent years reading and researching all the different texts and stories that Zuleyhka has been mentioned in. This opera completes and continues her story from a female perspective. It portrays the challenges she had to overcome in a male dominant society in order to find her inner voice. It is a combination of history and fiction and spirituality. The opera symbolizes the inner journey of Zuleykha in different stages: Quest, Love, Knowledge, Independence, Unity, Bewilderment and Deprivation and Doom.

The libretto is written by me in Farsi and incorporates the writings of poetry of mystic philosophers such as Rumi, Hafiz and Attar. The music of opera is open to all the people on the earth beyond cultures and borders. Language wise, the audience will experience the poetic Farsi language and sound of many traditional instruments. It combines opera with old Eastern “Maqaam” music with melismatic singing and traditional Iranian recitative style.

The score is for a mixture of Western and Eastern Instruments. We hope to fully stage this work soon in the next year.

JS: In what way is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways  is it difficult to realize?

AM: Journalism and Media play a huge role in this. I have different experiences when it comes to realization of my work. These days it really depends on the proper way of marketing your work and if the artist is not an entrepreneur, and the work of an artist is presented by other organizations, it is their responsibility to make sure they are introducing the artist and their works properly. But if the artist is an entrepreneur, then it’s going to be even harder. I have been there. You have to learn a lot of skills like marketing, promotion, fundraising, all of which takes away energy and time from your creativity – or you need funds to hire proper skilled people to do it for you and funding is hard.

JS: How does the kind of work you do in the art change you as a person and as a creator?

AM: Creativity helped me to learn about myself, many aspects of my soul I was not even aware of. I also learn a lot from other artists when we perform a piece, and by exchanging ideas and sharing thoughts and artistic exchanges I learn something new every day. It is a never-ending learning process. I am learning how to let go of being a perfectionist, and accepting the resources are in reach and using them the best way I can.

JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?

AM: I normally do not think about choosing a certain type of audience, as I like to make soul connection and pass on the meanings, unless the work is targeting a certain age, for example, a musical for kids age 4-7. Many audiences like to listen to vocal works that are pronounced correct in terms of language and sometimes this brings difficulty to my work. For example, we do not have so many Iranian opera singers who can sing Farsi.

I am hoping to attract audience from all backgrounds, people who are open to try new experiments, hear new stories, and give honest feedback.

JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?

AM: My integrity, my honesty and authenticity

JS: What is your biggest challenge as a creative person in the art?

AM: Limited resources and funding to showcase and share whatever I have created so far in my life.  It is difficult not to lose hope and not to block my creativity because of this and keep creating.

JS: Please describe a major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.

AM: Immigration to Canada; deciding to pursue my dreams in music.

JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?

AM: I don’t know what you mean! Who is an outsider?

If you mean people who are not artists, I believe what they may not understand is the amount of time, energy and effort an artist spends to create a work that they may watch in a short amount of time. For example, many years to create an opera, while audience only enjoy it for 2 hours.  People active in other fields mostly see the final productions and cheer the exciting parts. What they do not know is the hard journey and sometimes the dark moments each artist has to take to get to that point.

Also, people who do not travel to see the world, or have not immigrated, have different perspective about life and are perhaps a bit more limited than those who do.

But in general, my perspective in life is different. Art has an educational value, so it can teach.  I do not like to divide life and relationships by using outsider and insider. I try to work from heart, and I believe this pure energy can find its way to those it should. We are all one, we need to learn that about one another if we are interested to learn!

JS: Please tell us what you have not attempted yet that you would like to do in the arts.

1)Acting and singing in at least one operatic production, especially my own work.

2)Directing at least one of my own operas.

JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it?

AM: Nothing really. But perhaps the only thing I would change is that I could sing more and could put my shyness and fears away much earlier so I could do many more artistic activities including singing and performance on the stage.  Also, I am very much into creating and not very skilled in presenting myself as well as I should, especially the way social media works these days.

JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?

AM: The openness of minds gives me hope. The openness to try variety, new ideas, and moving on. What is depressing is creating divisions and borders to marginalize people.

The most super depressing thing for me is lack of communication and being stubborn in staying in a close-minded state and not open to try new things at least once and then deciding. How can we know if we like something before we try it?

Another thing so depressing is when humans are dividing themselves based on gender, race, age, wealth, etc. to give priority to themselves. Priority must be given to authenticity and integrity not anything else. Calling one group white, the other group minority, underserved, …. it’s super depressing.  Art is created from a place where none of these matter.

JS: What exactly has the impact of the Covid pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?

AM: I was actually very lucky as I could do a lot of work during the pandemic.

In March 2021, I could workshop and film one of my Farsi operas in collaboration with Loose Tea Music Theatre and Kingstone Watershed festival.

In Spring 2021, I could create my first digital online opera “AITCH ARR”in collaboration with Queen’s University School of Music and Drama, and librettist Donna- Michelle St Bernard.  It was a comic opera, performed at different times with different groups in different online settings. (You can still watch it online on YouTube)

In Summer 2021 I started working with De Jeniffer Wise and Liza Balkan on a new opera called Refugee.

In Fall 2021, I started developing another opera called Hypatia with libretto by Alan Olejniczak.

During 2021, I also collaborated with Seattle opera as a composer, worked with 11 different writers and created music for 11 different operatic scenes.

In Winter 2022 I composed my orchestral prelude for the 100 anniversaries of Toronto Symphony Orchestra titled “Mithra”, about the goddess of love. It was premiered May 2022 in Roy Thomson Hall and I could attend the performance in person!

I started the first phase of recording of my first vocal album in collaboration with Thin Edge Music Collective, while working on preparation of the score of my Farsi Opera Zuleykha for Toronto Summer Music Festival and Loose Tea Theatre. I am also working with Fresh Squeeze Opera to develop an Aria for my new opera Hypatia.

JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?

AM: I now value the human relationships and how much we need in-person meetings and gatherings to exchange our energy.

JS: What is next in the coming years of your life in the arts?

AM: Hopefully, the 4 operas I have in my hand, acting and singing in at least one of them and gaining experience in how to direct an opera.

 

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