Interviews

All the Seen and Heard Interviews

Kahchun Wong’s musical alchemy: Beethoven and Mahler in perfect harmony

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Zach Carstensen profiles conductor Kahchun Wong

Kahchun Wong © Ayane Sato

Anticipation crackles in the air, thick like summer lightning before the storm breaks. A hush descends, settling over an expectant audience. Every cough or rustling program feels like a desecration. At the podium, conductor Kahchun Wong stands at the edge of creation – shoulders squared, back straight, baton held aloft.  A moment’s pause, pregnant with possibility, his hand dips, slow and deliberate, tracing the first stroke of a masterpiece: Beethoven’s Symphony No.9.

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François-Xavier Roth discusses the music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann with Antoine Lévy-Leboyer

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François-Xavier Roth, Musical Director of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, will conduct Die Soldaten the legendary opera by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, in Cologne, Hamburg, and Paris. He discusses this extraordinary yet still too little-known composer.

François-Xavier Roth (left) with Antoine Lévy-Leboyer

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Gregor Tassie in conversation with soprano Mariana Zvetkova

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The Bulgarian soprano Mariana Zvetkova talks to Gregor Tassie about her career One of the most outstanding singers from the 2023 Ring cycle in Sofia was the distinguished soprano Mariana Zvetkova. She has enjoyed a major worldwide career over several decades and was cast in the first Sofia Ring cycle in 2013 and was Fricka in Das Rheingold in Plamen Kartaloff’s … Read more

Gregor Tassie in conversation with soprano Ayla Dobreva

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Sofia Opera’s Woodbird Ayla Dobreva talks to Gregor Tassie

Ayla Dobreva

Apart from the stupendous production standards, a great deal of the acclaim for the 2023 Plamen Kartaloff Ring cycle was for the singers in the roles of Wotan, Brünnhilde and Hagen, but the coloratura soprano Ayla Dobreva as the Woodbird provided one of the most striking performances in Siegfried. Dobreva performed in all four operas of the cycle; firstly, as Woglinde in the opening scene of Das Rheingold singing when soaring on a trampoline, in Die Walküre, she was Helmwige mounted on one of eight red horses of the Valkyries, and finally challenging Alberich in the closing scene in Götterdämmerung. She was also one of the Flower Maidens in Parsifal, but it was her spectacular entry on a trapeze that made the biggest impression of all.

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Robert Beattie in conversation with pianist Sandro Russo

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Italian pianist Sandro Russo talks to Robert Beattie

Sandro Russo © Jiyang Chen

Chetham’s Music School in central Manchester run an International Piano Summer School every year for pianists of varying levels of ability including talented students, teachers and adult amateur pianists. As an enthusiastic amateur pianist, I decided to enrol on the course myself earlier this year. There were many distinguished professional pianists on the course teaching students and giving masterclasses. In the evening a number of the teachers gave concerts in Chetham’s Stoller Hall. It was amazing to hear such a wide and varied range of demanding repertoire being performed to such a high level.

I was struck by one concert, in particular, by the Italian pianist, Sandro Russo. Sandro performed all twelve of Liszt’s Transcendental Études and his performance was deservedly greeted with a standing ovation.

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Geoffrey Newman in conversation with conductor Gerard Schwarz

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American conductor Gerard Schwarz talks to Geoffrey Newman

Gerard Schwarz

The career of conductor Gerard Schwarz stretches over five very productive decades. He currently serves as Music Director of the Palm Beach Symphony, the Mozart Orchestra of New York and the Eastern Music Festival. He also heads a distinguished All-Star Orchestra for educational concerts designed for public television. He is Conductor Laureate of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Emeritus of the Mostly Mozart Festival and Distinguished Professor at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, where he also conducts the university orchestra.

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Gregor Tassie in conversation with mezzo-soprano Gergana Rusekova

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The Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Gergana Rusekova talks to Gregor Tassie

Gergana Rusekova

Among the outstanding performances of the 2023 Wagner Festival in Sofia were those of the Brünnhilde in Die Walkure and the Kundry in Parsifal given by the young mezzo-soprano Gergana Rusekova. In my review of Die Walküre, I wrote, ‘Immediately, we are aware of the striking vocal gifts and personality of Gergana Rusekova, ‘Vater! Vater! Sage, was ist dir?’ And a couple of weeks later, in Parsifal, she was even more impressive, ‘The Kundry of Gergana Rusekova was world-class in both singing and characterisation – every word was clear and beautiful at times when revealing her plight and in other scenes of her lustful desire.’

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Gregor Tassie in conversation with conductor Constantin Trinks

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The German conductor Constantin Trinks talks to Gregor Tassie

Constantin Trinks © Marco Borggreve

The Sofia Opera and Ballet company’s Wagner Festival staged seven operas during July this year; six of which including the Ring cycle were conducted by Constantin Trinks, over just six days! This workload would break many musicians, yet Trinks took it all in his stride despite the often-intensive heatwave which hit Bulgaria this summer – often temperatures were touching 37ºC outside. Despite all of this, he directed outstanding performances achieving the maximum results from his singers, chorus and musicians.

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