How do you listen to music most often?
Mostly vinyl records.
What was the first ever record you bought?
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.
What was the last piece of music you bought?
The full score for Janáček’s Sinfonietta.
What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
Swedish 60’s nostalgia.
If you found yourself with six months free to learn a new instrument, what would you choose?
To really play the piano!
Is applauding between movements acceptable?
Yes.
What single thing would improve the format of the classical concert?
To not give in to the doping of classical music, which is PR! Instead, people should continue to use their ears and really listen to the music.
What’s been your most memorable live music experience as an audience member?
Some of my most memorable live music experiences happened when I was studying in Paris. This includes listening to Mahler 2 conducted by Abbado and played by the London Symphony Orchestra in 1980, and going to watch a rehearsal with Boulez with the Ensemble Intercontemporain.
We’re giving you a time machine: what period, or moment in musical history, would you travel to and why?
Either the first performance of Rite of Spring in Paris, or a Sunday breakfast in the Bach family.
Do you enjoy musicals? Do you have a favourite?
Yes, I like Chicago.
Which conductor or performer of yester-year do you most wish you could have worked with?
Stravinsky
What is the best new piece written in the past 50 years?
Aerial by HK Gruber, which, to this day, I have performed 71 times.
Which non-classical musician would you love to work with?
Tom Waits
Imagine you’re a festival director here in London with unlimited resources. What would you programme – or commission – for your opening event?
Just let me do it and you’ll see!
What do you sing in the shower?
Everything I’m learning at the moment. In fact, I ask my students to do that too when they are learning a piece of music.
It’s late, you’ve had a few beers, you’re in a Karaoke bar. What do you choose to sing?
However late, however many beers I’ve had, you’ll never find me in a karaoke bar…!