Talking to Jonathan Watts in England about his career as a freelance keyboard player

On August 6th 2010 I spoke to pianist, organist and harpsichord player Jonathan Watts at Dartington Hall,

Devon, UK.

PH: Jonathan, when did your interest in music begin?

Jonathan Watts: I remember, at age two, sitting on my aunt’s knee when she played the piano. I grew up in South Wales where everyone sings or plays an instrument. My family, all amateur musicians, would stand around the piano singing works such as Mendelssohn’s “Elijah”. In fact, my 89-year-old mother still plays the organ and sings in her local choral society. Yet, despite my musical upbringing, I am not blasé about music.

I started piano lessons at age five and was already showing interest in learning the organ. When I was about 12 or 13, tall enough for my feet to reach the pedals, I began taking organ lessons at the local church. So my life then revolved around school, chapel, organ lessons and piano lessons. Music was the natural thing to be doing.

PH: On completing school where did you study?

JW: I went to Cardiff University to study Music. I had a wonderful time there as I played piano, organ and harpsichord. There I took part in performances of early Handel works, repertoire that was new to me, but it was not performed in the authentic approach. I also enjoyed singing in a large choir. I completed a masters degree at Cardiff University – my master’s submission was an edition of organ concertos by William Felton, an 18th century English composer - and was organist at the local church, but was still not sure whether or not I would be making music my profession.

PH: What did you decide to do on graduating from Cardiff University?

JW: I left Wales and moved to Devon, where I started to teach school music. I was interested in giving young people guidance and a love of music. I found teaching music in a state school stimulating; however, the lack of resources, accommodation, the lack of post 16 courses and the indifference I encountered in some pupils caused me to make a change in direction.

PH: Did you leave the music profession?

JW: Yes and no. I went to work for a medical company and became its sales and marketing manager, travelling the world for 12 years. But music was still an important part of my life as a performer and it was the increasing conflict of time between one and the other that caused me to take the decision to return to music full time.

PH: So what work actually brought you back to full time music?

JW: I was approached by Dartington Hall International Summer School in 2005: they needed an accompanist to fill in for someone. I started immediately, accompanying singers in countertenor Nicholas Clapton’s master classes. I live locally and this offer came just at the right time. It was time to make a decision, to give up on one job. So I gave up on the salaried position and went back to music full time.

PH: Would you like to mention what that entails?

JW: I freelance, work without an agent and am free to take on any jobs that interest me. I like challenges. If the music has something to say it is worth doing. Projects come to me via word-of-mouth. As an accompanist I have the advantage of being at home on organ, piano and harpsichord. I work as the third conductor of the Dartington Community Choir. I enjoy a large choir – this choir has 150 singers. I play in churches at Dartmouth and Dittisham, accompany choirs and play for weddings, funerals, workshops and exams. And I occasionally play for guests on a cruise ship.

I give organ recitals and enjoy addressing the listeners and talking about works on the program. The audience needs to have some background information in the form of history, a story, anecdotes. This makes people listen with heightened interest. I am used to talking to an audience; I did a lot of that in my days with the medical company.

The Dartington Hall International Summer School is a challenge and presents much variety. It is a fine opportunity to get away from the rat-race and reassess. And it is here I have had so much joy with the opportunity to work with some of the world's best musicians, giving me the confidence that what I do is of equal validity.

PH: Do you improvise?

JW: Yes I do. It is part and parcel of being an organist. The better the instrument I am playing, the more adventurous my improvising becomes! I enjoy doing that.

PH: Do you sing?

JW: Yes. Well, obviously I sing to my choir members to help them in learning their parts, but I also sing in a specialist group called “Voces”, based in Devon.

PH: Do you write music?

JW: No, I don't. I have done a bit of arranging and may occasionally write a fanfare for organ. I do not have the compulsion to compose. I would much rather perform.

PH: What composers are you interested in playing at the moment?

JW: Composers from the Baroque period, particularly J.S.Bach. But I have certainly enjoyed hearing and playing new repertoire at the Dartington Hall International Summer School.

PH: What are your interests outside music?

JW: I am busy rebuilding a small organ in my house. I love gardening and cooking. Am very keen on going into the countryside to find things – mostly things to eat. And I am still excited about travel and being in new places.

On July 30th 2014, I met with Jonathan Watts again at Dartingon Hall, where he was involved in much accompanying and performing at the annual Dartington Hall International Summer School.

PH: So Jonathan, what has been happening in your professional life since our previous meeting?

JW: Having established myself with the summer school and with the Dartington Community Choir, a choir numbering some 170 voices and doing three concerts a year, I was approached to take over a period instrument orchestra called "Devon Baroque". The orchestra was set up about 14 years ago when Margaret Faultless was invited to give workshops on how to approach string-playing from the Baroque period. The orchestra existed as a band and, three years ago, when Maggie's commitments in London and Cambridge became too great, a new director was needed and I took on the job, directing from the keyboard. One advantage was that I was familiar with the ensemble, having used players from Devon Baroque for my choir concerts. So for the last two years I have been artistic director of Devon Baroque. We put on weekend concerts, where the players come together.

PH: From where do the players come?

JW: Half are from Devon and the other half - mostly string players and brass players - come from London usually. We make up our ensemble according to the program we are putting on (and budgeting), from four players to, maybe, twenty.

PH: When do you meet?

JW: We tend to do it over a weekend, with a concert on the Saturday night and a repeat performance in a different venue on the Sunday afternoon. We often perform at Dartington Hall. Our last concert was "Bach & Sons", because of various anniversaries. It was good to have the contrasts between the composers and to hear what the younger Bachs had learned from their father.

PH: And I believe there is another new project.

JW: Yes. Eighteen months ago, I was approached to become the musical director of Devon Opera, which is one of the many county-based semi-professional opera companies in Britain. We are now in our second year.

PH: What kind of performances does Devon Opera put on?

JW: At the moment we are not performing a full-blown operas. Plenty of other people are doing that so we have decided for the moment to be more of an educative company, in which we put on scenes from operas. Last year we did something called "Viva Verdi"; we looked at Verdi's relationships with women. Women played a big part in his life, mainly in a tragic way. We did five big scenes from three or four of his operas.

PH: What is the program for this year?

JW: We are calling our production "The Magic of Mozart". The first half will present the historical transition of Mozart's relationship with opera, from his earliest forays into opera to his last. In the second half of the program, we will do two big scenes - one from "Figaro" and one from "Don Giovanni". The production will be in October and we will go into rehearsal a week or so beforehand.

PH: This is certainly a very different kind of program for an opera company.

JW: Yes. What we are trying to do with audiences is not to give them a complete opera but an insight into how a composer has related to opera in his career.

PH: Who are the members of Devon Opera?

JW: They are professional singers living either locally or a bit further away, members of regional- rather than London-based opera companies. We are very lucky to have some very good singers to draw on.

PH: So you do just do the one production each year?

JW: Not exactly. We also get asked to do, for example, an opera evening at a hotel or we do a gala performance for fund-raising to make the opera work. Opera is very expensive to run and, particularly in this part of the world, sponsorship is not very forthcoming. So Devon Opera is in a new, good growth period.

PH: Does the company have any support?

JW: Yes. We have got corporal support from an investment company, which is good, and I guess that as soon as they see that what we are doing is good, as well as their getting new clients through the publicity, we are hoping they might become even bigger investors in the future. In which case, maybe we can put on a full-blown opera with orchestra and with professional chorus as well.

PH: Does Devon Opera have a chorus?

JW: Not at the moment. We have deliberately decided not to mix professional- and amateur voices because there is quite a clash when you do that. When the chorus will come into it, perhaps what we would like to do is to go to some of the London colleges where they have an opera studio and invite young singers to come down here to become a chorus - perhaps only eight of them - to make a really good sound and they would blend with the soloists really well.

PH: Jonathan, you really have many new projects!

JW: It feels right at this stage of my life, in my mid-fifties. When you are younger you experiment. Now you know where your heart is. My heart lies in choral music, in period instruments, in style and also in operatic voices. These things make me tick, which is essential. You certainly can not teach and inspire amateurs or professionals if you do not believe it yourself.

PH: Jonathan,it has been most interesting talking to you once again. Many thanks.

Talking to Marina Minkin about the 2010 Renaissance Festival (September 26th to 28th) at the Yehiam Fortress

On September 4th 2010 I spoke to Dr. Marina Minkin about the Renaissance Festival to be held September 26th, 27th and 28th at the Yehiam Fortress in the Western Galilee. In its 18th season this year, Marina Minkin took over as the festival’s musical director in 2009. Sponsored by the Matei Asher Regional Council and the Jewish National Fund, the event offers interest and entertainment for all ages and is a festive attraction for families. The theme for this year’s festival is “Mediterranean Culture”, focusing on that of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Turkey as well as on Jewish tradition. As in former years, music performed will not be only from the Renaissance period but will also that of the Middle Ages, the early Baroque and even contemporary music that has been influenced by Renaissance styles or modern arrangements of Renaissance works. There is an entrance fee of 30 shekels per person; this covers entry to all events (excepting the opening night’s concert September 26th) with daily performances taking place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Last year’s festival attracted seven and a half thousand visitors.

PH: Marina, you are known to Israeli music-lovers as a performer, early music specialist researcher and educator. In this festival you are bringing much music but are also reaching out to other arts.

Marina Minkin: Yes. A Renaissance event will always bring together several art forms and will include arts and crafts, too. The Renaissance Festival at Yehiam traditionally features a wide variety of activities. There are creative workshops, craft stalls and workshops for children where they can try their hand at making Renaissance clothes, puppets and flutes. This years activities will also include glass-blowing.

And there will be musical instruments on display. Yaron Naor will bring an exhibition of early instruments and Ami Schneider from Rosh Pina will sell recorders and provide explanations about the instrument.

PH: I understand there will be much activity in the open.

MM: Yes, as in any Renaissance fair. There will be street theatre events all around the grounds. They will not be full productions; however, actors and actresses from the Balbalou Theatre will present Italian Renaissance characters and act small scenes. Another group of young actors will present scenes from Shakespeare plays. My aim is to familiarize the many children attending with this theatrical tradition. Actors will provide explanations about theatre in Renaissance times. The “wandering actors” will be accompanied by young musicians who will team up with them in various places.

We have also invited two actors from the Beersheba School of Theatre to give a display of fencing. Their dress will be in Renaissance style.

PH: Would you like to talk about the venue and events taking place in the fortress itself?

MM: Yes. The fortress actually has three wonderful halls: the Knights’ Hall, the Tower Hall and the Crusaders’ Hall. The opening event – “Celtic Fire” - will take place on the fortress balcony September 26th at 20:30 and will feature the Irish Dance Group, a local company that blends Irish music with Mediterranean “flavors”. Yair Werdyger will be their soloist. Joining them will be belly dancer Abigail Klein.

PH: Would you like to mention some of the vocal events?

MM: Yes. Most of this year’s performances are vocal. They begin on the morning of September 27th with the Thalamus Quartet; this will be a performance of madrigals especially for children. It will also include some Hebrew songs arranged in the style of the madrigal. In fact, the festival will offer several performances that are suitable for children and, indeed, the whole family. The organizers aim to keep these young visitors as interested and involved as the adults attending.

Visitors can hear the Bat Kol Girls’ Choir (Tel Aviv) conducted by Anat Morahg and the Shani Choir from the Jezreel Valley. The Shani Choir, conducted by Pnina Inbar, is a multi-cultural choir whose members are Jewish, Christian and Moslem girls from towns and villages in the central Galilee.

Among the Israeli singers appearing are Einat Aronstein, Jill Rogoff, Michal Okon and Bracha Kol. Bracha Kol will be joined by guitarist Oded Shoub to perform a program of Spanish music spanning from Renaissance to modern music.

The PHOENIX Ensemble (Myrna Herzog, director) is no newcomer to the Renaissance Festival. We will hear PHOENIX instrumentalists and singer Michal Okon in “This Night I Dance” - a rich and fascinating program of music from the streets and palaces of Baroque Latin America.

PH: What about instrumental works?

MM: Visitors will have a variety of instrumental ensembles from which to choose. “Fancy for Two”, for example, will feature Natalie Rotenberg and Alex Rosenblatt on two harpsichords. Boris Begelman (Baroque violin), Tal Arbel (viola da gamba) and Yizhar Karshon (harpsichord) will present “Portraying Marin Marais”. Listeners are invited to join an interesting journey “Following Dona Gracia”, outlined by Doret Florentin (recorders), Gil Evron (guitar) and Riki Peled (viola da gamba). Riki Peled has written the script and will be the narrator. Flautist Moshe Epstein will present Baroque music for flute solo.

PH: The festival always includes ensembles of young players and vocalists.

MM: Yes. Drora Bruck, the previous director, began this tradition and I am interested in continuing it. Young instrumentalists, mostly recorder players, from several music conservatories will perform on the “open stage”.

We will also host two interesting student groups who are already making their mark on the local scene. One is “Notnim Baroque” (Presenting Baroque”) in the program “Viva Italia”. This enterprising ensemble (recorder players Tali Rubinstein and Inbar Solomon and harpsichord player Gilad Katznelson) makes its own arrangement of madrigals and improvises on them!

Another is a group that calls itself “In Camera XV”, a wonderful group of eight students who are passionate about Baroque music. They meet in the Baroque studio (Room 15) of the Buchmann Mehta School of Music (Tel Aviv), hence their name.. They play harpsichord, strings and recorders; Einat Aronstein is their singer. In Camera XV will present “From the Italian Ball to Cleopatra’s Tears”, a program including music of Rossi, Marini, Marain Marais and Handel.

PH: I believe you will be hosting artists from overseas.

MM: Yes. A new guest at the festival, on her first visit to Israel, will be French mezzo-soprano Mariam Sarkissian. She will perform a program of French- and Italian music.

Another visitor is Pablo Lerner, originally from Argentina, now living in Budapest. He will be playing the hurdy gurdy and will hold workshops on how to play it. How many hurdy gurdy players do we hear in Israel?

We will also welcome other artists who divide their time between Israel and Europe: viol-player Tal Arbel, flautist Moshe Epstein and violinist Boris Begelman.

PH: What event will close the 2011 Renaissance Festival?

MM: We will sign off with a most festive performance in the Knights’ Hall – “The Princess, the King and the White Clown”. It will be in the style of the Commedia dell’Arte and is a joint production of actors from the Tiberias Theatre, the Coincidence Puppet Theatre, various musicians and, also, young members of the Lauda Ensemble (Jezreel Valley Arts Centre). The Lauda Ensemble is a Jewish-Arab group; we will hear them playing the oud, qanun and darbuka.

PH: You certainly have a fine line-up of attractive events.

MM: I believe so. All are welcome.

http://www.lagalil.com/festival_HE_1.asp

Viola da gamba player, conductor, teacher and researcher Roberto Gini in Israel for concerts and a workshop on 17th century performance practice

On August 26th 2010, I met with Maestro Roberto Gini in the comfort of Drora Bruck’s living room in Ramat Gan for a talk. No newcomer to the Israeli concert scene, Gini, a pioneer in the revival of the viola da gamba in Italy, is a virtuoso viol player, he directs and conducts, performs, records and teaches. A specialist in the musical style and performance practice of Monteverdi and his contemporaries, Professor Gini is in Israel to perform concerts and teach an intensive 17th Century Music Workshop in Tel Aviv. Gini’s teaching, performances and presence in Israel are contributing to a process whereby early music is reaching mainstream status in this country.

PH: Roberto, what were your earliest musical experiences?

Roberto Gini: I was born in Milan in 1958. All my family members were amateur musicians. My maternal grandfather, born 1898, played the violin and ran an orchestra. He was conscripted in both the First World War and the Second World War. During the Second World War, all men under the age of 50 or 55 were obliged to join the Fascist army in the Repubblica di Salo’. Fighting in two wars made life difficult. He had two children, one being my mother. Still, he was a fine musician. My mother played the piano in his orchestra, her sister, the violin; both young woman married men who were players in this orchestra. My father also played the violin. Of course, we had a piano at home and, as a small child, I began playing by ear and improvising. My parents understood that I had musical talent and also that I tended to pay special attention to bass lines. At age 9, I began learning the ‘cello with a wonderful teacher, Attilio Ranzato, learning to read music very quickly. I gave my first professional concert at age 16.

I continued my musical studies in Milan till the age of seventeen. The mid-sixties saw the beginning of the rediscovery of early music. The radio was beginning to play early music, a style of music I had not heard before. Till this time, “early music” for us was J.S.Bach, but nothing before Bach. From age twelve or thirteen, I would go to hear the Milan RAI (Italian Radio Authority) Symphony Orchestra rehearse and there I heard and saw several great conductors, among them Celibidache. I became the mascot of the ‘cello section of the orchestra. One day, when I was sixteen, I went to the Guiseppe Verdi Hall where I heard a choir rehearsing. I was blown away by the beauty of the work they were singing. I was as if drugged, in a dream. I approached the conductor to ask what this work was and he told me it was a Monteverdi madrigal. I then went off to spend days upon days at the local library, reading about- and copying out examples of this old music….the monumental works of Monteverdi, Obrecht, Dufay, Lasso, etc. I had become so engrossed in these works that my score-reading teacher suggested I take the old editions of these works, written in all the various clefs used then, and transcribe them.

It was also at this time that I first heard and saw the viola da gamba played by the great Belgian player Wieland Kuijken. This was in 1974 or 1975: hearing Kuijken on the viol was a second life-changing musical experience for me. I did not have the courage to approach Kuijken but Jordi Savall visited Milan in the same season and I was introduced to him by friends. He invited me to visit him at his home in Basel and to play for him. So, not having ever studied the instrument, I traveled to Basel with my first viol and played for him. There I met a student of his, Pere Ros, today an esteemed viol player now teaching in Spain. Savall accepted me as a student at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and he was to be my first and only viol teacher. His Hesperion XX consort was in its early days and he invited me to play in it. My family was shocked with my decision to abandon the ‘cello for an instrument basically unknown in Italy. All the same, I began my studies in Basel in October 1976, made my first recording with Hesperion in January 1977 and began performing, graduating from the Schola Cantorum in 1982. I continued playing with Hesperion XX till 1986.

Actually, when in Basel, the Schola Cantorum lent me a Baroque ‘cello and I had a Baroque bow: so I was, in a way, returning to my first instrument. To my great surprise, I discovered that my teacher in Milan. Attilio Ranzato, had been training me to play in the correct Baroque technique. He was a teacher of the “old school” and I did not need to make any major changes of technique in order to play Baroque ‘cello.

PH: But your main focus is on the viola da gamba.

RG: Yes. It is difficult to make a career playing both ‘cello and viol. I now feel closer to the repertoire and era of the viol. It gives me more opportunities to play an extended repertoire. Of course, the viola da gamba is not one instrument but a family; playing different members of it is as like being both a violinist and a ‘cellist. So I perform on the viol, teach it and conduct master classes for viol players. I stopped teaching the ‘cello six or seven years ago.

PH: Would you like to talk about Ensemble Concerto?

RG: Yes. I founded it in 1985 and it has been important for putting into practice my research into the performance style of Monteverdi’s music. With this fine group of players, we made several recordings, among them, the Monteverdi “Vespers”. The ensemble’s last production was Monteverdi’s “Orfeo” in 2007.

PH: What does your performing schedule look like nowadays?

RG: I am not looking for too many opportunities to perform. I prefer recording. The truth is that I like playing concerts in Israel but not in Italy or Europe. In Italy, playing concerts has become problematic. With not many public concerts nowadays, the accent is on speed and on creating a resounding impression on the public rather than on performance that is close to the musical text. The new trend is to adapt the musical score to the necessity of mass impact; this seems to be what gives pleasure to today’s concert-going public. Famous “victims” of this mass media practice are Vivaldi and Monteverdi. And paying artists less money for performing means fewer rehearsals; I really can not agree with this approach. So I am happy to do solo recitals. I can not perform in a way that is against my principles because of public demand. I must perform along the same lines as I teach: I teach my pupils that a performer must be serious and approach the score with humility. Learning takes time.

PH: On the subject of learning, you are a renowned- and devoted teacher. Where are you teaching at the moment and what is your goal?

RG: I am teaching at the A. Boito Conservatory in Parma (Italy). And I teach in Israel. I believe in a general vision of the universe, where the arts are one and the same expression, music being one part of this whole. As an artist with 35 years of musical experience behind me I feel my interest in the visual arts, theatre and poetry has led me to understand music better. Music is not separate from the other arts. That is what I want to pass on to my students.

PH: From September 22nd to September 29th, you will be one of three tutors teaching in an intensive 17th Century Music Seminar in Tel Aviv, working with 41 students. Would you like to talk about the course?

RG: Yes. Well, it is a course unlike other early music courses. It will focus on secular music, this music being close to theatre. But, practically, I hope it will provide us with an opportunity to approach the music of the age of Monteverdi in an entirely different way. The students will be surprised to be listening to recordings of actors; they will even hear extracts from speeches given by Mussolini. My aim is to draw their attention to importance of rhetoric in music and theatre.

PH: Where does Mussolini come into the teaching of early music?

RG: Let me start from the beginning. If you compare a recording of a Mozart symphony conducted by Bruno Walter, recorded in the 1950’s, and a later Nikolaus Harnoncourt interpretation, you can discern a big difference between them. Walter’s tempi are slower, Harnoncourt’s are faster. These choices stem from the cultural experience of the age where a performance takes place. Walter’s reading is relevant to the reading of a Mozart score in the 1950’s. Harnoncourt’s interpretation reflects a newer approach in the 1980’s. Both interpretations are equally great, with each conductor giving his own interpretation of an Allegro- or Andante movement. Let’s go back to Monteverdi. There are no such “Allegro” or “Andante” markings, but the system of the tactus (basic beat), one of arithmetic proportions is all-important. If the performer is not aware of the significance of these proportions, a section of a Monteverdi work can sound Presto, when it really is designed to be an Adagio. I say this not because I believe I am the greatest expert on this subject but because I have made the same tempo mistakes myself. For decades, recordings of Monteverdi’s music have been based on mistakes due to tempi that are taken faster and faster. Where Monteverdi writes three whole note beats, for example, many performers will take them at the speed of three quarter notes; however, these whole notes are meant to be understood as slow beats. Listeners are not aware of this; they have no tempo markings to guide them; they are only guided by what they have heard on recordings.

Our pace of life is fast; we are exposed to fast music with percussion, whether it be pop, ethnic or other styles of music; this is our present reference point and we believe it to be the correct one. But Monteverdi’s music is based on rhetoric, rhetoric being a vehicle that brings together all emotions. A priest giving a sermon in a church must present the text slowly and clearly in order to be understood by his listeners. On the theatre stage we have to speak more slowly and pronounce the words in a specific way; even facial expressions need to be more pronounced for the audience to comprehend. So I take my cue from the practice of magnifying voice and gestures. I am not interested in his political career, but Mussolini was, in this way, brilliant. He had real, natural theatrical talent; he could mimic like an actor, grotesque as it may look to us nowadays. If he had chosen a theatrical career instead of politics, he would have been a very great actor. I can follow a musical progression in his style…a recitative, followed by an accelerando, with a cadence to follow. In one film clip, I will accompany his speech on the harpsichord to demonstrate this. Not many public figures have had this gift and, of course, he did not have all the technical support that a public speaker has today. His is the technique used in the commedia dell’arte and the silent movies. Students watching theatre and film should learn to appreciate the many sides of an actor or actress; take that famous, brilliant and tense scene from “The Little Foxes” where Bette Davis decides not to save her husband’s life. In this scene, all is expressed in her facial expression, making for truly virtuosic acting. Singers can learn much from watching this example of great theatre. We musicians are all “actors”, even instrumentalists whose text is non-verbal: they have a plot and must base its development and their emotional reading of it on artistic sincerity. This is no different to the rhetoric of poetry. Bruno Walter and Wilhelm Furtwaengler both spoke of what music “has to say”. Strange as it may seem at first for early music students coming to this course, the young performers will see video extracts of Mussolini addressing the public, Italian actors and comedians and excerpts from silent movies. These will demonstrate the importance of playing with grand gestures and large phrases. Understanding how to perform Monteverdi’s music, therefore, ties in with this approach to meaningful expression: all gestures must be magnified. In fact, my recording of the Monteverdi Vespers fills almost three CD’s, whereas most recordings of other artists fill two.

PH: You have had a number of appearances with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, to the great enjoyment of its audiences.

RG: Yes and I look forward to more collaboration with its director David Shemer and with the JBO players.

PH: How would you explain the reason for your frequent visits to Israel?

RG: This is not easy to define. I am not Jewish. I met recorder-player Drora Bruck in Lanciano, Italy in 1994, where I was teaching an early music course and she was a student. We neither of us spoke the other’s language, but an instant mental- and emotional understanding formed between us, we shared the same musical philosophy and became very firm friends. It was as if we had something in common in our past history, a connection. In 1995 we together made a film on Salomone Rossi for Israeli television’s Channel Two television. Produced by Tel Ad Jerusalem Studios, it was filmed in Mantua and Venice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddN1AbLcLJO That was our first project.

Other Israeli students then crossed my path. ‘Cellist Orit Messer Jacobi, a member of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, was a student of mine. I believe in the history of existence. This feeling of identity was unbelievably strong the very first time I arrived in Israel in 1995 and it is so when I meet Israelis and Jewish people. There may be some Jewish relatives in my mother’s family, which came from Vercelli, Piedmont. There was an important Jewish community there and I have done some research on it.

PH: You seem happy teaching in Israel.

RG: Indeed. I have very good students in Italy, but here my students are especially involved in the learning process and have a connection to the music of a kind that is difficult to explain…let’s call it an emotional, spiritual and cultural connection. I am able to share my ideas and experience with them and they drink in my every word. I find them of a good standard and hard-working, too. It is no wonder that I feel so musically alive in Israel! Well, early music is still developing here but most teachers are open-minded and many of the musicians involved in playing early music are very experienced players, have been trained in different European countries, then returning to Israel. So this is the right time to build up an early music tradition in Israel and I have the dream of creating a school here, one that I can not in Europe. As a didactic process, all teachers will need to be involved, to discuss and compare as a team. The Israel Conservatory of Music (Tel Aviv) is building a large new center to be opened in October 2011; it will officially open its Early Music Center then and there, and we will conduct our next early music workshop in the new building. Drora Bruck, head of the Early Music Department, has made me honorary professor of the current faculty. Orit Messer, lutenist Bari Moscovich and Bruck herself were all trained in Italy. This faculty will be expanded. Early music players in Israel are generally very interested in education. And there is another exciting new project: there are plans to create a Junior Baroque Orchestra in the Early Music Center. This will be a collaboration with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra and its musical director, David Shemer. The time seems right to start these projects.

PH: What is your feeling about Israeli concert audiences?

RG: In all the concerts I have given here, it has been clear to me that Israeli audiences are a music-loving crowd. They come to listen to the music, rather than to sit there passing judgment on the performance, on tempi, etc, After a concert in Haifa, a member of the audience approached me to discuss how beautiful Telemann’s music is and why it surpasses Handel’s music! This has never happened to me in Italy. There is a different approach to music in Israel and that is why I like to say a few words about the music performed in my concerts. Looking out into the concert audiences in Jerusalem, I would say that half of them are made up of young people; this is most pleasing.


PH: Roberto, do you compose?

RG: I was a composition student at the Milan Conservatory and this was an important experience for me. I composed music in the style of Monteverdi. This may seem a useless practice but it has proved important for me for performing works such as Monteverdi’s “Incoronazione di Poppea” (The Crowning of Poppea) where only some parts of the original score have survived (in the Biblioteca Marziana, Venice.) . We have needed to reconstruct the score, keeping it faithful to the style. That is where I apply what I learned in my composition studies as I need to write in what is missing. In some early 17th century madrigals the ritornelli exist only with a bass line. In 1607, Agostino Agazzari wrote about the method of playing upon the bass line for violin and what he called the “ornamenting” instruments; but we do need to have a score for the bass line.

PH: What other interests do you have?

RG: Theatre.

PH: Attending theatrical productions or acting?

RG: In a sense, both. In my concerts I am not really acting. However, I am on a stage where I have to be “somebody” and I have to communicate. I know what I am doing, how I am doing it and I sense the “temperature” of the audience, whether the performance is overdone or too understated, whether the audience is friendly and concentrating.

PH: Professor Roberto Gini, many thanks for your time and for sharing your wealth of ideas.


Roberto Gini will be performing the following concerts:

Saturday September 4th, 21:00
Studio Theatre, Beit Hecht, Haifa
Roberto Gini-viola da gamba
Drora Bruck-recorders
Orit Messer-Jacobi-Baroque ‘cello
Bari Moscovich-theorbo
Miri Singer-harpsichord
Music of J.S.Bach, C.P.E.Bach, Telemann

Monday September 6th , 20:30
Felicja Blumenthal Center, Tel Aviv,
Same program as in Haifa

Saturday October 2nd, 20:30
Einav Center, Tel Aviv
Roberto Gini-director, harpsichord
Antonella Gianesse (Italy)-soprano
Ayala Sicron-soprano
Yair Polishook-bass
Drora Bruck-recorders
Noam Schuss-violin
Orit Messer-Jacobi-Baroque ‘cello
Eitan Hoffer-lute
Music of Monteverdi and Peri

The Early 17th Century Seminar in Tel Aviv
September 22nd to September 29th
Tutors: Roberto Gini, Drora Bruck, Antonella Gianesse
Information: drora.bruck@gmail.com