My aim in rehearsal is to try and get to the heart of the composer’s intentions, and in performance to present them with as much freshness as possible. As the saying goes, “Play it as though you’ve just thought of it,” —a maxim that I also try to impress on all the younger musicians.
Marlboro is not only about performance…. It is equally about conversations in the canteen, about encounters with musicians of all generations, about having time away from the pressures of everyday life in which to learn from others, and to explore repertoire in depth and breadth. Working with both the singers and their pianists, my aim was not just to polish their performance but to give them a larger view, to expand their toolkit so to speak, and leave them with thoughts to take away and apply to whatever other repertoire they might tackle in their future.
