Interviewed by Natalia Remmer YOUNG, BUT ALREADY TITLED ARMENIAN VIOLIN, SERGEY KHACHATRYAN WILL PERFORM IN ABU DHABI FROM ANNUAL CLASSIC ART FESTIVAL ABU DHABI FESTIVAL.
On the eve of the Emirate tour, the charismatic musician presented our publication with several notes from the melody of his soul.
Sergey, this year you will be 31 years old. How do you feel the transition from the category of young musicians to adults?
Sergey: Honestly, I did not even feel this transition. I started playing at the age of five, when my parents, professional pianists, gave me a violin. I did not choose an instrument: since my sister played the piano, they decided that another instrument should also sound at home. Parents did not have a goal to make us professional musicians. We lived in Armenia in the late 80s, and all the children were playing something. When we moved to Germany, my parents realized that I needed to continue to develop my musical potential, which I still do today ...
Today, you must have become a more technical musician?
Sergey: Quite the opposite. When you grow up, you lose interest in playing the violin and competing. I want to delve deeper into the music. Critics called me a virtuoso, but for me the virtuoso style was never an end in itself - this is just an opportunity to express my ideas in music.
You call yourself an Armenian musician. How does nationality manifest in your way of playing?
Sergey: Since childhood I love dramatic music. I would say that melancholy is a national feature of our people, which comes from its history. It’s hard for me to judge how the Armenian roots manifest themselves. First of all, I try to understand the composer, to convey his idea. Of course, when you let it through yourself, it is left with an imprint of both your way of playing and your character. This is a transformation that comes from the depths of the soul ...
What compositions help you express yourself most emotionally?
Sergey: When I was a teenager, I loved Jan Sibelius very much. Then - Dmitry Shostakovich - he was one of my favorite composers. Now I got carried away by Beethoven - not only concerts, but also sonatas, quartets, symphonies. And, of course, the composer who will always be with me is Bach.
You are still quite a young man with diverse interests and hobbies. Does music require sacrifice?
Sergey: Music is not my work, it is my life, or rather, the most interesting thing in my life. I live in order to play. Depending on the repertoire, I play 3-4 hours a day, but I can’t say that for the sake of music I had to sacrifice something. For example, the violin did not prevent me from playing football in my childhood, and now I engage in auto racing, which I really love.
I take creative pauses, and after them I return to the stage with stronger emotions. I know for sure that a musician cannot work constantly - the feeling of magic disappears when you step onto the stage. If a musician just starts practicing concerts - this is the beginning of the end. In the modern world, playing good concerts, but not in large numbers, is a luxury, but I still manage to do it, thank God.
How do you feel about rethinking the classics?
Sergey: Bad. I do not like when the classics are transformed. Music is my faith. I heard good arrangements, but I do not accept rethinking of classics as an idea.
What do you expect from your emirate tour?
Sergey: I never plan anything in advance, and during the concert I’m not trying to flirt with the audience, to be guided by it. The most important thing is the contact with the music and the atmosphere that is born during its performance. If she is strong, then this feeling will be transmitted to the audience. To touch the strings of people's souls is always very pleasant. We'll see if it works out ...
Do you believe in the healing properties of music?
For example, that some works can stop the war and restore peace?
Sergey: I’m not sure that music helps, because it gives a very short-term therapeutic effect. For example, when you enter a church, you find yourself in a special atmosphere, imbued with spirituality, but then you go out and again plunge into a daily routine. I think that the desire to switch one’s thoughts should change for everyone to go from within.
SERGEY KHACHATRYAN
Born in Yerevan in 1985.
In 2000, he won the first prize at the VIII International Sibelius Competition in Helsinki, becoming the youngest laureate in his entire history.
In 2005 he received the first prize at the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels.
Recent engagements include performances with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Herbert Bloomstedt and Jonathan Nott), the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by James Guffigan), the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Yuri Walchukha), and the Valery Gergieff Symphony Orchestra (conducted by the Mariera Theater ) and the Paris Orchestra (conducted by Andris Nelsons and Gianandrea Noseda).
Sergei Khachatryan plays the Izaya violin by Guarneri in 1740, kindly provided by the Japanese music foundation Nippon.
