Tune in – AUTUMN / WINTER 2017 –
LPO people
backstage
What impact do you think Vladimir Jurowski’s ten years as Principal Conductor has had on the Orchestra? As someone who has played under four Principal Conductors in my time, I think we have been the luckiest of the London orchestras to have had Vladimir here at the LPO. He has raised the virtuosity and versatility of the Orchestra to amazing levels, and we’ve tackled some of the most challenging repertoire – mostly new to us – that I’ve ever known. We’ve grown together with him artistically and made some absolutely wonderful recordings such as the complete Brahms and Tchaikovsky symphonies, and we’re now nearing the completion of the Mahler symphonies too. This is also while being consistently the most well-reviewed orchestra in London for many years, all thanks to Vladimir.
What are the particular challenges of playing within an orchestral string section? Being part of a string section is very much about teamwork, and you have to learn to blend with the colleagues around you all the time. It’s not an easy thing to learn, especially when one is young and full of confidence – getting used to not hearing your own sound in the interests of the whole is a real learning curve. It’s very different from being a wind player, where you are always a soloist. We strings are the worker bees of the orchestra!
– fiona higham – Fiona has been a member of the LPO Second Violin section since 1989. We asked her about some of her favourite memories and how life in the Orchestra has changed over the last 28 years. How has life as an orchestral musician changed over your career? When I first joined the LPO in 1989, orchestras in general were much more male-dominated and – as in many other areas of life – often quite chauvinistic. That has changed over the years, I am happy to say, and we have far more women in the Orchestra now: it’s close to 50/50. I was a single mother in the Orchestra in the 1990s and was something of a trailblazer, even in terms of bringing my baby on tour when she was very small. This raised a few eyebrows but it passed off without mishap, the baby being looked after by a friend who travelled with me. My two daughters very much grew up with the Orchestra as a second family: I played The Marriage of Figaro at Glyndebourne five days before the birth of my second child, and then Verdi’s Otello three days after!
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Tell us about some of the LPO Education projects you’ve been part of – why is this work important to you? A real highlight was going into an inner London primary school and helping a group of children to compose their own piece and perform it a few days later at Queen Elizabeth Hall. They had me tearing my hair out at the penultimate session when they all seemed to go on strike, and then when it came to the performance I was so moved by their efforts that it brought tears to my eyes. Another highlight was going to India with our former fusion group Renga. Working with Indian jazz musicians and giving workshops in three Indian schools where there was literally no music education at all was an absolute thrill. I think we don’t realise how inspiring it can be for children to work with us musicians. There is so little music provision in schools compared to when I was at school, back in the days of the Inner London Education Authority. They did fabulous work in London such as running the Centre for Young Musicians on Saturdays, and the London Schools Symphony Orchestra – without which I wouldn’t be playing in the LPO today ! Your chair in the LPO is supported by David and Yi Buckley. What does this mean to you? The Orchestra simply couldn’t function without the support of such generous individuals. I’m absolutely thrilled to be supported by such lovely people as David and Yi, and we’re hoping to organise a performance at their home at some point in the future. meet our members lpo.org.uk/players
Fiona Higham © Benjamin Ealovega
What have been your most memorable moments in your time with the LPO? I’ll never forget playing Strauss’s Capriccio at Glyndebourne many years ago under Bernard Haitink, who was at that time Music Director. It was one of my first summers at Glyndebourne and I had rented a cottage in the village of Glynde, which turned out to be next door to Bernard’s house. My cocker spaniel Sally had been – unbeknownst to me – regularly popping through the hedge and visiting Bernard, which he apparently loved! During Vladimir Jurowski’s 13-year spell as Glyndebourne Music Director there were many extraordinary experiences too, the most memorable of which for me was playing Wagner’s Die Meistersinger: the first time it had ever been performed at Glyndebourne. I was amazed that a five-hour opera could make time stand still and seem like no time had passed. Working with the late Klaus Tennstedt in his final years was such an inspiring and emotional time. He seemed to draw out the true heart of the Orchestra, standing unsteadily on the podium with his arms outstretched towards us, albatross-like. It was impossible not to really bust a gut to give every phrase its true meaning for him: if you watch some of the televised broadcasts from Japan you’ll see what I mean.