Top musicians, organist Joseph Nolan and pianist Gabriela Montero, will perform in Dunedin next weekend alongside the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
They tell Rebecca Fox about the trials and tribulations of their musical careers.
Debut for organist
Playing some of the world’s top organs such as at Saint-Sulpice, La Madeleine or Saint-Etienne-du-Mont in Paris; Saint-Sernin, in Toulouse, France; Saint-Francois-de-Sales, in Lyon, France; St Bavo, in Haarlem, Netherlands; Saint-Ouen, in Rouen, France, or Buckingham Palace, in England, is like being given keys to the "ultimate" car, organist Dr Joseph Nolan says.
"To be able to play the creme de la creme, I’ve been very fortunate."
What makes those organs great is not just the instrument itself but the buildings they are in. A building’s good acoustics adds to the character of an organ, he says.
The same goes for Dunedin Town Hall’s "Norma’, a 102-year-old Norman and Beard organ, that he first played 10 years ago.
"She has the most magnificent personality, she has the life of a person, a particularly strong one."
It is one of the things he enjoys most about touring New Zealand is that it is home to so many good concert organs.
He is looking forward to this visit as it is his debut with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and describes the programme as "really different".
"It’s a great mix. Lodger, Glass’ symphony no 12 and Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor - very, very well done."
Nolan, who was awarded the medal of Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres for services to French music in 2016, will also perform in the NZSO’s concert with singer-songwriter Shayne Carter, best known as the frontman of Straitjacket Fits and his work in Dimmer. The concert will feature songs from the "classical" cannon alongside reimagined orchestral versions of Carter’s songs from composer Tane Upjohn-Beatson.
"I’m really intrigued, very excited about that one."
In the 10 years since Nolan, who studied at the Royal College of Music, London, and went on to do further study with organists Marie-Claire Alain, in Paris, and Dame Gillian Weir, in London, has been to Dunedin, a lot has changed in his life.
He has moved to Australia to take up a position as organist and choral master at St George’s Cathedral in Perth, giving up his job in England at Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St James Palace, which saw him play on numerous occasions at Buckingham Palace.
The recent death of Queen Elizabeth brought back memories of one of his most significant performances - playing the opening concert of the refurbished Grand Ballroom organ to a room full of very distinguished guests in 2007.
"It was terrifying, anyone who was anyone was there, it had a very distinguished guest list, it still sticks in my memory especially at this present time. It was a great privilege."
It was at his position before that at St Bride’s, Fleet St, that he fell into choral music and directing.
"I was so late to the day, and very late to the day in choral music in particular. I came to this without that kind of advantage and I’ve had to learn it myself. I’ve been pushed into the deep end. It’s just work, work, work. It’s put me in tremendous stead for my career."
He was headhunted for the job in Australia and admits it was a challenging move at first as he sought to bring a piece of the London choral scene to Perth.
"There was quite a lot of resistance in certain quarters to what I wanted to bring and turn the cathedral music into. Now I cannot believe the success we’ve had - I have to pinch myself at how good the consort choir is doing now and the work it’s getting and doing.
"There has been a lot of hard work by many, many people."
While there are fewer singers and less of a choral tradition in Perth, he found singers to be naturally gifted with "beautifully toned voices" that produce an "incredible sound, really clean lines".
He had also found that while organ music may have be more well known in some pockets of the United Kingdom, concert attendances were usually small. However, in Perth, where he only scheduled one major concert a year, the cathedral could be sold out three to four weeks in advance.
"That’s incredibly unusual, unheard of in the UK. Germany is the last place to see that happening and pockets of America are still like that."
An important part of Nolan’s career has been recording - he is the first and only organist to have been awarded Limelight Magazine’s coveted Recording of the Month for his ninth disk for Signum Classics from St Etienne du Mont, Paris, the church and organ of Maurice Durufle.
"I enjoy pressure, it is what I like about recording. It does bring out something new in your performance and the legacy aspect of course."
But the experience that stands out for him is his 10 solo disks for Signum Records - winner of Gramophone’s 2017 "Label of the Year" award - on many of the world’s greatest organs. These recordings include the complete organ works of Charles-Marie Widor.
"The time was tight to do the recordings - to do 10 symphonies in five nights. It almost killed me, I wonder how did I do it?"
Now that Covid has eased he is also able to travel, record and perform.
"I have a really privileged life."
First time performing in New Zealand
For pianist Gabriela Montero, her visit to New Zealand to perform for the first time has been something she has been looking forward to.
So she was gutted when she fell ill for the first time with Covid-19 on the eve of the tour, meaning she will only get to perform the South Island leg in Christchurch and Dunedin.
‘‘It’s ironic to come so far and get it. I’m sorry to miss them. Especially as this tour is with my very dear friend Alexander Shelley who is such a star, an amazing musician and friend, we love collaborating together and were looking forward to these concerts.’’
While it is her first time performing in New Zealand and with the NZSO, she visited a cousin who lives here in 2008 with her two daughters. They travelled to some of the more remote areas of the country.
‘‘I remember because I’d almost got on the flight when my manager called to tell me I’d been invited to play at Obama’s inauguration... that put me in to a frenzy.’’
It was one of the rare times she planned a holiday away from the keyboard. So she quickly bought a keyboard and brought it with her to New Zealand.
The expected score for the performance did not arrive in time but it came in handy to keep herself piano fit for the concert.
‘‘We were staying in these remote areas I was keeping my fingers in shape in the middle of the woods.’’
Montero, who has been playing piano since a keyboard was placed in her crib in Caracus, Venezuela, has spent her life playing concerts around the world after moving to the United States and then to London to study.
A significant moment in her life and career came at age 31. She had given up playing and had her first daughter (who is now 25) when she was encouraged to play again, improvising rather than playing someone else’s work.
She was urged to share that talent with the public which motivated her back behind the piano again and to compose her own work to ‘‘show the other side of myself’’.
‘‘It’s a wonderful combination playing the big repertoire as well as giving space to that side of me, which is really storytelling through music. It’s a wonderful tool I think.’’
Montero, who, when not travelling, is based in the United States, is constantly questioning why she does what she does believing it is important to use her skills to raise issues affecting the world as well as to make beautiful music.
She is outspoken about the trials facing her home country and as a result it has not been safe for her to return there for 12 years. Her first composition, Ex Patria, a tone-poem designed to illustrate and protest Venezuela’s descent into lawlessness, corruption and violence, was premiered in 2011 by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
‘‘You want your career to mean something. Music is always about storytelling, but for me it has become more so because of life and circumstance. It’s a wasted opportunity in life if you don’t speak about issues.’’
Montero has been recognised by the Human Rights Foundation for her ongoing commitment to human rights advocacy in Venezuela.
As part of that, one of her programmes, part of which she had hoped to perform in New Zealand, has a focus on immigration and features the Charlie Chaplin movie The Immigrant (1917).
‘‘I play and react to the images, it is always different. It is a way to highlight the plight of immigrants. I like to devise a programme to discuss the issues that are important to me.’’
In Dunedin, in the Legacy concert, she will play Mozart’s piano concerto No 20.
The concert also features a new work by Dunedin composer Dame Gillian Whitehead Retrieving the fragility of peace.
To see
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra "Immerse" weekend of concerts, "Legacy" October 14; "Bright Sparks", October 15 and "Fantastic Voyage", October 16, all at Dunedin Town Hall.
Also "Open Doors" free events, October 15, The Dunedin Centre, 10-5pm.
