Essays

Mir plagte schon immer einen Zweifel, ob es denn richtig ist, Musiker in einer Welt zu sein, in der es einfach so viele wirklich ernsthafte Probleme gibt. Vielleicht sollten wir Musiker eigentlich unser Gehirn und unsere Fähigkeiten für eine greifbarere Sache einsetzen? Als Mutter, die 2021 inmitten einer verheerenden Pandemie lebt, in einer Welt, die täglich von schlimmen Wetterkatastrophen getroffen wird, die durch den Klimawandel verursacht werden, denke ich an meine unbeschwerte und unschuldige Kindheit zurück, die ich auf der kleinen Familienfarm in Neuseeland verbrachte. Greenpeace war damals irgendwie cool, aber das eigentliche Problem der globalen Erwärmung drang kaum in mein Bewusstsein ein und jetzt frage ich mich, ob meine Kinder oder deren Kinder jemals eine solche sorgenfreie Welt erleben werden.

As the Summer of 2020 started to wane, our thoughts turned to the upcoming Christmas season which for us free-lance musicians is one of the busiest and most lucrative times of year. Our beloved J.S. Bach left us with such riches as the Christmas Oratorio – 6 wonderful cantatas that are traditionally performed every year all over Germany by all manner of musicians ranging from world-class baroque orchestras to local Church choirs and ad hoc amateurs from the community. In December alone, I had 10 concerts booked, in all of which I was engaged as Concert master – so quite some income and exposure for me as a violinist new on the scene here in Germany.

During the Corona period, we at Bayern Barock have been on an amazing journey of discovery… We had the perfect opportunity to immerse ourselves in the soundscape of 17th and 18th century Munich and spent many memorable afternoons in my music studio in West Munich playing through forgotten manuscripts from our musical colleagues of 200 years ago… We were astonished by the sumptuous melodies and supreme quality of the trios and sonatas by Dallabaco (better than Handel!), we were mesmorised the bold beauty of Johann Fux´s harmonies, and delighted in Marini´s inventiveness and humour to name but a few…