Interview with Alban Gerhardt, cellist

1. 10 | oregon symphony
By Samantha Edington SimCanetty-Clarke/HyperionRecords
Keep your ears peeled for the deep, vibrating voice of Alban Gerhardt’s cello this November.
He’s slotted to play a Haydn concerto on the stage, but while he’s here, he’ll also be staging
what he calls “pop-up” concerts around the city to bring Bach pieces to us, up close and
personal. Gerhardt chuckled nervously as he admitted he’d prefer to visit during a warmer,
drier season, but it seems nothing can put a damper on his enthusiasm to return to Portland.
An avid supporter of creating live musical experiences, his goal is not to “fill the hall”
when he plays, but to connect with the community. As he explains, “Maybe you go to
concerts, and you see the people 30, 40, 50 meters away, but if you’re really there one
meter in front of the cello and you hear the sound and vibration, it’s quite magical.”
Alban Gerhardt
performs with the
Oregon Symphony
November 15 & 17,2014
ALBAN GERHARDT HITS THE STREETS OF PORTLAND FOR
HIS FINAL VISIT AS OREGON SYMPHONY ARTIST IN
RESIDENCE.

2. 11 | oregon symphony
InSymphony: Did you come to Oregon
Symphony with the idea of being the
artist in residence, or were asked you
to do it?
Alban Gerhardt: They asked me if I was
interested in being an artist in residence,
and then I gave them ideas because I
thought it was not enough to just play
the normal concerts. I wanted to do
a bit more. The conventional artist in
residence, they just play concerts. I think
it’s important to make a difference and to
show to the community how important
the orchestra is—not just filling the hall,
but going out.
It’s also fun. It’s a big challenge, and
it teaches me how to play better, but it’s
very rewarding to play in the hospital or
for older people or for the kids in schools
and to see that non-musicians can love it.
InSymphony: When you play in these
different places, how do people react?
AG: I sense that people are really into it
and listening and quite excited. I don’t
expect anybody to stay if I play a full Bach
suite—bystanders don’t have to stand
there for 40 minutes. If they even stay for
two, three minutes, and just enjoy it, then
that’s already quite wonderful. Actually,
I just did something like that in Hobart
[Australia] in a mall, which was incredibly
tiring because it was quite noisy. But [all
day] 100 to 150 people gathered, and it
was beautiful. They were so surprised to
see such a non-artistic space like a food
court [be] a concert venue.
InSymphony: After being in Portland,
what do you think of the city?
AG: I think it’s a fantastic city. It’s a
very European city in a way, with all
the benefits of being an American city
[laughs]. I find it intellectually very
inspiring and beautiful. Driving around
the suburbs, amazing flowers come to my
mind now.
InSymphony: What are three places in
Portland that really represent it?
AG: I went to play tennis in this very
beautiful area—what struck me was I
saw all these gardens with flowers. I
think that’s very distinctive of Portland:
gorgeous gardens and phenomenal
flowers. Then I liked this center where
I played, this advertisement agency
[Wieden+Kennedy]. [It’s] their office, but
the whole thing is like a temple of the
arts. In the middle there’s like an atrium,
and they have concerts and lectures
there; there’s a grand piano, and people
are inspired to just go sit and play piano,
and I thought it was very special. And
then number three… Oh, this fantastic
bookstore [Powell’s]! A whole block. That
I found quite amazing.
InSymphony: Reflecting on your role
as the artist in residence, what do you
think you’ve accomplished personally
and professionally?
AG: Personally, I definitely managed to
push my limits, like [having to] arrive
from an intercontinental flight and
immediately start working like a crazy
man. You don’t think it’s possible to do
anything creative after sitting on a plane
for 18 hours with a time change of nine
hours, but it’s possible and I learned
through all the outreach I’ve done so far
that I became a better Bach interpreter
because I managed to communicate
the music more. It’s very important to
make it speak, especially this baroque
music. It’s a lot about language, and if
you don’t speak, you lose the people. I
use all these opportunities to become a
better performer.
InSymphony: What highlights can you
give us for the Haydn concerto you’ll
play?
AG: It has three movements. The last
movement is incredibly virtuosic; it’s
like fireworks. It’s the fastest and most
brilliant. There aren’t many virtuosic cello
concertos because the cello is not such a
virtuosic instrument, per se, it’s more of
a singing voice, but this last movement is
super. And the first movement—actually
it’s the first concerto I ever learned.
Each time it’s a challenge again… I
practice a lot before I perform it. It has
to have a great joy, and it has to be very
light, but with huge depth at the same
time—otherwise it’s just superficial. To
get the steps and the lightness is not easy.
And it has a gorgeous second movement.
That’s actually my favorite movement.
The virtuosic stuff is fun, but the slow
movement is really very beautiful.
InSymphony:Doyoufeelit’samusician’s
duty to share music with the public?
AG: By sharing the music in public spaces,
I just want to make the point of how much
better live performance is than any canned
music. Even people who love classical
music might never leave their homes
because they have a nice sound system and
listen to the CDs, or they watch youtube or
DVDs, but there’s a difference seeing the
music performed live. Actually, anybody
who has attended these outreach things
was impressed by how a cello sounds
close by. Maybe you go to concerts and
you see the people 30, 40, 50 meters away,
but if you’re really there one meter in
front of the cello and you hear the sound
and vibration, it’s quite magical. People
might go to rock or pop concerts, but that’s
almost like recorded [music] because it’s
amplified. Here’s something that is not
amplified [live music]; it’s so much more
powerful, I find.
InSymphony: What is it about the cello
that attracted you to pick it up?
AG: Well, it’s just the voice, I think. I only
recently found out what the cello actually
meant to me when I talked to my first
cello teacher. She told me that during
my second lesson—which I completely
forgot—I had asked her to show me
how to do vibrato [how to vibrate]. Then
I copied it, and she said I was quite
gifted by copying her, and I immediately
managed to somehow vibrate. After she
said that, I dropped the cello and ran
through the house, screaming, ‘I can
vibrate!’ I remember as a little boy that I
was very jealous and depressed that my
mother had a gorgeous voice, and as a
child, she already had a vibrato. She was
a kind of child prodigy, and she’d sing
on the radio. As a five or six year old, I
didn’t like my voice. And then, with the
cello, I suddenly saw this opportunity:
maybe I don’t have the nice voice, but
I can do a vibrato on the cello. The
cello actually became my voice. That’s
why I stuck with cello, I think; I always
loved singing. I always said I would
betray everybody [laughs] and exchange
everything for having a gorgeous voice.
But there was never a chance.
For an extended version of
this and other interviews,
scan this QR code with your
smartphone or visit http://
orsymphony.skiesamerica.com.
To learn more about Gerhardt’s projects as
artist in residence or to suggest locations
for his pop-up concerts, please visit
http://www.orsymphony.org/edu/
artistinresidence.aspx.