Thursday, September 19, 2024

Catherine (Shin-Rou) Lin in Conversation with Christian Baldini

On September 28, I will have the pleasure of conducting Brahms' Violin Concerto with Catherine Lin as our soloist with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento. Also on the program are Daniel Godsil's "Cathedral Grove" and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1. Below is an interview with Catherine. (click here for ticket information)

Christian Baldini: Catherine, welcome, and let's start by talking about Brahms. What do you like the most about this concerto? Why is it special? What should people listen for in this piece?

Catherine Lin: Brahms is definitely one of my favorite violin concertos. It has a lot of beautiful melodies and lines between the solo violin and the orchestra. Why is this piece special? I think the most interesting thing and unusual thing is Brahms gives the orchestra a very strong role and, not just for the soloist. I highly recommend everyone to listen to the sixteen notes from the orchestra part in the first movement and the beautiful melody in the beginning of the second movement. All the themes can also be heard in the orchestra parts too.

CB: Let's talk about your beginnings with music. Growing up in Taiwan, how did you first encounter the violin? Did you play other instruments as well?

CL: First time I saw the violin was when I was three. My brother was practicing on his violin. I saw it and I told my mom I also want to play this instrument and she said, “Ok, only if you decide to make the violin as your career, otherwise you should just play the piano since I’m a piano teacher.” I was very excited and said yes! I will practice every day. Now, I feel very lucky that I made the right choice.

As for other instruments, as I mentioned, my mom is a piano teacher, so she taught me theory, piano and musicianship (like rhythm and solfège). So I know how to play piano and when I was in middle school, I also learned percussion for a year and that was fun!

CB: Who are some of your favorite composers? And favorite violin concertos?

CL: Paganini, Beethoven, and of course, Brahms. I like many violin concertos, such as Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Glazunov, but if I have to pick one it will still be the Brahms violin concerto.

CB: Have you played a lot of chamber music as well? Is the experience different from playing as a soloist with an orchestra?

CL: Yes, I’ve played a lot! Playing chamber music is very fun, but it’s different from playing with an orchestra. The size of a chamber group is much smaller. Whereas orchestras have strings, winds and percussions. So they have much larger scale. For chamber music, I think discussion is more important than playing; you need to spend time discussing how to create good music and find compatible partners with similar music ideas.

CB: What's a day like for you? How much do you practice? Do you have hobbies? Do you exercise?

CL: I have a pretty busy life doing my schoolwork at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I usually practice at least 3 to 4 hours on weekdays and practice more on the weekends. I like drawing and working out when I’m free.

CB: What is your advice for your musicians who are starting out? How does one deal with frustrations? How does one stay positive?

CL: listen carefully and practice slowly are my suggestions. Usually when I feel frustrated, I would find something I like to do like talking to friends or do something I enjoy to do like painting or playing with my cats.

CB: Thank you for your time Catherine, I look forward to making music with you!

CL: Thank you, Maestro for inviting me to play with you and this amazing orchestra!


Catherine Lin rehearsing Brahms with Maestro Baldini and the Camellia Symphony Orchestra



Catherine Shin-Rou Lin, 21, was born and raised in Taiwan. She started playing violin when she was four and now she is currently an undergraduate student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Professor Chen Zhao.
Catherine has participated in several music festivals, including the Beverly Hills Music Festival, where she played for many professors such as Oleh Krysa, Margaret Batjer, and Tamara Chernyak. She also attended the Round Top Music Festival and the Bowdoin Music Festival these past few years. Additionally, Catherine has taken private lessons with renowned violinists such as Ilya Kaler, Nai-Yuan Hu, Keng-Yuen Tseng, Nancy Zhou, and Danny Tzu-Ti Chang.
In addition to her festival experiences, Catherine had a great time with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in 2022, receiving excellent guidance from SF Symphony’s members and conductors.


Daniel Godsil in Conversation with Christian Baldini

On September 28, I will have the pleasure of conducting Daniel Godsil's "Cathedral Grove" with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento. Also on the program are Brahms' Violin Concerto with Catherine Lin as our soloist and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1. Below is an interview with composer Daniel Godsil. (click here for info about this program)

Christian Baldini: Daniel, welcome, and let's start by talking about your music. What was the genesis for Cathedral Grove? Is it different from your other music? What should people listen for in this piece?

Daniel Godsil: One of the things that really inspired this piece was a comment by composer Sam Nichols, my former teacher at UC Davis: he said that orchestral musicwith its relatively bigger scale, ​large performing forces, and sheer number of people working behind the scenesis really a public art. That really resonated with me, and got me thinking about other public spaces like our country's national and state parks. I often visited California's beautiful parks while I was studying at UC Davis, and decided to do an orchestral "sound-painting" of one of my favorites, Muir Woods (of which Cathedral Grove is a part). Around the time I was writing this piece, I was writing a lot of electronic music that used what I called "sound-shapes"...honestly kind of silly, but trying to render in sound very simple shapes like triangles, X-shapes or chiasms, circles, etc., as jumping-off points to start a composition. People can perhaps listen in this piece for big triangles and X-shapesroughly the giant shapes created​ by trees in the Muir Woodsrendered in sound. This piece was also a little different from my other work at the time in that I consciously tried to use more consonant combinations of notes. I often write using a spectrum of dissonant and consonant sound combinations, but for this work I experimented with trending more towards the consonant side of things. 

CB: Let's talk about your beginnings with music. How did it all start for you? Was there a particular "eureka" moment when you decided to become a professional musician?

DG: I started playing guitar at age 11. Throughout junior and high school I played mostly rock music, and (after learning just three or four chords) started forming bands with friends. I was writing tons of new songs and riffs all the time, which really the culture of rock music...everyone was writing their own stuff! I didn't think about it much at the time, but that environment was really teaching me the art of composition. My eureka moment was around the age of 17 when I really fell in love with film music. I realized that the orchestral timbres I was drawn to were difficult to achieve with the more limited pallet of tone-colors in rock, and found a piano teacher, learned how to read music, and more importantly, how to write it down and communicate with lots of other more classically-trained players. 

CB: Who are some of your favorite composers? Why? What do you look for in "new music"?

DG: This is a tricky question! It's often said that the music you learned to love in your adolescence is the music you love for your whole life, and that's definitely true for me. So that's a lot of heavy metal like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Sepultura...and also film scoring in the classic Golden Age style like Erich Korngold, Max Steiner, John Williams, and James Horner. Because of my metal background I love "classical" music with lots of raw energy...Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Beethoven, and more recent composers like Georg Haas, Thomas Ades. And because of my love of film music I love composers who built a lot of drama into their forms...I love Sibelius! I also found myself very drawn to the American Symphonists of the 1930s and 40s who helped form the language that film composers use. Composers like David Diamond, Walter Piston, Roy Harris, and of course Copland. What I look for in new music, I think, really tends toward those two silly adolescent drives...energy and drama! 

CB: What's a day like for you? When is the best time to compose? Do you have hobbies? Do you exercise? How do you balance your life as a Professor with your time to compose and perform?

DG: I'm in my fourth year teaching music at Columbia College, in the foothills of the Sierra close to Yosemite. This job keeps me very busyit's a small school and I'm a department of one! I teach music theory, ear training, music history, private lessons, and I conduct the college orchestra. So I haven't found a lot of time to write much in the last few years while I figured out the job! I'm happy to report that I've (more or less) figured it out and am finding more time now to compose...mostly, for me, in the very early morning before my kids wake up. I'm a diehard hockey fan, and have recently gotten very much into astronomy/telescopes. I am an avid cyclist and exercise often...it's essential for me! It's the best medicine one can get. My job mostly (right now) calls on my performing abilities...I play a lot of piano and guitar (and have been studying jazz very in-depth recently) and have been conducting a lot. I find it very musically satisfying. ​

CB: What is your advice for your musicians who are starting out? How does one deal with frustrations? How does one stay positive?

DG: I always recommend that musicians should develop a very diverse and marketable skill-set...learn to compose! Play several instruments. Get good at video editing. Know how to record with a DAW and know what microphones work for what things. Maybe this doesn't work for everyone, but it does for me: if you get frustrated learning a Beethoven sonata or get composer's block, go learn a jazz standard for fun or go for a walk. 99% of the time that will help you forget your frustration and come back to whatever it was with a positive attitude. 

CB: Lastly, what is the meaning of music to you? I know this is a very big and general question. Feel free to answer it in any way that represents you!

DG: This changes for me a lot, but right now I'm just so grateful to be in a big community of great music makers, be it my students, the talented amateur players in my orchestra, or just friends who play bluegrass for fun. Especially now in this election cycle, there's a big push to look at life through a political lens...how much more fun and positive it is to apply a musical lens instead, and let that focus and inform everything else! 

CB: Thank you for your time Daniel, I look forward to making music with you!

DG: Thanks Christian! Can't wait to work with the wonderful Camellia Symphony! 

Daniel Godsil (Courtesy Photo)

Daniel Godsil's music, which has been described by the San Francisco Classical Voice as having an “intense dramatic narrative,” draws from such eclectic influences as science fiction, thrash metal, and Brutalist architecture. His more recent work draws inspiration from the natural beauty of Northern California, his current home.


Winner of the 2019 League of Composers/ISCM Steven R. Gerber prize (for Cosmographia) and the 2017 Earplay Donald Aird Composition Competition (for his quartet Aeropittura), Godsil's music has been played by Spektral Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, Talujon Percussion, Daedalus Quartet, Lydian String Quartet, Empyrean Ensemble, Metropolitan Orchestra of Saint Louis, UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, University Symphony Orchestra at California State University Fullerton, Knox-Galesburg Symphony, Secret String Quartet, and the Nova Singers, among many others. Recent film scores include the PBS documentary Boxcar People, Man Ray’s 1926 silent film Emak-Bakia and the feature film H.G. Wells’ The First Men In The Moon. Godsil was a finalist in the 2018 Lake George Music Festival chamber composition competition, as well as the 2014 and 2019 Red Note New Music Festival Composition Competitions. His choral works are published by Alliance Music Publishing and NoteNova Publishing, and his chamber and orchestral music is published by BabelScores in Paris.

Born and raised in central Illinois, Godsil (b.1982) holds his PhD. in Composition and Theory from the University of California, Davis, where he studied with Pablo Ortiz, Mika Pelo, Laurie San Martin, and Sam Nichols. He holds an MFA in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, where he studied with John Fitz Rogers, John Mallia, and Jonathan Bailey Holland. He also holds a BM in Music Composition from Webster University.

Godsil was selected to participate in the 2017 Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) in Boston, where he had master classes with composers Nicholas Vines and Georg Friedrich Haas.

Godsil has also been active as an educator, conductor, and performer in the central Illinois area, Knox College, Monmouth College, and Carl Sandburg College. At Knox College, he directed the New Music Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble, and Men’s Chorus. He has also held posts as choral accompanist and collaborative pianist, and served as Music Director and Organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Galesburg, IL.  

Godsil is a professor of music at Columbia College in Sonora, California. He has also served as artistic committee president for Ninth Planet New Music, a trailblazing new music ensemble based in California's SF Bay Area. 



Monday, March 11, 2024

Salomé Ospina in Conversation with Christian Baldini

On March 17, I will have the pleasure of conducting the Grieg Piano Concerto with Salomé Ospina with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento, as part of our "Rising Stars" concert series. On the same program we will also feature the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Suni Norman. Below is an interview with Salomé:


Christian Baldini: Salomé, welcome, it has been very fun to have you in rehearsals with us and to make music with you. Tell us, what are some of your favorite things about the Grieg Piano Concerto? What would you say to someone who's never listened to it? What should they listen for? What will they encounter in this music?

Salomé Ospina: Thank you so much for having me! It has been an honor to play with the Camellia Symphony orchestra and you for the past couple of weeks. I honestly love every single moment in the Grieg concerto. One of my favorite moments in the entire piece is during the slow part of the third movement. I have a solo with the first cello accompanying me as well during this section. I was actually unaware that it was only the first cello until the first rehearsal with the orchestra. This is so meaningful to me because my mother, Maria Hoyos, plays first cello in this orchestra. This duet is so beautiful and I believe it encapsulates all the love and support she has given me over the years. I also really enjoy the last two sections of the third movement because this is the "grandioso" section of the piece. I get to accompany the brass players for a great solo and it is the moment where the tension from the entire piece is finally released. I would describe this piece as adventurous and beautiful. I would listen to the recurring themes especially in the first and third movement. They are everywhere! They get subtly changed throughout the piece but are truly resonant. They will encounter a beautiful journey through this music. I hope that they really enjoy this piece!

CB: You started playing the piano as a young child. Who have been your most important mentors, and why?


SO: Some of my most important mentors have been: Kirsten Smith, Helen Mendenhall, Tatiana Scott, Betsy Collins, and Joe Gilman. They have all guided me for many years with private instruction and are one of the main reasons that I am where I am today musically. They have really helped me develop my technique and love for music as well. I am so grateful to have had these wonderful people in my life.


CB: What are other works and other composers you love playing,  and why?


SO: I really enjoy playing Brahms and Chopin because their harmonic structure is just so beautiful. Also the storytelling that goes on within their pieces is incredible. I recently played the Brahms Piano trio no. 1, and it was incredible because of the complex harmonies and especially because of the interaction between the strings and the piano as well. I also really enjoy listening to Sibelius’s Symphony no 5. 


CB: Do you play other instruments? Do you branch out into other music styles besides classical?


SO: I do not play any other instruments. My mother tried to teach me cello at the age of three, but I decided that piano was what I preferred. I am deeply passionate about playing jazz as well as classical. I love to play in both combos and big bands and I am starting to begin composing as well! I also enjoy playing a variety of styles from latin america with my parents such as boleros, cha-cha-cha, salsa, and many more! I love to listen to music by Hector Lavoe, Duke Ellington, Oscar Petterson, Oscar De Leon and many more!


CB: What is a typical day like for you? How much do you practice in addition to all your other activities? You are still in high school, right?


SO: I am actually still a junior in high school! I typically spend my time in jazz band and concert band at school as well as in some other challenging classes. I typically go home after lunch time at school and usually have a rehearsal with a jazz combo or a private lesson. I try to practice for 2 to 3 hours in a day, but it really depends on how much schoolwork I have. I love to spend time on the weekends with my friends as well. 


CB: What are your plans for the future? Where would you like to see yourself in ten years?


SO: I hope to become a music teacher or a French or Spanish teacher. I really am not sure about where I see myself in ten years. I can envision myself branching out into many things. However, I see myself the most as a teacher of some sorts, and hope to be a performer on the side. 


CB: Both of your parents are musicians, right? Your mother is of course Maria Hoyos, our wonderful principal cellist with the Camellia Symphony. I am sure it will be extremely special to both of you to be playing this concert together. How has it shaped you to come from a musical family?


SO: Being around music constantly is such a privilege for me. I am so grateful to have such wonderful, loving parents. My mom plays cello with the Camellia Symphony and my dad plays saxophone and flute. Being around parents that are practicing exposed me to so much music from a young age and inspired me to become who I am now. This concert means so much to both of us and I can’t believe that I am going to be able to play as a soloist in a concert with my mom as the first cellist. This has been my mom’s dream for many years now, and I am very excited to be playing!


CB: Are you fully bilingual? How have languages shaped or influenced you as a person and as a musician?


SO: Yes, I actually only speak Spanish at home with my parents! Being around two different cultures at once has influenced my view on the world and especially on my values. I try to get the best from both cultures and try to often combine values in order to try to achieve a more balanced lifestyle. I have been introduced to so much music because of them and because of that, I have a love for many different genres. 


CB: Thank you Salomé, I look forward to making music with you and sharing your talents with our audience in Sacramento very soon!


SO: Thank you for this opportunity and for having me!




Salome Ospina is a junior at Rio Americano High School. She currently studies with Kirsten Smith for classical piano and Joe Gilman for jazz piano. She has also previously studied with Helen Mendenhall, Tatiana Scott, Betsy Collins, and Craig Faniani.


Salome debuted as a soloist with the Saint Saens Piano concerto no 2 in November 2022 with the “Sinfónica Joven de Colombia” in Medellin. She has been a part of the Placer County Youth Orchestra, and has performed with the Sacramento Youth Symphony as well. The Summer of 2022, she toured Austria and the Czech Republic with the Rio Americano Jazz and Concert Band. Salome enjoys accompanying other students for performances. 


In February, she went to New York to participate in the Charles Mingus High School Jazz Competition with a small jazz combo from Rio Americano. Salome is a part of The New Traditionalists, a jazz combo that has gone to perform in Orlando and New Orleans. In 2023, Salome was selected as one of 6 people nationwide for the Monterey Next Generation Women in Jazz Combo. This group had the opportunity to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September 2023 and Berklee College Music January 2024. Salome was chosen as one of the winners for the 2024 National YoungArts Award for jazz piano. 


Suni Norman in Conversation with Christian Baldini

On March 17, I will have the pleasure of conducting Sibelius' Violin Concerto with Suni Norman with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento, as part of our "Rising Stars" concert series. On the same program we will also feature Salomé Ospina playing the Grieg Piano Concerto. Below is an interview with Suni:

Christian Baldini: Welcome, Suni. I am delighted to feature you as our soloist with our orchestra. Tell me, what are some of the features of the Sibelius Concerto that you enjoy the most? What would you say to someone who does not know this piece, what should they listen for?

Suni Norman: Sibelius Violin Concerto is one of my favorite concerti — this concerto has the perfect amount of soaring melodies and virtuosic passages. Sibelius wanted to be a professional violinist, but due to starting at a late age he was never good enough to fulfill his dream of joining the Vienna Philharmonic. This piece encompasses Sibelius’s failed dream to become a professional violinist. He includes virtuosic techniques from Paganini and Wieniawski, and some Bach-like material can even be heard throughout.

CB: Besides the Sibelius Concerto, what are some of your other favorite pieces, and why?

SN: My favorite pieces are always changing, but right now I love listening to Mozart! I love listening to Mitsuko Uchida’s Mozart Piano Concertos. Mozart’s music is very bright and happy — at the end of the day it gives my brain a break from all the music I’m playing.

CB: You were born in Utah, and you have studied with wonderful teachers, and have been a laureate of important competitions including the Stradivarius one. How did it all start for you with music? Who have been your most important mentors?

SN: I had a computer game when I was 3 years old called JumpStart Toddlers. In the game there was an interactive orchestra and if you clicked on the instruments they would play a song. The violin played the beginning of “Spring” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and I thought it was the coolest thing (probably because it was one of the only tunes I recognized). I ended up starting years later, and decided it was what I ultimately wanted to have a career in. My most important mentors have been my violin teachers Soovin Kim and Chen Zhao.

CB: You are a supernumerary with both the San Francisco Symphony and the Utah Symphony. What can you tell us about playing with these two wonderful orchestras? Do you have some specific favorite projects with them and different conductors that you could share with us?

SN: One of my favorite performances was Mahler 6 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony. It was inspiring to play with a conductor and ensemble who know the Mahler symphonies like the back of their hand.

CB: What is your advice for young musicians? How do you best deal with challenges, frustration and adversity?

SN: My advice for young musicians is to take it slow and relax. Enjoy the process and know progress isn’t always a steady slope up. Sometimes we need bad days to appreciate when we sound good!

CB: Thank you for your time Suni, and I look forward to making music with you in Sacramento!

SN: Thanks Maestro, looking forward to a fun Sibelius Concerto!



Suni Norman is an accomplished violinist from Tooele, Utah. She is a laureate of multiple violin competitions including the Stradivarius Competition. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from New England Conservatory and an Artist Diploma from San Francisco Conservatory. Norman has participated in festivals such as New York String Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, Colorado College Festival, Heifetz and Kneisel Hall. 


Norman has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States. Notably, she has recently collaborated with eminent musicians including Ben Beilman, Robert Mcdonald, Marcy Rosen, Shai Wosner, as well as quartets such as Borromeo, Miro, Takács and Fry Street. 


Suni Norman is currently a supernumerary for San Francisco and Utah Symphony orchestras. She is also featured on an episode of PBS’s Now Hear This (Copland: Dean of American Music). 

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Dagenais Smiley and Susan Lamb Cook in Conversation with Christian Baldini


On February 17, 2024, I will have the pleasure of collaborating with violinist Dagenais Smiley and cellist Susan Lamb Cook bringing to life together the beautiful Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra by Brahms. This will be in Sacramento with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra. After intermission, we will perform  Bruckner’s 5th Symphony. Here is a conversation we had with Susan and Dagenais, in preparation for our performance.
















Christian Baldini: Welcome, Susan and Dagenais, it will be a real treat to do this double concerto with you. Please tell me, what are some of your favorite features about this piece? Why is this such an important piece in the repertoire, and what do you love about it?


Susan Lamb Cook:  I have always been a fan of the music of Brahms and have studied and performed much of his chamber music repertoire, from the wonderful cello sonatas, to his string quartets, quintets, sextets, piano trios, quartets – the list goes on.  So, having the opportunity to perform the Double Concerto is truly a highlight for me, especially with my dear friend and colleague Dagenais Smiley as well as with you, Christian, and the Camellia Symphony Orchestra.  So often, concertos begin with a long orchestral introduction but in this case, Brahms launches immediately into a cello cadenza, similar to the opening of the Elgar Concerto which I had the pleasure of performing with you and the CSO last season.  In Brahms’ opening cadenza, he soon has the violin join in, creating a conversation between the two instruments which gives a preview of what is yet to come.  The Brahms Double is an expansive work containing technical and musical challenges not only for the soloists but for the orchestra as well.  This was Brahms’ final symphonic composition, and one can hear the luscious textures which Brahms is so famous for throughout this monumental work.


Dagenais Smiley: As a violinist, I always love playing the works of Brahms, from the symphonies to the string quartets, and his violin concerto is one of my favorites. He always writes incredible melodies, and intense textures, which is thrilling to perform.  I haven’t had the pleasure of working on the Double Concerto before now and it’s been an incredibly rewarding undertaking.  It’s a unique experience to share a concerto with another instrument, especially the rich voice of the cello, and as Susan already mentioned, it’s like having a conversation with a colleague.  It is technically demanding while still presenting beautiful, soaring melodies.  It’s interesting to note  that it wasn’t immediately a hit upon its presentation, but it has now become a favorite amongst both cellists and violinists.  I am extremely excited to be performing this work with Susan and with you, Christian, and the Camellia Symphony!


Christian: As you know, composers (and especially followers in their circles) had rivalries, and this was also the case between Brahms and Bruckner. Constantin Floros states that “In the last third of the 19th century Brahms and Bruckner were regarded as antipodes.” For different reasons, this was also the case at times with performers. Brahms and the famous violinist Joachim (for whom the Double Concerto was written, together with cellist Hausman) had had a fallout. Brahms offered this concerto as an olive branch to Joachim. In fact Clara Schumann wrote in her diary that after Joachim, Hausmann, and Brahms had tried out the piece for friends, “The Concerto is a work of reconciliation. Joachim and Brahms have spoken to one another again.” - My long related questions to both of you are: What does music mean to you? Is it possible to alter/affect the human spirit through music? Which kind of atmosphere does it communicate, or which kind of spirit inhabits this particular concerto?


Susan:  The world of music, and specifically the cello, has been a part of my life ever since I can remember, so I feel as though the cello is simply an extension of who I am.  My cello and I spend so much time together – in the practice room, in the teaching studio, on the concert stage – that I really can’t imagine my life not being filled with music and the art of music making.  As to whether or not music can possibly affect the human spirit, my answer would be absolutely, yes.  It is interesting how we each seem to be drawn to different styles or genres of music, composers, artists etc., and sometimes we can all listen to the same piece of music but each has a completely different reaction to it.  Our reactions can include joy, excitement, sadness, despair, but the fact is that we react or respond to the way in which the music touches us emotionally.  I do hope that, through our performance of the Brahms Double, we will be able to stimulate reactions from the audience members, perhaps a feeling of excitement from the powerful opening statements of both the first and last movements, as well as a sense of affection and joy from the gloriously optimistic melody of the second movement.  This monumental work leaves me breathless, so I hope it will do the same for our audience members.


Dagenais:  My relationship with my violin and with music is much like a relationship/friendship with a fellow person.  Sometimes it’s filled with joy and humor, sometimes sadness and even a bit of frustration, but it’s always there and as Susan has already stated, I can’t imagine a life without playing music. I had the opportunity to play Mahler 4 recently and during some of the rests, I looked out into the audience and saw how rapt the audience was, and some attendees were even in tears, so yes, I do believe that music has the ability to affect our spirit.  I have favorite pieces I gravitate towards when I’m in a certain mood, as I’m sure we all do, and part of why I love performing (any type of music), is the connection with the audience.  It’s very rewarding to bring the joy, beauty, emotion, sadness, etc. of music to new people.  I’ve talked to some who have never attended a concert before and they were so excited and moved by what the music made them feel.  I look forward to sharing this great piece with the audience and I also look forward to hearing the Bruckner!

Christian: You are both wonderful educators, and colleagues of mine at the University of California, Davis. What are some of your favorite things about working with young people and helping them grow as musicians and human beings?

Susan:  Teaching brings me great joy - I really love working with my UC Davis students as well as my adult and my pre-college students.  Many of my students at UC Davis have chosen fields of study other than music, like animal sciences, engineering, environmental science, etc., but they truly love and value their connection to music through their cello. I am pleased and honored to assist them in becoming better players so that they will have the life-long ability to continue expressing their passion for music through their cello playing.  I continue working with pre-college students through my Rising Stars of Chamber Music Program which takes place each year over the winter holiday.  The students in this program are advanced players who are passionate about chamber music and are totally committed to their music making,  As these students study some of the great works in the chamber music repertoire, I can see them develop as musicians through their understanding of musical lines and phrases, and more importantly, I can see them develop and use tools of cooperation and collaboration while working with their group members, which ultimately allows for wonderful friendships to be formed.  This is one of the greatest benefits of being a musician. 


Dagenais: As Susan mentioned, many of the students we have are majoring in other challenging disciplines yet they want to maintain that connection to music and their instruments.I help them with time management and give them suggestions on how to practice efficiently with limited time and I love seeing the excitement in my students’ eyes when they realize how much progress they’ve made over the quarter.  I am very proud of my students when they are able to master a new technique or play a piece they never thought they would be able to before through their hard work and diligence.  It’s rewarding seeing how important music is to them despite how busy they are in their other fields and I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with them on their musical journey.

Christian: Lastly, what would be your advice for young musicians? We have all felt challenges in life. Most people have thought about quitting, multiple times in many cases. What advice would you give to someone who is struggling with their musical development?

Susan:  There is no doubt that succeeding in music takes a great deal of time, effort, and commitment, and I can certainly remember that, when I was younger, there were periods of time in which I simply wanted to give up.  I was fortunate, though, to have had wonderful teachers along the way, not to mention my parents who were always encouraging me to continue practicing and not be discouraged if things did not always go as I had hoped (in performances, competitions, etc.).  As musicians, we are always putting ourselves on the line, baring our souls to the listener and opening up an often intimate and very personal part of ourselves. Not an easy thing to do.  I always tell my students, though, that every performance is a dress rehearsal for the next performance, with the thought that we are always practicing, doing our best to improve and, of course, always striving for the perfection that we may never achieve.  Some great advice that I received early on was to surround myself with those who were better than me so that I could always continue learning.  This advice has served me well, not only in the area of music. 


Dagenais:  My approach to teaching is to be encouraging, but also realistic and understanding.  One of my students was struggling with the motivation to practice,  so we had a chat about it and I acknowledged that student’s feelings (we’ve all been through that struggle in our life) and gave them some advice on how to move forward. I think it’s important to recognize when something is a struggle and to accept and acknowledge those feelings rather than try to erase them. I try to teach my students to have patience with themselves (something that I struggled with in school). It’s ok to take a day off practice when you’re in a negative head space and return the next day feeling refreshed and excited to begin again. It’s easy to get stuck in the cycle of trying to achieve perfection and the rat race of gigging so much that we can sometimes get frustrated and lose the joy of performing. It’s important to take the time to remember what music means to us. Sometimes it can be a wonderful change to attend a concert rather than performing in one to remember how powerful it can be to experience live music.

Christian: Thank you both very much for your time, and especially for your wonderful musicianship that I will be delighted to share with our audience in Sacramento!










Dagenais Smiley, a Northern California native, earned  her bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory  under the direction of Milan Vitek and her masterof music from the USC’s  Thornton School of Music, studying with Ms. Kathleen Winkler. An active orchestral and chamber musician, Dagenais performs with the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, and is currently acting Associate Concertmaster with the Modesto Symphony, often stepping in as Concertmaster. She recently became Assistant Concertmaster of the Reno Philharmonic and also performs with the Stockton Symphony, the Monterey Symphony, the Fresno Philharmonic, and other various Northern California  orchestras. Ms. Smiley currently teaches violin at UC Davis and maintains a private violin studio. She enjoys skiing, hiking and playing Pokemon Go in her spare time.





Monday, October 30, 2023

Eric Zivian in Conversation with Christian Baldini

On November 4, I will have the pleasure of collaborating with pianist Eric Zivian as our soloist in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra in Sacramento. Also on the program (aptly titled "Revolutionary Spirits") will be Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, as well as Ruth Crawford Seeger's Andante for Strings. Below is a conversation with Eric.

 

Christian Baldini: Eric, once more it will be a pleasure to work with you and to make music together. What are some of the things you like the most about this Beethoven Concerto? And what should people listen for in it?


Eric Zivian: It’s wonderful to be back working with you again! The Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto is a very special piece in the repertoire. It is not stormy or extroverted like Beethoven’s other concertos, but predominantly gentle and lyrical. The slow movement, a dramatic dialogue between the orchestra and piano, is absolutely stunning. In the first movement, Beethoven breaks the usual pattern of concerto first movements and opens with a rhapsodic piano solo before the standard orchestral introduction. I find the ornaments in the piano part toward the end of the movement, after the cadenza, to be some of the most delightful ever written.

 

CB: Does your interpretation change much as rehearsals go forward? Aside from practicalities, do you feel that rehearsing with others and in different spaces affect your performance or your understanding of a piece? 


EZ: Absolutely. There is nothing like rehearsing with a full orchestra under the direction of an intelligent and sensitive musician like you to give me a fresh perspective. Plus, during practice I always think of new things!

 

CB: Well thank you, it is truly a wonderful collaboration working with you and receiving so much feedback from you in rehearsals! You also play a lot on the fortepiano. Has this informed how you approach a Beethoven or Mozart Concerto when performing on a modern instrument?


EZ: Very much so. I have a fortepiano modeled on the kind of instrument Mozart and Beethoven would have known. It has a totally different touch and sound, very articulate in all registers with deep bass notes, bringing out the clarity of the counterpoint. With that sound in my ear, I have learned to emphasize those qualities on the modern piano when playing 18th and 19th-century music.

 

CB: You also love the music of Brahms, and of Ligeti. What attracts you so much to their music, and why?


EZ: Although Brahms and Ligeti were very different composers, I love their music for much the same reason: they use complex rhythms that appeal to my sensibility, while at the same emphasizing clarity and directness of expression.

 

CB: As a composer, what are some of your priorities, and/or what do you try to achieve with your own music?


EZ: To be fully transparent, I haven’t written music in some years. But in my composing days, I also aimed to write music that reflected a combination of rhythmic intricacy and straightforward expression. Decades of composing music also helps me, as a performer, to gain insight into the composer’s perspective.

 

CB: What would be your advice for young pianists and for young composers? What is your advice when people lose hope or get frustrated with themselves?


EZ: My advice is: always remember what drew you to performing or composing. By all means listen to the valuable advice of your teachers and mentors, but stay true to your own vision of what music is all about. During performance, or the creative process, relax and let the music flow through you.

 

CB: Thank you Eric, I am very much looking forward to our performance together!


EZ: Thanks Christian, I can’t wait!



ERIC ZIVIAN

 Eric Zivian received music degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music. He studied piano with Gary Graffman and Peter Serkin and composition with Ned Rorem, Jacob Druckman, and Martin Bresnick.

Eric is equally at home on modern and period instruments. He is Music Director of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, a festival in Sonoma specializing in Classical and Romantic chamber music played on period instruments, and a longtime member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in San Francisco.

Eric recently performed the Mozart C minor Concerto with the Portland Baroque Orchestra and the Beethoven Choral Fantasy with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. At the height of the pandemic, Eric livestreamed all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas on period pianos.




 


Monday, September 18, 2023

Parker van Ostrand in Conversation with Christian Baldini


On September 23, I will have the pleasure of conducting Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the wonderful young pianist Parker van Ostrand. This will be in Sacramento (California) with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, in a program that will also feature Brahms' Second Symphony, as well as Midnight Stirring by Nancy Galbraith. Below is an interview with Parker.
 
Christian Baldini: Dear Parker, it is a pleasure to welcome you again in your native Sacramento to feature you as our soloist in Prokofiev's 3rd Piano Concerto with the Camellia Symphony Orchestra. Tell us, how does it feel to come back home and be featured as our soloist?



Parker van Ostrand: I’m really excited. Playing with orchestra is one of my favorite things as a musician, and getting to do it with a great orchestra and conductor makes it even better. And this will be the first time I play Prokofiev 3 with orchestra. It's also nostalgic since I’m performing again at my old high school. The first rehearsal was the first time I went back there since graduating more than two years ago!

CB: The first (and last) time we featured you as our soloist it was within our Rising Stars series, and you played Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto. This was four years ago, and you have amassed a number of successes since then, including winning prizes at major international competitions, performing together with Yuja Wang in San Francisco, being named a 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. How do you feel? What has changed for you?

PvO: I feel really grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had in the last couple years. Playing with Yuja was definitely a highlight because I’ve looked up to her more than almost any other pianist ever since I was a kid. One thing that’s changed with all this experience is I feel more open to being spontaneous on stage. I’m more confident in my musical decisions and style of playing, so I’m able to take more risks and see what ideas I can come up with on the spot. When you let loose and don’t worry so much about being perfect or how other people might judge your playing, performing becomes a lot more fun.

CB: Tell us about Prokofiev, and his Third Piano Concerto. What are some of the things you like the most about this piece, and what should people listen for when you perform it?

PvO: Prokofiev 3 is one of my favorite concertos to play- it’s naughty, sarcastic, even grotesque at times. I love playing this piece because it’s really fun to go all out with making the piece as “rude” and brash as possible. The writing is very virtuosic and even acrobatic at times, so it’s pretty cool to watch from the audience standpoint. Prokofiev himself was rebellious and cocky during his time at conservatory, and this piece perfectly encapsulates that. There’s a lot of conflict between the piano and orchestra parts, and it’s pretty cool to be one person fighting against 100 other people on stage. There’s also moments in the concerto that are nostalgic, smoky, elegant, beautiful–and the fact that these moments are so rare make them even more memorable. Part of the second movement is a variation that has the sounds of a dark, icy Siberian winter. It will give one chills.


CB: When I interviewed you back in 2019, we talked a lot about your practice routine, the meaning of music to you, and also about your goals in life. Have your goals changed? Do you see anything very differently?

PvO: Because so much has happened in the last couple years I could never have expected or planned (musically related), I actually haven’t been one to set specific goals recently. With a career path in music, so much is out of your control except your ability as a musician. So my goal these days is just to be as good as I can be at the piano, and see what happens from there.



CB: Tell us about your education and your main mentors since you finished high school.


PvO: I’ve been at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since January of 2022, and I’m now working with Garrick Ohlsson and Yoshikazu Nagai. I’ve studied with Garrick since I was 16, and just recently started studying with Yoshikazu Nagai. Knowing Garrick for this long, he’s had a huge impact on me and just been an amazing teacher, mentor, and someone I look up to. I can also say the same about my previous teacher here at the conservatory, Jon Nakamatsu, who I studied with during my first three semesters at SFCM.


CB: Lastly: what are some of the things (anything) that interest you the most outside music?


PvO: I like going to the gym a lot. It’s fun to keep pushing yourself and setting new goals all the time. When I have more time, I love adrenaline activities like riding rollercoasters or jetskis, and also doing challenging hikes. Nowadays, I am also pretty into watching movies, thrillers in particular.



CB: Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to sharing your wonderful artistry with our audience members.


PvO: Thank you! Looking forward.





Parker Van Ostrand currently studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Garrick Ohlsson and Yoshikazu Nagai.

He recently won the 2023 PianoTexas Academy Concerto Competition and performed with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra this past June. In 2022, he won the Gold Medal in the 71st Wideman International Piano Competition and in November, collaborated with Yuja Wang for a two-piano performance at the SFCM Gala. Last summer, he was selected to play in the inaugural G. Henle Verlag Murray Perahia Masterclass in Munich. He also toured with the California Youth Symphony to Eastern Europe last summer with Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety.” In 2020, Parker won Third Prize and the Best Sonata Award in the 10th National Chopin Piano Competition, and was one of 20 high school students nationwide named a 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts.

This season, Parker will be performing with the Camellia Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, the South Arkansas Symphony, the Shreveport Symphony, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music orchestra as winner of their 2023 Concerto Competition. He will also give recitals at the Tutunov Series in Ashland, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, the Washington International Piano Festival, and Gretna Music with violinist Amaryn Olmeda.

Parker is from Sacramento, CA, and previously studied with Linda Nakagawa, Natsuki Fukasawa, Sarah Chan, and Jon Nakamatsu.