PlaybillArts, NY
April 28 2007
Q & A: Violinist Sergey Khachatryan
28 Apr 2007
The remarkable 22-year-old violinist, set to make his New York
recital debut on April 30 at Zankel Hall, talks about his connection
to the music of Shostakovich and Khachaturian and his love of fast
cars.
Following his recent debut with the New York Philharmonic and a
return engagement with the Cleveland Orchestra, the young Armenian
violinist Sergey Khachatryan returns to the Big Apple at the end of
April to make his New York recital debut. Joined by his frequent
recital partner (and sister) Lusine Khachatryan, Sergey will play two
personal favorites, sonatas for violin and piano by Cesar Franck and
Dmitri Shostakovich. The recital, on Monday, April 30 at Carnegie
Hall’s Zankel Hall, will also feature a touchstone work, the Chaconne
in D minor from Bach’s Partita No. 2 for unaccompanied violin. The
Khachatryan siblings have plans to record the Franck and Shostakovich
Sonatas later this season, for future release on the Naïve label.
Sergey Khachatryan
photo by Philippe Gontier/Naïve
Khachatryan made his American recital debut in September 2003, and a
critic for The Kansas City Star called it "some of the most beautiful
violin playing I’ve heard in a very long time." The review went on to
say, "From the first notes of Beethoven’s ‘Spring’ Sonata for violin
and piano … Khachatryan had us listening on the edges of our seats
… [He] plays with the suavity of a snake charmer. Yet there’s
nothing slick about him." The New York Times was enthusiastic about
his recent Philharmonic debut, for which he played the Sibelius
Concerto: "He is trim and boyish, but he plays with assurance, depth,
and a flexible, strikingly beautiful tone … technique to spare and
a feeling for the music’s passions."
A 2004 recital by the Khachatryan siblings in Edinburgh prompted this
response in The Scotsman: "The two frequently perform together, and
have a perfect awareness of the balance between their two
instruments, subtly enhancing each other’s performance."
Just after the April 30 recital, the 22-year-old Sergey heads north
for another important debut, playing Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.
1 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Bernard
Haitink (May 3-5).
Looking further ahead, Khachatryan will play Beethoven’s Violin
Concerto with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly
(May 31-June 2) and with the same orchestra on tour in Paris (June
11) and at the BBC Proms in London (September 5). He performs the
Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky
Orchestra at the Mikkeli Festival in Finland (July 1) and returns to
the U.S. later this summer, for performances of Prokofiev’s Violin
Concerto No. 2 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood
Bowl.
In the interview below, Sergey Khachatryan discusses, among other
things, his deep connection with Shostakovich’s music and his love of
fast cars.
You just had an important debut here with the New York Philharmonic
and you’ll be back in April for your New York recital debut. How are
you enjoying your time in New York City?
Sergey Khachatryan: My debut with the New York Philharmonic in
February was only my second time in New York City. The last time was
in the summer when I had my Mostly Mozart debut. Of course it’s a
great city! Maybe not the best city for me to live in, but for a
visitor really a crazy city! It never sleeps – there’s so much
happening here. I’ve been staying with friends, which is what I
prefer to do when I travel, as it’s a lot more fun than staying at
hotels. While I was in town this time I went to the Blue Note to hear
some Brazilian jazz and it was lots of fun. Having a busy nightlife
is tough when you have concerts to perform. I don’t do much else on
days that I give concerts.
You’re increasingly appearing in concert halls across the U.S., but
have you already played in South America? There’s definitely a lot of
exciting classical music activity going on down there.
Actually, I’ve played in Ecuador twice and also in Brazil. I stayed
at the Copacabana Hotel on the famous beach in Rio. Unfortunately the
weather wasn’t so great – lots of rain – but still, we went twice to
swim (I was with my father). There were great waves and we were
enjoying doing some body surfing!
Tell us about your upcoming program at Carnegie Hall. How did you
select this particular repertoire?
The first thing I can say is that two of these works – the Bach
Chaconne and the Franck Sonata – have been among my favorites works
since I was born. I love Bach, especially the solo Sonatas and
Partitas. He’s a composer who stays with you no matter how much you
change as a person. His music is really sacred, and when you play
Bach it really cleans your soul and makes you feel more pure. I feel
this personally when I play his music, especially the Chaconne. I
think it makes a wonderful beginning for a recital.
Overall, it’s a program built on contrasts, between Bach and his
Baroque aspects and the Romantic elements in Franck’s work. My sister
and I have played the Franck Sonata frequently and it’s one of his
most wonderful pieces. It was written at the time of Romanticism in
music, but there are hints of impressionism in it too.
And the Shostakovich Sonata?
Well, Shostakovich is my favorite composer in general. Lusine and I
discovered the sonata together last season – we didn’t know it
before. Each time we’ve played it my opinion of it has grown. The
performance at Carnegie will be only the fourth time we’ve played it,
but still, we already feel very deeply connected to this music. We
feel like we’ve been playing it for many years!
What is it about Shostakovich that you connect with so deeply?
When I was playing in the finals of the Queen Elizabeth Competition I
chose to play Shostakovich’s First Concerto. During rehearsal there
was a man in the hall, and he came to me afterwards and said to me,
"Do you know why he feels so near to your heart?" I said no. He said
it has something to do with my country – with Armenia’s tragic
history, especially the massacre in 1915. It remains in our genes.
Shostakovich’s music has tragedy in its soul. It’s the tragedy of
humanity that keeps me near to him. And dramatic music is nearer to
my soul.
Shostakovich is also on the program for your Boston Symphony
Orchestra debut in May.
Yes, it’s my first time playing with the orchestra as well as the
first time I’ve worked with Bernard Haitink and I’ll be doing the
First Concerto. We hadn’t met before but he apparently listened to a
live broadcast of me playing Shostakovich – actually, a TV broadcast
from the Proms last year – and he immediately requested me to play!
And you’ll be in Los Angeles for the first time this summer.
Yes, I’ll be playing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the
Hollywood Bowl this summer. We have some great friends there and I’m
looking forward to it. Although an outdoor performance where people
are having a picnic before the concert isn’t necessarily the best
environment to listen deeply to classical music, it’s good for people
of a younger generation to feel more comfortable about coming.
Some people were surprised by the pairing on your debut release for
Naïve. The Sibelius Concerto is such a warhorse, whereas the
Khachaturian Concerto is more of a rarity. Were you using the
attention that the Sibelius often receives to shed some light on a
composer from your home country?
Well, Khachaturian is really my composer. As an Armenian he is very
near to me and in my blood. I feel so free because I understand the
emotion, and that emotion has to be right to really connect with his
work. There are specific details from Armenian folk music in his
works that are hard for a non-Armenian to understand. This is music
that I feel deeply and that I really adore – especially the second
movement.
How do you feel about playing contemporary music?
I’ve not played much contemporary music yet, but this fall I will
play the first piece written for me. It’s by Arthur Aharonyan, who
lives in Paris and recently won a big composing competition. He’s a
very interesting composer and I’ll play his new concerto in November
in Nice.
How will he approach the writing of this piece? Will you be
collaborating with him from the outset?
Yes, we’ll be working closely on the piece. He showed me some of the
details already and I’ve freed up time in October to prepare it. I’ll
never be able to work with Shostakovich, but it’s great to have this
opportunity to work with a living composer. To have the composer’s
thoughts and ideas there to help guide you is a wonderful thing.
Perhaps I’ll even record the piece.
After the opening night of your recent performances with the New York
Philharmonic there were many young girls in the green room afterwards
asking for an autograph – and even a hug or a kiss. Does this happen
all the time at your concerts?
Well, there are unfortunately not enough young people at many of my
concerts, but some of the young ones who are there often come back to
say hi afterwards. Thankfully, in Armenia there’s a lot of interest
in classical music from the younger generation, and I go to the
capital every year to play. It’s important for me, and it’s my duty
to go to my country to share with them some of the success I’ve
achieved – to give part of it back to them. Whenever I’m playing it’s
a special occasion. The young people make up 50% of the hall and many
are musicians from the conservatory. They are even starting to make
shows especially for young people. I think concerts at the university
are very important. Curious students definitely might have an
interest in classical music that we can connect with. For me it’s
easier because I’m young: since I have more direct contact with them
they feel more connected than if they see someone from an older
generation.
What do you do when you’re not making music?
Cars are my hobby – my second life actually! I’ll tell you something
about myself: I’m really two persons! The first is in the music, my
"real" self. The other part is really a "normal" person. And this is
the part that really loves cars. I tune them myself, and car tuning –
as well as designing – is my big hobby. I have two cars and I’ve
designed the spoilers for them! My new car is an A-4 Audi, with a
V8/4.3 liter engine. It’s fast.
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