CGM September_2010 Interview

8/3/2019 CGM September_2010 Interview

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Classical Guitar Magazine 11

IRINA KULIKOVA was born in Chelyabinsk, capi-tal of South-Ural, Russia. Under the guidance ofher mother, cellist Vinera Kulikova,

composer/guitarist Victor Kozlov and musicolo-gist Alexander Volgusnov, she started developingher musicianship from an early age. When shewas 17, Irina moved to Moscow to study at theGnessins Academy, graduating in 2005.Meanwhile, she had started at the MozarteumUniversity in Salzburg completing her studiesthere in 2008. Irina has studied with Marco Tamayo, Carlo Marchione, Simone Fontanelli,Howard Penny and Hans Bruderl, and participat-ed in masterclasses with Jos Mara Gallardo delRey, Kshyhtoph Peleh, John Mills, Sergio Assad,Eliot Fisk, Manuel Barrueco, Ricardo Galln and

David Russell among others. In recent years shehas claimed first prizes in: Michele Pittaluga,Italy; Guitarra Alhambra, Spain; Forum GitarreWien, Austria; International GuitarcompetitionIserlohn, Germany; and the TwentsGitaarfestival, Netherlands.Today Irina has given concerts in over twenty

countries working as a soloist; ensemble player;and with orchestras in Belgium, Italy and Russia.She has been involved with several internationalguitar festivals as both a performer and tutorincluding Iserlohn (Germany); West Dean(England); Legnani (Italy); Naxos (Greece);

Esztergom (Hungary); J.K. Mertz (Slovakia);Niksic (Montenegro); Kaunas (Lithuania); Nice(France); Saltillo (Mexico); and Miami (USA). Heractivities as a musician have also led her to per-form for members of the royal family in Germanyand Denmark respectively.

Irina recorded her first solo CD in Moscow,2005, featuring works by Aguado, Johann KasparMertz, Moreno-Torroba, and Rodrigo. September2009 marked the release of her latest disc as aNaxos recording artist with music by Ponce,Tansman, Brouwer and Antonio Jos.

Since 2007 Irina lives and teaches in the

Netherlands developing her interna-tional profile in a variety of instru-mental formats including the duoIrina & Felicia with Dutchflautist Felicia van den End.

What influence did your mother beinga musician have on you as you weregrowing up?My mother plays the cello. I alwayswent with her when she played in herstring quartet. I was in love with theviolin, but my mother loved the gui-

tar. At that time the guitar was becoming more popular in Russia.When I was five my mother gave me a

guitar and said: This is a big violin. Give it a try.If you like it, you can continue. If not, you changeto the four-stringed violin. I was impressed bythe guitar; to hold it and touch the strings withboth hands. Anything you want to express with itoffers such a direct response. I learnt a lot frommy mother. She taught me many things abouttechnique, phrasing, and the colours withinmusic. She showed me how to make an instru-ment sing. Of course throughout my music edu-

cation there have been unforgettable teachers,such as the late musicologist Alexander Volgusnov and guitarists Victor Kozlov, Marco Tamayo and Carlo Marchione. But what youlearn at the youngest age becomes secondnature. For this reason, I dedicated my Naxosdisc to my wonderful mother, Vinera Kulikova.

Did having your mother as dedicatee influenceyour programming for that disc?Definitely. I wanted to record something that shewould appreciate for a lifetime, something similarto her personality: a lot of depth, complexity and

beauty.

What did you gain by studying with amusicologist? To love music in connection witheverything in the world: nature,paintings, architecture, literature,culture and so on. Alexander Volgusnov was a very special man.With him I learnt to appreciate everydetail of life: the shape of the clouds,the smell of spring, the taste ofSpanish tapas. Give it the right tonal-

ity and find perfectly matchingcolours, and all this resolves in com-posing your own fugue. This is how

Irina Kulikova at 6 years old.

IRINA KULIKOVA

Interviewed by GUY TRAVISS

West Dean 1997.


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we worked with music. When we were analysingoperas, for example, we connected them with dif-ferent emotional and political elements in life. Istudied several topics in his classes, but my dear-est memories are of the private sessions at hishome. We would spend the entire day listening tomusic and getting all the books down from hisshelves, until my mother called asking if her

daughter had time for dinner.

At twelve, you left Russia for the first time. Whatwas it like travelling such a distance and comingto places where the physical geography is so dif-

ferent for the first time?I had to take a two-day train journey fromChelyabinsk to Moscow, and then fight for aplane ticket with an agency: no electronic ticketsand fewer options for flights; how did people livein those days? Everything was a big adventure,especially for a twelve-year-old girl. I rememberhow strange it was experiencing the change in

weather: I came from -30 in Russia to +15 inItaly. This was also the first time I had seen thesea. That was a very special emotion! Ive been inlove with the sea from that moment. Now I am just a ten-minute walk from the coast, in TheHague. All these initial experiences showed me aworld I wanted to come back to forever.

How did your initial trips around Europe alter thedirection of your career?My first trips to Europe were like a fairytale. I metso many fantastic people. From that point, youwould expect life is already guiding you on the

right path. But bureaucracy (problems with visasetc.) and lack of financial support can createquite an obstacle. I imagine that many youngmusicians experience this.Things can become very difficult,but these situations often have apositive outcome: they strength-en your passion to move for-ward.

I understand that things becameworse before they got better...Yes. At 19 I broke my left arm,

leaving me unable to play for 18months. This gave me time tothink. A bit more than I wouldhave liked, but in that period mydetermination to continue withmusic grew even stronger. Atthat time I was studying at the Gnessins Academy in Moscow. I obviously missed guitarlessons, but I also missed lessons in piano andconducting. Fortunately there were a lot of differ-ent modules you could take; theory and historicalstudies. During this period I disappeared into alot of literature; medical books in particular. I

developed an interest in the relationship betweenmusic and health: how to stay healthy as a musi-cian, and how music can serve as medicine. Five

years later, I wrote my Masters thesis on thistopic at the Mozarteum: The Mystery of Soundand Wholeness of the Artist: A MultidisciplinaryIntroduction to a Better Stage Performance.

What sort of issues does this paper focus on? Doesit look at the physiology of playing an instrumentas well as the psychological aspects of perfor-mance? The paper is about dealing with physical andmental blocks, to be free and open in our stageperformances. My interest in the subject wasinspired by Ilsa Safarova, a Russian pianist who works with musicians who are struggling withphysical or mental problems. She helped mewhen my arm was broken. After the long pausefrom concert life, I was afraid of going back onstage. But thanks to her treatment, I found my

way again. Through personal experience andmeeting so many other musicians who at sometime suffered from blocks on stage, I became very

much involved with this theme.

How did Ilsa Safarova treat you?She gave a special kind of mas-sage and taught me to concen-trate on energy flows throughthe body. She helped me to bemore conscious about the way Ipractice and the way I live life ingeneral. The intensity with

which we work on a piece; thebooks we read; music we listento; movies we see; people wemeet; and all kinds of otherdaily rituals have a specialmeaning to us: this everything

settles somewhere in our subconscious. On thenight of the concert, the body remembers every-thing that has happened in the months before.Only twenty times stronger.To be able to transmit music with all its mean-

ing and full intensity, musicians need to be wholethemselves. This is what Safarova made me

aware of. If your hands are trembling on stage, orif your memory is failing you, you have built up blocks somewhere. You cant take these blocks

Alessandria 2008 1st prize.

On the night ofthe concert, thebody rememberseverything thathas happened

in the

months before.Only twenty times

stronger.


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away by focussing on the night of the concertalone. You need to make changes in life generally.For example: be open to experiment with tai chi, orqigong. Get some good massages, or go to anacupuncturist. Learn to concentrate on your breathing and movement. Try different kinds ofmental and physical training. Create a specialatmosphere while youre practising at home. All

these things help to create a sense of inner har-mony that you bring to the stage.

Do you feel that all this has had an overall effect onyour playing?Very much. The essence of Safarovas treatment isthe essence of her approach to music: Music is ameans for a complete, whole unity of the body andsouls movement over the tone and the sound. Tofind the depth in a piece, and to be able to get com-pletely into the music while playing it on stage, weneed a broader approach in every aspect of life. Iknow that music education is for a large part

about discovering technical aspects of our instru-ment and developing a broad knowledge of music.But it is also about the whole of our physical, emo-tional, intellectual, intuitive and spiritual develop-ment. Thats why I work with my students on morethan technique and musical interpretation alone. Iencourage them to open their imagination to anypiece they play, to find out what inspired the com-poser. But also to find their own way in a spiritualdirection. Im sure this helps to become morewhole as a person; to open up more of our gifts andunite them in beautiful music.

You encourage a very programmatic approach tointerpretation then?It is the musicians humble task to make an audi-ence feel and understand the personality of themusic they play. Egos that scream for attentionblock energy flows; true masters of sound are ser-vants to music. This idea I compare to acting: anactors objective is to make theaudience feel and understand acertain character in a story. If wedont feel this character, becausethe personality of the actor is toodominant, then the actor himself

becomes a disrupting factor. TheRussian actor and directorStanislavski who influencedactors and actresses such as AlPacino, Anthony Hopkins, KateWinslet and Johnny Depp wasthe first to demonstrate thatemotions shown on stage move audiences whenthey are authentic; when the actor has experi-enced the life of the character hes playing. Whenactors simply follow basic techniques for display-ing emotion, their characters often become stereo-types. Stanislavski wanted something more alive.

For him it was important that actors should findsomething new every time; to be human and notmechanical. For him, head and heart needed to be

united in acting; to use intuition, but also under-stand what it is you are doing. This method isquite involved. The preparation is about under-standing the personality youre going to play in a

deep and complete way. Knowledge of the charac-ter is not enough, imagining the character is notenough: the actor needs to become the characterhe is playing to truly make them his own. The par-allel with a musicians work is clear. We need to become one with the piece in the same way theactor becomes one with the play.

Has your Russian background influenced thisaspect of your musical aesthetic?For sure, yes. The depth of the literature, endlesslandscapes, beautiful bells of the orthodox church,and the dramatic history of the country: it is part

of my soul, so it is part of my life and music.Besides, Russia has a great tradition of music edu-cation. It is a tough school for young children, butwhat you learn as a child settles deep in you.

Still you decided to move, to study in Salzburg...One of the reasons I moved to Europe is that in

Russia the guitar is consideredmostly a folk instrument. Atmusic schools, academies andconservatoires it is in the depart-ment with the balalajka, domra,bayan and accordion. In Europe,

the guitar is grouped with stringinstruments such as the cello.

What was it that attracted you toSalzburg as a place to study?I wanted to study with Marco Tamayo as I had heard a lot

about him. Through some contacts in Austria, Iwas invited to give concerts quite frequently in theSalzburger Schloss Mirabel. This brought me rightnext door to the Mozarteum University and it pro-vided the means to pay for my study. After one ofthese concerts, before starting at the Mozarteum, I

met a fantastic couple: Tony and Irmgard Leswell.They live in Hof bei Salzburg, in the mountains,half-an-hour out of the city. I lived with them for

In front of Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

Egos that screamfor attentionblock energy

flows; truemasters of soundare servants to

music.


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quite some time. They grew to become my family,which was important for me living so far away frommy parents.

After you had been living in Salzburg for a couple ofyears, you started participating in competitionsagain. It seemed that until then you had movedaway from the competition scene after a very

promising start at around 12 years of age...Several of the people who heard me play when Iwas a child have asked me the same question. Myfocus simply was not on competitions. After Iturned twelve I only entered a couple of competi-tions in Russia. Then I got dragged into a concertlife with a lot of travelling in Russia, Italy, Poland,England, Austria, Germany, Spain and the U.S.Some of these places I visited for performances atguitar festivals. But I also played a lot of concertsat chamber music festivals and for special eventsinvolving embassies and royal families. These con-certs are of course less prominent on the guitar

scene. I started entering competitions againin 2005. By that time I had already been living inSalzburg for two years.

Your biography highlights several of the competi-tions you have participated in, and you have hadmany successes competing in them. What does thecompetition scene mean to you?On the one hand, I find it difficult to understandthe idea of competition. How can we comparemusicians like we compare athletes? Everyone hashis own personality in music, his own uniquecharacteristics. On the other hand, I understand

the value of the competition scene. It offers greatmotivation to develop technical skills. And ofcourse competitions are a means to meet peopleand develop a network of contacts; to find greatfriends who share your passion for music.

At this stage in your career, what direction do youimagine you will take? Would you like to becomemore involved in music academia for instance?I have my dreams, and bit by bit they come true.But I cannot discuss them now: it would break themagic. Generally speaking, I am fascinated by theinfluence music has on people, what it can bring

to their lives. Ive been giving concerts since I waseight years old, so when Im not performing I startto miss the stage. Its wonderful to perform as asoloist and guide the audience through theevening. Its also fantastic to play with my friends violist Emlyn Stam and flautist Felicia van denEnd - in our trio Frasulando. I also love to teach,to help students realise their dreams. I stronglybelieve that we should follow our deepest wishes:they will show us the right direction at any pointin life.

Presently you reside in the Netherlands, what is the

scene like for guitarists there?There are quite a lot of people in The Netherlands who love the guitar. They put great effort in

organising festivals and inviting guitarists from allover the world for concerts and masterclasses.But I have heard that in the past the guitar wasreally big in the Netherlands. Last November I hada tour of ten concerts which included some of therenowned Dutch podiums for classical music,such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, AntonPhilipszaal in Eindhoven and Concertgebouw De

Vereeniging in Nijmegen. During this tour I met alot of people that love classical music, but whosimply didnt know much about the classical gui-tar. They became very enthusiastic about com-posers such as Aguado, Tansman, Brouwer andPonce. The same goes for the people who heard meplay Bach and Barrios on the radio: wonderfulresponses via e-mail. So there are certainly poten-tial audiences out there for the classical guitar; theonly question is how to reach them. I think thisquestion is raised all over the world; people lovemusic, love the guitar, but much too few know ofits full potential. How can listeners discover our

beautiful instrument? Maybe with growing num-bers of guitarists who really play beautifully, thecoming decades may see audiences for guitargrow.

DiscographyGuitar Recital, Naxos Laureate Series, Toronto 2009- Ponce, Tansman, Brouwer and Jos.Guitar Recital, Moscow 2005 - Legnani, Sor, Mertz,

Aguado, Moreno-Torroba, Barrios and Rodrigo.

Martin Taylor . Steve HackettJames Burton . Tom Paxton

Nick Harper . Wilko JohnsonJoe Brown . Bellowhead . BJ Cole

Gary Murphy . Paul Balmer . Woody Mann . Catfish Keith

John Goldie . TJ & Murphy . Peter Price . Campbell Duo

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Suite for Martin Taylorby Guy Barker

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CGM September_2010 Interview