Intermezzo

Violinist Jad Ibrahim explores the crisp, percussive technique of upbow staccato and reflects on his musical journey from Syria to Interlochen.

Music in this episode:

Grigoraș Dinicu: "Hora Staccato"

Christy L’Esperance talks with Interlochen Arts Academy senior Jad Ibrahim about his musical journey, double stops in violin playing and the value of perseverance and positivity in music.

Music in this episode:

J.S. Bach: Partita for Solo Violin performed by Itzhak Perlman

This week’s cohost is violinist Jad Ibrahim, a student at Interlochen Arts Academy.

Jad introduces you to the challenging technique of left-hand pizzicato — a skill that involves plucking and bowing the violin at the same time. He shares how he's tackling it through pieces like Paganini’s Caprice No. 24

Later, Jad reflects on how traditional Eastern Mediterranean music, especially songs by Lebanese singer Fairuz, connects him to his Syrian roots.

Music in this episode:

Paganini: Caprice no. 24

Fairuz: "Voice of Hope"

Today on Intermezzo, we're joined by violinist Jad Ibrahim, a student at Interlochen Arts Academy, whose remarkable journey began in Latakia, Syria.

Jad shares how he taught himself to play violin by watching YouTube videos of the old masters — Heifetz, Oistrakh, Menuhin — and how his life transformed after coming to Interlochen.

Jad discusses the challenges of learning music without formal lessons, the powerful role of mentorship, and his current work on Wieniawski's "Variations on an Original Theme."

Plus, he introduces us to the world of right hand pizzicato, from brief orchestral techniques to the full-string plucking heard in the Strauss brothers’ "Pizzicato Polka."

Christy and her cohost explore one of the violin’s most expressive techniques: vibrato.

This week on Intermezzo, host Christy L'Esperance is joined by violinist Jad Ibrahim. Originally from Latakia, Syria, Jad picked up the violin at just seven years old, inspired by the young musicians around him who would later become close friends.

Music in this episode:

Yehudi Menuhin performing Brahms's Violin Concerto in D major

Maria Callas singing "Vissi d'arte" from Puccini's "Tosca"

"Talk of the town" by the Pretenders

Yehudi Menuhin performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor

Henryk Wieniawski's "Variations on an original theme" Op. 15 (Performed by: Teo Gertler in the finals of Virtuosos V4+ classical music competition)

Thanks for joining us for our first week of Intermezzo! So far we've talked about we talked about comedic timing, teasing, physical comedy and defying expectation in classical music. Today we're exploring exaggeration.

When you tell a story and totally exaggerate just one part of it, it becomes something totally different. For example, if you get a caricature drawn, the artist will exaggerate one part of you — glasses, hair or your nose. Or you can exaggerate elements of a story.

Erik Satie has a piano piece, written over 100 years ago, with a French title that basically translates to "dried-out lobster embryo." At the end, he exaggerates the kind of ending that you'd expect from Beethoven.

Music in this episode:

Satie: "Embryons Desséchés"

Leopold Mozart: "Die Bauernhochzeit" for hurdy-gurdy, bagpipe and orchestra

Surprise has been the heart of humor since Aristotle, and in music — as in Mel Brooks’s "Young Frankenstein" or Malcolm Arnold’s "A Grand, Grand Overture" — that surprise often comes through absurd, unexpected twists that make us laugh.

In this episode, Christy shares a clip from one of her favorite comic movies, Mel Brooks's "Young Frankenstein." In this scene, to prove that the monster can blend into high society, he gets dressed in a tuxedo with a top hat and a cane. Frankenstein dances on stage in a very fancy theater while singing "Puttin' on the Ritz."

In Classical music, sometimes the composer chooses to use absurd instruments. English composer Malcolm Arnold wrote a piece called "A Grand, Grand Overture," which uses a regular orchestra, an organ, three vacuum cleaners, a floor polisher and four rifles. At the climax of the piece the rifles, silence the vacuum cleaners one by one. Here's a clip from the beginning when the vacuum cleaners start up and the rifles try to eliminate them.

Music in this episode:

Irving Berlin: "Puttin' on the Ritz"

Malcolm Arnold: "A Grand, Grand Overture"

To understand slapstick all you have to do is watch old cartoons or old comic moves by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Gardy or The Three Stooges.

Characters slip and fall, get caught holding an exploding stick of dynamite, get squashed by a piano dropped from fourth story window — but they always survive.

But you can use all sorts of instruments to suggest physical comedy. Composer Paul Hart wrote a concert piece called "Cartoon" using a full orchestra. Here's a sample.

And if you want to hear more music about slapstick and pranks gone wrong, try "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" by Richard Strauss.

Music in this episode:

Paul Hart: "Cartoon"

Strauss: "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks"

Host Christy L'Esperance and cohost Hazel dive into the quirky side of classical music, exploring how light teasing and pranks can be a source of friendly fun.

Tuesday’s discussion wanders into the mischievous behavior of both animals and composers.

Music in this episode:

Haydn: Symphony No. 60 "Il Distratto"

Saint-Saens: "Carnival of the Animals" - "Pianists"

What does a timing joke sound like? As an example from today's episode of "Intermezzo" — Hazel and Christy compare classical humor to timing in stand-up comedy, such as in the famous Elf movie scene.

And here's an example of humor in classical music from the end of Franz Josef Haydn's "The Joke Quartet." The joke here is that Haydn repeatedly tricks the audience into thinking the piece has ended when it has not. He’s trying to trick you into clapping by setting up expectations.

Music in this episode:

Franz Josef Haydn: String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 33, No. 2 “The Joke” Finale

P.D.Q. Bach: 1712 Overture, S. 1712