October 03, 2021

SUSAN ELDRIDGE In Conversation with Ingrid Martin

44 minutes

Ingrid Martin transforms lives through music. Her life-long mission: to make classical music relevant, interesting and engaging for everyone. Insatiably curious, Ingrid constantly asks "Who is it for? Why are we doing this? How could it be better?" Her answer usually involves challenging norms and ditching long-held traditions to create meaningful experiences for audiences.

QUOTES

“Probably more people have been to space than have seen me dance. Isn’t that strange because my job as a conductor is to embody the music.”

“I realised that many musicians are not connected to the way that emotions live within their body. Maybe the reason I feel safe conducting but not dancing, is because I can hide behind technique and a set of codified moments. But that’s not really about expression.”

“Being serious is seen as being professional, but where is the embodiment of lots of other emotions like silliness.”

“How can we embrace a much wider idea of what professional musicians are. As soon as you said the word “serious” I thought about all the things I’ve thought of doing in my life that I have told myself not to do because that would not look good or serious as a conductor.”

“Coming from a community music background, playing free concerts in a park to anybody that wanted to come meant there was no “cathedral of privilege” of the concert hall. None of the signalling of how to behave existed, people would just clap and shout out if they were having a good time. All of the conventions about how audiences “should’ behave weren’t there in the music I made growing up.”

LINKS