The Arts Salon

Trent is the owner of the successful retailer Austin Custom Brass, and I could not think of a better way to start 2022 and tell you to prepare for another difficult year, than by having my friend Trent Austin talk about his success in another avenue in the arts. A common narrative we heard during the beginning of this pandemic was that we would soon experience a glorious roaring twenties in our era. The idea was that as the pandemic ended people around the world would be out everywhere spending money and attending events. But I have to tell you this Gatsby dream is not coming anytime soon. As this year sets in, inflation will continue to rise, and the Federal Reserve will end its pandemic support, and last I checked the Federal Government is still talking of more ways to restrict movement and gathering in increasingly meaningless and surreal ways. I am not here to tell you the situation is hopeless, but I am here to say: look around you, there are other ways to put food on the table without even leaving your industry. Furthermore. I will say this: only you can control your life desires and ambitions, and anyone who would judge your need to put food on your table and pay your rent is not a good friend or mentor. We’re not “all in this together,” it’s time for everyone to analyze what is important to them, and not try to fulfill the desires of the principal trumpet of their local orchestras (unless they are paying your rent).

Today’s guest is my good friend Mauricio Rodriguez. You may remember Mauricio from my three-part conversation about Colombia some months back. He is one of my dearest and oldest friends, and we share a passion for history and reason. He has a background in international relations, and has worked for many NGOs as well as private industry.

This discussion is a lot about the history of Latin America, and particularly the absurd nature of how many people have been taught to look back in time as moralistic crusaders. The reason this is a relevant topic in the arts, is because the perceived injuries that this generation believes they have suffered is fueling a whole group of people with very distorted grievances, making art and questioning institutions in a way that makes little sense in the long arc of history.

Further Reading: https://www.amazon.com/Unpopular-Essays-Routledge-Classics-27/dp/0415473705/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=unpopular+essays+bertrand+russell&qid=1641510426&sprefix=unpopular+essays%2Caps%2C222&sr=8-1 

Belgian trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts is a paramount musical force with an all-inclusive love for music that knows not how to discriminate. Praised for his outstanding technical capabilities and sensitive musicality, his repertoire encompasses every epoch, from baroque music to contemporary music to jazz. With a flourishing solo career of recitals as well as concerts with the world's leading symphony orchestras, Jeroen Berwaerts still finds time to devote himself to chamber music.

Born in 1975, Jeroen Berwaerts' musical talents had already been awarded with prizes from various competitions such as the Concours Maurice André (1991) and Concours Européen de Jeunes Trompettistes (1992) when he began studies in Karlsruhe with celebrated trumpet-virtuoso Reinhold Friedrich. He was also an award-winner at the Prague Spring International Music Competition in 1997 and won the 2nd grand prize as well as the "Prix Feeling" (a special prize for best interpretation) at the Maurice André Trumpet Competition.

Jeroen Berwaerts' open-mindedness and resplendent playing have brought him invitations to play at internationally acclaimed music festivals, including Ars Musica in Belgium, Takefu International Music Festival and the Rheingau Music Festival, as well as frequently at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival where in 2005 he performed the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Voyage VII for trumpet and ensemble. He has also performed as a soloist with many well-renowned orchestras including the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hanover and the Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen under conductors such as Alan Gilbert and Yakov Kreizberg. Since winning the position of Principal Trumpet of the NDR Radio Symphony Hamburg in 1999, he has been invited to appear on several occasions as soloist with the orchestra.

Following many years as a member of the Canadian Brass, Jeroen Berwaerts now plays with the Stockholm Chamber Brass. Over thirty compositions have been written for the ensemble, which performs mostly original compositions or arrangements of both contemporary and more traditional repertoire.

Amidst his burgeoning trumpet career, Jeroen Berwaerts completed Jazz vocal studies at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. He has developed several programs for trumpet and piano where he uniquely combines classical, jazz, trumpet and voice.

His first solo CD In the Limelight provides a stunning take on trumpet repertoire of the Romantic period. RCA also released a live-CD featuring the Posthornserenade by Mozart under the baton of Günther Wand. Since 2008, Jeroen Berwaerts has been a Professor of Trumpet at the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover.

Jeroen Berwaerts is Yamaha Artist.

Today's guest is Clément Saunier. After studying with Clément Garrec at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, he obtained prizes in several international interpretation competitions: Citta di Porcia (Italy 2002), Prague Spring (2003), Jeju (South Korea 2004), Théo Charlier (Brussels 2005), Tchaikovsky (Moscow 2011). Clément Saunier is also the last French laureate in the last Maurice André trumpet competition (Paris 2006).

In 2013 he was named solo trumpet with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris and thus collaborates with influential composers and orchestral conductors of our time such as Peter Eötvös, Matthias Pintscher, Pierre Boulez, Simon Rattle, Pablo Heras-Casado, Unsuk Chin, Martin Matalon, Helmut Lachenmann, Olga Neuwirth…

An international concert artist, his repertoire ranges from the Bach’s 2nd Brandenburg Concerto to contemporary works (Maresz, Pintscher, Ligeti, Stockhausen, Berio). As such he is invited to perform recitals or to be accompanied by larger orchestral ensembles on stages across the globe. (Germany, Switzerland, Colombia, Japan, Italy, South Korea, Slovenia, Russia…).

Nate and I talk about a lot of things in this conversation, which is one of the ones that has stuck with me the most. One sentiment in particular has been with me since we talked, Nate said “I don’t like any traditions that exclude any other traditions.” This sentiment is so powerful, and applicable to many of the issues that are plaguing art in the West, from the era’s bizarre obsession with authenticity and cultural appropriation policing, to the conservative orthodoxy that has made the arts sluggish and numb.

Speaking to Nate, and listening to this again I feel a renewed commitment to our responsibility as artist to audiences. Too often I am part of conversations where artists’ priorities seem to be pleasing other artists, critics, and pundits, while the audiences are thought of as merely bystanders. This prioritization is what I believe has steered the arts into a cultural decline. Decline, contrary to what many people will tell you, is a choice. People like Nate have refused this choice, and are instead carving a different path. I hope this conversation will help illuminate how he and his cohort are navigating this path, which adds to the Western canon, while pushing it forward, which is ultimately the only direction it can move.

Read more about Nate here

Today’s guest is Joseph Horowitz. Joseph is without a doubt one of the most influential thinkers in classical music in the world. His work should be a staple of any modern musician’s library. I wish to thank him for his time and generosity, it was a pleasure getting to know him during the couple of hours we spent chatting.

In our conversation we discuss his upcoming book Dvorak’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music, as well as the NPR documentary he produced and is linked to in the description of this podcast. I hope you will all listen to it and enjoy his incredible scholarly work. In dealing with this subject, we land in many places, including cultural appropriation, academic work, the orchestral world’s inability to innovate, migration patterns and music, and many more subject. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Joseph Horowitz, and are encouraged to go and find his brilliant work, it will help most re-define their understanding of musical scholarship and passion.

Links: 

https://www.artsjournal.com/uq/2020/12/an-act-of-empathy-a-dvorak-radio-documentary.html

https://the1a.org/segments/new-world-symphony-dvorak/

In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no culture of the earth, no navigation, no use of the commodities that may be imported by sea, no commodious building, no instrument of moving and removing such things as require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no arts, no letters, no society; and, which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

(Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I. Ch. XII)

Homo homini lupus

Cuba Libre, is a simple and refreshing cocktail made of rum, cola, and lime. Its name has interesting origins, as the cocktail came into vogue when Cubans were seeking independence from Spain, and a concoction or rum or aguardiente, honey or molasses, and water, gained popularity with the Cuban and American soldiers who battled the last bastion of the weakened Spanish dominion in the Caribbean. This conflict would bring 400 years of Spanish presence in the Americans to a long overdue close. Today, more than 120 years later, Cubans are still not free, and though the yolk is now homegrown, the evisceration of this historically prosperous island should be a cause of pain to anyone with commitment to human liberty and progress.

Todays guest, Joshua Banbury & Kevin Sherwin are on to talk about their recently release EP, Forgotten Folklore. We talk about the project, folk music, performance practice and other subjects. 

Check out the project here: http://kevinsherwin.com/forgotten-folklore/ 

Check out Joshua: https://www.joshuabanbury.com/forgotten-folklore

Today’s guest is Christine Chapman, an eclectic American horn player, and a member of the innovative and explosive Ensemble Musikfabrik. I will read her bio now for those listeners who might not be familiar with her work.

Raised in the coastline woods of western Michigan, Christine Chapman has traveled far and wide to pursue her passion for music. In 1990, after finishing her musical studies at the University of Michigan and Indiana University, she broke out of the rural heartland of America for an orchestra job on the still fresh border between East and West Germany. The desire to gain a bit of work experience before returning to the States has since turned into a quarter of a century of exploration and adventure.

As a member of Ensemble Musikfabrik, Christine Chapman has had the opportunity to collaborate directly with many of today's greatest composers, premiering and performing works by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wolfgang Rihm, Peter Eötvös, Rebecca Saunders and Georg Friedrich Haas, among others. The experience of performing "outside of the box", such as with the music of Harry Partch, La Monte Young, Sun Ra, or Mouse on Mars, is the main impetus of her work.

"Trying to see through the technicalities of playing to bring out the soul of the music; that is what's so exciting for me.”

Today’s guest is Charlie Schlueter. It was a pleasure getting to know Charlie over this talk. I applied to be his student at NEC after high school, but eventually ended up getting second-hand smoke from his old student Russell Devuyst. I was interested in having him on the podcast for this reason, but also to gain some more insight into the earlier career of my hero, Thomas Stevens.

Charlie and I talk at length about his interests in music making, and some of the growing trends in the trumpet community that have shifted this artistic profession into glorified acrobatics. This is a long conversation so I will keep this introduction short. Charlie and I will likely have a follow-up conversation soon to cover his fantastic new book, which I am currently finishing. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy.