Welcome back! Today Hattie and Rebecca speak with concert pianist Clare Hammond about her experience with generalised anxiety disorder, post-natal depression and how these experiences have lead Clare to performances in schools and prisons. They speak about managing a mental illness as a musician, how it might feel to inhabit a prolonged period of darkness, how and whether to communicate struggle with audiences and Clare's work within prisons.

Find Clare's article for Classical Music UK about music in prisons here

Find Changing Tunes for music in prisons here

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Acclaimed as a “pianist of extraordinary gifts” (Gramophone) and “immense power” (The Times), Clare Hammond is recognised for the virtuosity and authority of her performances. In 2016, she won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 'Young Artist Award' in recognition of outstanding achievement and in 2020 she was engaged to perform at the International Piano Series (Southbank Centre). 

 Performances during the pandemic included recitals for the Wigmore Hall and Aldeburgh Music, a live recital broadcast for BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts from St David’s Cardiff, and broadcast recordings of Moussa and Carwithen with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Geoffrey Paterson) and BBC Concert Orchestra (Gavin Sutherland). During 2020-21, Clare was engaged to perform with the Britten Sinfonia (Ryan Wigglesworth), Sinfonia Varsovia (Jacek Kaspszyk), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Christoph Altstaedt) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Dalia Stasevska). In recent seasons, she has performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (Vasily Petrenko), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Jacek Kaspszyk), and Philharmonia (Jamie Phillips). 

 Clare gave the world premiere of Uncoiling The River by Kenneth Hesketh with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Martyn Brabbins) and released the Complete Keyboard Works of Myslivecek with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (Nicholas McGegan) for BIS Records in 2019. Clare’s discs for BIS have been widely praised with her latest, Variations, receiving extensive critical approval. The disc was commended for its “shimmering pianism and lightly-worn virtuosity” (BBC Music Magazine) and “artistry of the highest order” (Musical Opinion), while Crescendo (Belgium) hailed her as “one of the most exploratory pianistic personalities of our time”. Clare’s discography includes world premiere recordings of over twenty works. 

 Clare completed a BA at Cambridge University, where she obtained a double first in music, and undertook postgraduate study with Ronan O’Hora at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

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This time on Things Musicians Don't Talk About, we meet Ellie Consta, the founder of Her Ensemble. We talk about the struggles of lockdown, life as a musician, and her growing discomfort with the classical music world as it stands today. These issues together lead her to set up Her Ensemble, the UK's first women and non-binary orchestra, which is taking the classical music scene by storm.

Thank you to Ellie for all of the incredibly important work that she is doing, and for speaking to us so honestly and openly.

London based violinist, arranger and director Ellie Consta leads an exciting and varied musical career performing in a range of musical genres. Ellie’s versatility and diverse range of interests and influences means she appears regularly with world renowned orchestras, ensembles and chamber groups, as well as world class artists and bands. Recent highlights include performing for Louis Tomlinson, Pixie Lott, Tom Walker, Laura Marling, and Jack Savoretti, as well as arranging music for Wilma Archer, Flyte, Litany and Caitlyn Scarlett. Since graduating from the Royal College of Music with a first class Honours MPerf degree, Ellie has been offered contracts with the CBSO and ESO, as well as working regularly with the LPO, Spira Mirabilis, Britten Sinfonia, the 12 Ensemble, United Strings of Europe and leading Guy Barker’s Big Band. She was also a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra for four years and is currently on trial for a sub-principal position with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, Ellie founded Her Ensemble, the UK’s first women and non-binary orchestra who made their debut this month at Battersea Arts Centre. Since forming in November 2020, the group have already recorded a feature film score for BBC Scotland, performed alongside Pixie Lott and LITANY and been featured by The Strad, Scala Radio and Help Musician’s UK. 

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In today's episode Hattie speaks with the renowned cellist Laura van Der Heijden. Laura won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award in 2012 at the age of 15 and since then has gone on to establish herself as a concerto soloist and chamber musician in high demand.

In the episode Laura and I speak about her ongoing struggles with performance anxiety and how debilitating the experience of performing can feel. We also speak about the pressures around winning such a prestigious competition and how Laura believes she made decisions that took into account her desire for longevity as an artist, often turning down opportunities she didn't feel ready for. We also speak about body image within classical music and how Laura has found spaces to be vulnerable professionally, expressing how freeing rehearsing with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective has been. The recent pandemic saw Laura take a decision to leave cello practice for a time, spending time with her family and exploring different types of music. We speak about how Laura has found new musical life through learning jazz piano and improvisation.

I can't thank Laura enough for giving us her time, vulnerability and warmth and I hope you all enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed speaking with her!

Find out more about Laura and her upcoming projects!

The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective

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Hattie speaks with trombonist and fellow podcaster, Melissa Brown about her OCD diagnosis and the impact it has had on Melissa both personally and professionally. We speak about suffering during music college, the reality of living every minute of the day with intense anxiety and how to find the right therapy for OCD. 

Melissa speaks so mindfully and with so much professionalism, whilst still having a real desire to connect and be vulnerable. I really felt at home and supported through this conversation, knowing that we never suffer alone, however lonely OCD feels.

More about Melissa:

Melissa Brown (she/her) is a trombonist, brass teacher, and podcaster now based in the Midlands of the UK (Leicestershire to be precise).

 She is a graduate of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and is now a freelance professional trombonist with a lot of her work focussed on educating future musicians either as a classroom music teacher or low brass specialist instrumental teacher. 

 Melissa is also the host, producer, and editor over at Bold as Brass Podcast where she interviews fellow brass professionals from around the world about their jobs. They just surpassed 10K downloads and had a conversational panel to celebrate (feel free to check it out on their Facebook page).

 Her website, to find out more, is: melissabrownbrass.co.uk

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Today is all things Chineke!, Steiner education, mental health and branching out of classical music into other projects/genres!

Hattie chats to violinist Raye Harvey about her life and education. Delving into the subtle ways in which subtle racial discrimination has been transformed by the work of the Chineke! Orchestra, Raye talks about becoming involved with Europe's majority-Black and ethnically diverse orchestra and how transformational that has been. Raye speaks openly about her mental health, expressing why few musicians emerge from conservatoire unscathed. She speaks about how she sought professional support, including CBT in the past few years and about her experience with seasonal affective disorder.

More about Raye:

Raye Harvey is a Manchester based violinist and singer-songwriter who completed her undergraduate degree at the RNCM and is currently finishing a PGCEi with Music Masters. Coming from a large Indian-Caribbean family, Raye loves travel, collaboration and working in many different genres. As well as teaching, she performs extensively as an orchestral and session musician, including with the Ignition Orchestra, on the Brand New Heavies newest album and internationally with the Chineke! Orchestra. Raye is passionate about making music accessible for all and increasing diversity in Classical music. She also recently released her debut self-titled EP “Lakshmi”, and was made BBC Introducing Hereford and Worcester’s Artist of the Week.

Follow Raye!

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Welcome back! Today I am speaking with composer and guitarist George Dexter Evans about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and autism and how they impact his life as a musician and composer. We speak about the common misconceptions surrounding CFS, about taking time away to recover before starting university, being a 'mature' student and the stigma surrounding it. We also speak about George's later diagnosis of autism, how special interests and 'masking' have played into George's life, and how it can impact day to day functioning.

About George:

George Evans is a composer and electronic musician based in London. He studied electric guitar before pursuing a degree in composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Malcolm Singer and Hollie Harding. He will be continuing at Guildhall in 2021, focusing on a Master’s degree in Electronic and Produced Music.

His current compositional interests include the ambiguity between stasis and movement, the spatialisation of sound, and what it means for music to be immersive. His work combines influence from Feldman, Saariaho and Takemitsu as well as ambient and drone music.

Recent pieces include ‘Expanses’ for clarinet and electronics (fixed media), recorded by the celebrated clarinettist Heather Roche, and ‘Golden Jubilee Bridges at Night’ recorded by the Guildhall Session Orchestra as part of the Illuminated River project 2021.

Find George on Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/georgedexterevans

Things Musicians Don't Talk About website: https://www.thingsmusiciansdonttalkabout.com

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I am so sad that it’s the final day of walks, but today I am escaping the rain inside! I answer some of your questions about making decisions when you’re feeling unstable, the stigma of moving back in with your parents and what to do when things feel endless. Thank you so much everyone who has tuned in this week and made it so special. Also to my Instagram Live guests, Rebecca and Abi for their vulnerability and openness. 

Things Musicians Don't Talk About website: https://www.thingsmusiciansdonttalkabout.com

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