You have a new Bach recording out featuring violin and voice collaborations with Matthias Goerne and Christine Schäfer. Can you tell us how this project came about, and what the collaborative process was like?
It was a project that I had been hoping to making happen for quite a while. I have heard collaborations between violin and voice since I was four or five years old, and I first worked with singers in my mid-teens. I was always encouraged as a violin student to model phrasing on vocal lines, so it was really illuminating and exciting to collaborate with singers. Since there is just not enough disc space to record everything of the cantatas and passions by Bach, we picked and chose (actually, the singers chose, as I had requested -- I was happy to play any selections!) to come up with this particular combination of arias. Of course, I learned a lot from Matthias and Christine; they have two of the greatest voices performing today. Our schedules are difficult to coordinate with each other, so we haven't been able to do many tours together, but it has been wonderful to work with them.
You've mentioned on your website that you have another album coming out in 2010- can you tell us what that is, and when it will be released? Yes, it is Jennifer Higdon's Violin Concerto (2008) and the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, to be released on September 21, 2010. The Tchaikovsky is already very well known, but the Higdon has been extremely well received at every one of its performances, which is exhilarating. It's substantial, both pithy and engaging, and the musicians and audience all get drawn in by it.
You were recently a guest with Conan O'Brien- what was that like? It was terrific! I was pleasantly surprised at how dedicated they were to getting the music segment (me) presented in the best possible way. We had a long camera rehearsal and soundcheck, and they were so welcoming. It was fun to meet Conan, who I'd been watching in his late-night time slot for over a decade, when I'd get back from concerts and switch on the television in my hotel room. It was also a little surreal to be there. I felt like I'd been switched, and I was on the reverse side of the TV screen!
You're playing Prokofiev first concerto with the BSO and Maestro Frühbeck de Burgos in your upcoming Boston performances. Can you tell us about your history with that piece? Can you tell us about your history collaborating with Maestro Frühbeck de Burgos and/or the BSO? My teacher, Jascha Brodsky, played that piece as part of a competition while he was studying in Paris with Eugéne Ysaÿe in the 1920s. He had only a few days to learn it; when he looked out in the audience, there was Prokofiev! He wound up meeting Prokofiev afterwards and working with him a little bit, so I do feel close to this particular concerto, which Mr. Brodsky taught to me. It is always nice to be connected to a composer or performer through a minimum of musical generations; it shrinks history's recent span, in a way.
It's funny, I grew up with another BSO: the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. I went to their concerts regularly starting when I was five years old -- so those three letters are carved into my brain indelibly. As for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, I find them to be a very responsive and refined orchestra, and I enjoy the musical camaraderie I experience when I work with them. I'm looking forward to our collaboration with Maestro Frühbeck de Burgos.
You're a very avid communicator through various media- twitter, your website, YouTube, podcasts- why is this important to you? When I was a young music student, I had the good fortune of being introduced to many touring musicians and getting the opportunity to ask them about their lives as musicians. That gave me a pretty good idea of what I was getting into when my career began. What I am trying to do with my online presence is provide a reference for whoever is interested: students, concertgoers, parents, teachers, classical music newcomers, and people who are trying to figure out what the genre really is and what kinds of people perform it. Of course, I can only present what I see through my eyes, so the range of this reference is limited; but I hope it's of help to someone. Also, it gives me a creative outlet, and I enjoy compiling the material.
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Listen to Hilary Hahn's latest CD Bach: Violin and Voice! Become a member and login. Bach: Violin and Voice features Hilary Han with Matthias Goerne and Christine Schäfer.
