Meet our Artist of the Week – MusicTalks Artistic Director Elad Kabilio! Elad will perform Solo Cello Music at Inspired by Bach @ Interface For Tix: http://goo.gl/0Pc50X
We sat down with Elad to get to know him a little bit better and this is what we learned!
MT: How did the idea for MusicTalks come about?
EK: MusicTalks came from a great need of mine to share my love for music and in particular classical music. I truly feel that music is loosing its popularity, especially among people of our generation. There are naturally a few problems with classical music that instill a sense fear in an audience that is less familiar with the genre: It tends to be too long, have an air of pretense and in general feel unwelcoming and overwhelming. But the main issue is- it was written hundreds of years ago! how can our generation relate to such cultural gap? With this in mind, I tried to create a concert module that welcomes all types of listeners: those who frequent classical music concerts and those who prefer to keep a safe distance. Communicating with our audience in their language is essential and adding a glass of wine always helps!
MT: Did you always hope to incorporate an entrepreneurial side into your performance career?
EK: I never saw it coming actually. All i knew is that I loved playing music and have recently discovered that I love inviting people to enjoy music as well. If someone had told me six or seven years ago that id be producing peter and the wolf, commissioning new compositions for cello quartet and soprano and putting on Jazz performances at haut couture fashion studios, I would have never believed it.
MT: What do you hope for the future of MusicTalks and yourself?
EK: I hope that MusicTalks becomes a trend and not a singular concert series. I truly wish that people embrace the model of experiencing and making music in an intimate salon setting. I can only hope that the future of classical music becomes a more welcoming one so that a variety of audiences can enjoy its beauty.
Personally, as a musician i would love to continue exactly what I’m doing in the present. I love giving a large variety of concerts, playing with different musicians, different groups and performing different genres on a daily basis!
MT: What should the audience expect in the upcoming concert?
EK: People often ask me who my favorite composer is. I usually answer that I have no one favorite composer, but that in my eyes there is bach, who is the musical equivalent to god and then there are the rest. I love all the rest, and my preferences keep changing, but with Bach I have a never ending fascination. I feel that his works are like million piece puzzles that take an entire life time to complete. Most musicians begin their relationship with Bach when they are small children and keep discovering his genius throughout their musical career. I feel so very fortunate that bach wrote 6 suites for solo Cello. It is a generous gift of genius that any composer has yet to match ever since.
MT: If you could travel back into a different period which one would it be?
EK: According to my previous answer, you’d think that id immediately travel to meet Bach. But in fact I would go back to the 1920’s in vienna when music and all forms of art and philosophy were in their peak creativity and exploration with composers like Schoenberg, Strauss and berg and thinkers such as freud and Nietzsche. On top of all that, 1920 was the year my grandfather was born in vienna. There was something very special happening there: art was being redefined, society had a fresh sense of curiosity and open mindedness. I would just love to experience that.
