Spain-based renowned violinist Zohrab Tadevosyan is convinced
Under the 3rd Aram Khachaturian International Festival, among other well-known musicians, Spain-based violinist, a member of the Madrid Royal Opera Orchestra, also a professor of Music Education High School named after Katarina Gurska, Zohrab Tadevosyan will also perform. He has two concerts, one with the famous American-based pianist Sofya Melikyan on October 21 and the other – as a soloist on October 24 with the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia (artistic director and principal conductor Sergey Smbatyan). We wondered about the principles of selecting the musical works that are going to the performed at the concerts in Armenia. Zohrab Tadevosyan noted that his very good friend and cellist Mikayel Hakhnazaryan played a big role in the selection of the works for the second concert.
In the beginning, they had decided to play other works, Hakhnazaryan suggested to have the premiere in Armenia as this musical work – the Saint-Saens concerto for violin and cello – has not been performed. “As for the concert with brilliant pianist Sofya Melikyan, we just decided to select a program that is not much played in Armenia for some reason and we decided to select a program that people would recognize Schubert,” said the musician. Zohrab Tadevosyan is always in favor of performing new musical works, saying that if he also keeps playing a performed piece, he would become one of the performers of it, but it is different when you are trying to present the audience such works that are either rarely performed or not performed at all. “For example, Schubert’s “Fantasy”, I do not know whether it has ever been performed by Armenian musicians, or Strauss’s “Sonata”.
It is also necessary to perform such pieces that the audience’s musical outlook is expanded, listens to something new rather than being left within the limited standards.” According to our interlocutor, when an Armenian musician performs a musical piece, his nationality is understood from the interpretation of the piece. As said by the violinist, it stems from our gene pool and the national peculiarities. As an example, our interlocutor cited the well-known violinist Sergey Khachatryan, saying that there is sweetness in his sounds, a light radiating from the bottom.
To the question of “Aravot” that everything you took from Armenia, whether it was sufficient for the development in Spain, or let’s say the talent, diligence and other qualities played a big role, Zohrab Tadevosyan replied, “I think it’s a complex, and the talent is either there or not. The teachers played a very big role in my personal development, Levon Zoryan – at the school, my uncle Eduard Tadevosyan, my parents, my grandmother … I went abroad with a huge background, which was sufficient, later all of this was processed and shaped, I went to school there and was developed”. The violinist last played in Armenia 14 years ago and now he is thankful to Sergey Smbatyan, who suggested to have a concert and insisted that they would take place.
Since most of his time Zohrab Tadevosyan dedicates to pedagogy, namely, he is an associate professor at the Higher School of Music named after Queen Sophia in Madrid since 2010 with the world famous violinist, pedagogue and professor Anna Chumashenko, and a professor of the Higher School of Music named after Katarina Gurska since 2013, we were curious to know what advice he gives to the musicians. “Painstaking and diligence are meaningless words, everyone knows how much time he needs to practice. When I am asked how long I need to practice, I say, as much as you want, I need you to play well and if you can do it without practicing, then, do, please. I always advise to approach to the music with a specific respect and to respect the instrument. If you do not respect the instrument, you are just a player and not a musician … Also, the type of man is important for me because there cannot be a good violinist but a bad man,” Zohrab Tadevosyan is convinced.
At the end of our conversation, he told an impressive episode about how he had become a world-famous violinist, a teacher and professor Anna Chumashenkoy’s associate professor in 2010. He said that he did not even know Chumashenkoy by face. It was after the concert when he saw a few dozen missed calls on his phone. “I called back and I was told that Chumashenko has announced a contest, and whether I would be willing to play. I asked when, and they told me, right now, so I went and played, incidentally, a totally unfamiliar piece. Later, I learned that I was chosen. It was strange as I was not her student, I was taught by Zakhar Bron, and I had no hope that I will pass. But it seems it was from heaven that it turned out to be so. Now, we are inseparable, and if, God forbid, he leaves one day, I will not stay in this school too,” said Zohrab Tadevosyan.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
Photo from www.katarinagurska.com, “Aravot” daily
