BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Alex Raineri is doing pretty well at 21 years old.
The pianist has performed with some of the country’s most respected ensembles and groups including the Queensland, West Australian, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. He received the Australian National Piano Award last year – and this is all while taking on the roles of pianist and co-artistic director of Brisbane ensemble Kupka’s Piano.
This week, Alex is set to present works by Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, and Tristain Murail alongside Melbourne ensemble anon. as part of the Future Classic concert series. He chats with CutCommon about age, performance, and life as a young musician in Australia today.
So what’s it like having performed with some of the country’s greatest orchestras by 21?
Very humbling and rewarding! Coming up this year I’ve got a couple more concerto performances with Orchestra Victoria and the Darwin Symphony Orchestra. It’s such a rare opportunity to have the chance to properly explore the concerto repertory and I’m very grateful for the numerous opportunities that I’ve had thus far!
The age gap between you as a pianist and the senior members of the orchestras you’ve performed with is substantial. Do you think musical maturity is completely detached from age?
Interesting question. Orchestras nowadays are so varied, within themselves there’s often a huge age range – from early 20s to more senior members. Also similarly with conductors! In a sense, I feel that the most successful approach to these collaborative experiences is to keep an open mind and be willing to adapt your interpretive ideas to be efficient within an orchestral context. The most successful musical experiences for me (whether they be concertos or chamber music) have been such that a communal approach embodies a willingness to experiment with new approaches, new ideas, new concepts. Whilst there always has to be some kind of hierarchical structure within the rehearsal process (all in the name of productivity), in answer to the question, I essentially believe that age is somewhat irrelevant to making meaningful and interesting musical experiences.
At what stage in your career so far have you felt you had to work the hardest?
Playing music is difficult but ultimately deeply rewarding. I feel very privileged to have so many opportunities to work as a freelance musician in my home country. Playing the piano requires a huge amount of dedication to practice and perfecting the craft. Also, the time which is necessary to invest into the administrative side of things can be a full-time job in itself. I’ve always been very driven to raise the bar for myself and I have the benefit of having the opportunity to share my ideas about music on the concert platform pretty regularly. I’m continuing to work away doing what I love so, in a sense, it’s an ongoing state of development and presentation.
So, let’s be honest – do you hit the keys every day? What’s your biggest motivation?
The motivation is the work itself (pretty cheesy I know, but true!). Generally yes, every day when possible. My schedule and routine is always in flux given the circumstances of the moment. I try to aim for a generic quota of three to five hours at the piano a day.
Being in our 20s is as much about exploring adulthood as it is about building a career. How have you found the balance?
In travelling so much, I’ve been able to set up networks of professional contacts but also a close group of friends in the cities which I find myself frequenting. One of the great joys of being a freelance musician is the ability to tailor my schedule to suit specific deadlines or possibilities. It’s very tempting to be a workaholic! I always function better professionally if I’ve been able to make room for ‘down time’ or ‘experimenting with adulthood’, if you will.
With Kupka’s Piano, you introduce new music to audiences. Yet, you’re performing works by Beethoven and Brahms for your Future Classic performance. How do you approach these differences, and is there a right time and place for new music and conventional classical music?
The concept of ‘right time and place’ and ‘conventionality’ within the classical music world I always feel is somewhat blurry and indistinctly defined. For me, it’s a question of how music is presented that dictates what kind of experience the listener will have. I’ve been to some very conventional performances of outrageously contemporary works and some incredibly vibrant and fresh takes on what we might consider to be conventional canonical pieces!
Alex Raineri will perform as part of Future Classics tomorrow night, starting 7.30pm at the Kew Court House. For bookings call (03) 9278 4770 or email kch@boroondara.vic.gov.au. Read more about Alex at www.alexraineri.com.
Image supplied.
