BY LEAH BLANKENDAAL
Welcome to Con Fuoco – CutCommon’s interview series with emerging musicians across Australia.
Adam Richardson is a third year flutist and piccoloist. Originally from Perth, in 2014 he relocated to Melbourne to pursue studies at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
Adam plays flute and piccolo with several Melbourne orchestras including the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian and Asian Orchestra. He has performed previously with the University of Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Charity Orchestra, Melbourne Sinfonia and the Melbourne Youth Orchestra.
Adam’s recent awards include the Leslie Barklamb Piccolo Scholarship and the Donald William Thornton Woodwind Scholarship.
Your all-time favourite piece of music?
My favourite piece of music is Lowell Liebermann’s Concerto for Flute. A close friend introduced it to me in 2014 and I have listened to it over 1,000 times since. It features the most brilliant orchestral and solo flute writing I’ve ever heard. The flute line is so beautiful and exciting and the orchestral parts are so expertly woven together that they create a magical sound world that sounds almost cinematic. No other piece I’ve heard has had such a profound emotional effect on me. It’s what I listen to when I need cheering up or when I want to pump myself up.
Most memorable concert experience?
My most memorable concert experience was in 2015. I was playing with the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in the Recital Centre for the first time and we played Ravel’s Rhapsodie Espagnol. The piece has such an exciting climax at the end that, as we finished, I felt both an intense feeling of achievement and an overwhelming happiness to be playing alongside my friends in such an amazing orchestra. I’ve played in many orchestras previously with friends, but this performance had reached a new level for me.
Biggest fear when performing?
My biggest fear when I perform is that I’m not going to be good enough to express myself and my feelings in the music; that I will get up on stage and will not play well enough and I will let my audience down.
Best piece of musical advice you’ve been given?
The best piece of advice that I’ve ever received came from my past teacher Neil Fisenden. He once told to me that music isn’t brain surgery; no one will die if I make a mistake! For most of our lives, it feels like if we make a mistake during a performance then our entire career will end. This just isn’t true at all. Mistakes are our opportunities to learn.
How do you psych yourself up for practice on a lazy day?
This is an area of great difficulty for me. I find motivating myself to practice rather difficult, but I try to draw inspiration from my friends and fellow musicians. I know some of the most dedicated musicians in this city and seeing them and their commitment to practice inspires me to do the same.
Most embarrassing moment on stage?
In 2015, I was playing with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and, as we were rehearsing, I sneezed. It was one of the loudest and most high pitched sneezes I have ever done and it caused the entire orchestra to stop playing, turn around, and laugh! It was the funniest and most embarrassing moment of my orchestral career so far.
Favourite post-gig activity?
I love relaxing with my colleagues after a concert. There is nothing like sitting down after an intense rehearsal period and a fantastic concert and admiring what we have all just achieved.
What are you most proud of in your musical career so far?
I am proud of the amazing things that I have done since I moved to Melbourne. I was very frightened when I moved away from Perth because I was leaving my family, my friends and everyone I’d ever known. I was afraid that I would never get any orchestral work because I didn’t know anyone and no one knew me. Seeing how much I have managed to do in two years here makes the future seem so much brighter and the idea of moving to a new city less scary.
What do you love most about making music?
The thing I love most about making music is creating it with other like-minded people. We spend so much time alone in the practice rooms making sure that our tone and technique are infallible, so when we can step outside and join others with the same love and passion for music, it’s magical.
What’s your ultimate goal?
My ultimate goal is to be playing full time in a symphony orchestra somewhere around the world and devoting my life to making beautiful, inspiring music with people who love music just as much as I do.
Image supplied. Credit: Adam Tan.
