BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Welcome to Con Fuoco – CutCommon’s interview series with emerging musicians across Australia.
Madeleine Stewart, 20, is in her second year of a Bachelor of Music specialising in Classical Performance (Flute) at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, University of Adelaide. She’s played flute for almost 13 years and for the past two has taken the role of principal flute in the Adelaide Youth Orchestra.
She started playing piccolo in the Adelaide Youth Wind Orchestra in 2014 and says: “As my career goal is to become an orchestral musician, being in AdYO has given me the opportunity to gain experience in orchestral playing, performing some incredible pieces”. You can catch her in the orchestra when AdYO performs its concert Maestro 3: Sweeping Romance on September 11 in Elder Hall, North Tce, Adelaide.
Your all time favourite piece of music?
My favourite piece of music is Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. As someone with a rather eclectic taste in music, I love the mix of both jazz and classical that Gershwin achieved with this piece. I have a real interest in American classical music, so I love how the music reflects the vibrant cities of the USA. This was influenced by my first hearing the piece in Disney movie Fantasia 2000 when it is played while depicting a bustling city during the Great Depression.
Most memorable concert experience?
Singing in the Votive Church in Vienna while on tour with the Marryatville Concert Choir in 2013. It was an incredible venue to sing in, both acoustically and aesthetically, being a lavish Gothic church. The highlight was performing Stephen Leek’s Kondalilla. In particular, creating the soundscape of the Australian rainforest through aleatoric bird noises and sound effects in a location so far away from home.
Biggest fear when performing?
Usually, I manage to get all the nerves out of the way backstage before getting up to perform and use the rest to help me focus during the performance. I don’t have any particular pre-concert routines to get rid of nerves except for not practising on the day of the concert as, by then, it’s too late to cram in extra practice! But I do still worry about the possibility that my performance won’t reflect the amount of effort put into the learning and practice – especially fast passages where weeks, sometimes months of building up and reinforcing muscle memory could become irrelevant in the space of a few bars of music.
Best piece of musical advice you’ve received?
During a woodwind tutorial for AdYO earlier this year, our tutor Dean Newcomb (principal clarinet of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra) said: ‘Think positive and be confident! Start playing a note thinking that you will get it right. If you make a mistake, it’s a fluke. Don’t go in with the mindset that getting it right is a fluke’.
How do you psych yourself up for practice on a lazy day?
I listen to music to help remind me why all those hours of practice are worth it in the end. Sometimes, it will be the pieces that I am learning to inspire me or ones that I find emotionally uplifting such as Dvorak’s New World Symphony, some of Whitacre’s choral works, and the orchestral video game scores by Austin Wintory like Journey, ABZU.
Most embarrassing moment on stage?
It was an extremely hot day at a music teachers’ conference in which I was singing as part of a choir. Due to the heat and already feeling a bit sick, I fainted on stage!
Favourite post-gig activity?
Sleep, if possible.
What are you most proud of in your musical career so far?
In 2013 at the Generations in Jazz festival in Mount Gambier (SA), I stood up in front of a few thousand people and played an improvised solo on flute as part of the Marryatville High School Big Band. Being someone who is not particularly comfortable with improvising, it was an incredible experience to get up there and give a great performance.
What do you love most about making music?
I love how music has the incredible power to make people feel something. It transcends the barriers of language and can be understood by all.
What’s your ultimate goal?
To become a successful orchestral flautist. I really love movies and video games, so I would love to work in a studio orchestra which records soundtracks. It has also been an ambition of mine to play in the BBC Symphony Orchestra after seeing them perform Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony at the BBC Proms back in 2010.
Image supplied. Credit: Greg Barrett
