BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
I was flabbergasted — yes, flabbergasted — when Margaret Leng Tan told me she’s never headlined a show before.
After all, The New York Times has named her the “diva of avant-garde pianism” and “queen of toy piano”. So what a treat it will be for Australian audiences to have the pleasure of watching Margaret, for the first time, headline a performance at Extended Play.
Equally exciting is that this virtuoso will also present the Australian premiere of George Crumb’s new Metamorphoses, which he wrote just for her — and the entire event will mark Margaret’s Sydney debut.
Toy piano and grand piano fans alike are in for quite an occasion. The pianist has shared her talents with audiences at the Lincoln Centre and Carnegie Hall, performed on teapots and tuna cans, studied with and become an authority on John Cage, and was even recognised as the first woman to achieve a doctorate from The Juilliard School.
So. You excited yet?
Yeah, so are we.
Margaret, you’re headlining Extended Play. What are the responsibilities (or most exciting things!) that come with being a major headline act?
I don’t know, having never headlined anything before!
You’re playing toy and grand piano. Isn’t one type of piano enough?
Why settle for one when you can have all manner of pianos and all manner of toy instruments?
I am fortunate to have composer friends, like Erik Griswold, willing to humour me and make me challenging multi-tasking pieces that use several instruments simultaneously, like toy piano with bicycle bell, bicycle horn and train whistle.
John Cage believed that one can make music on any object capable of producing sound, and I am simply rising to the occasion: turning toys into instruments capable of genuine artistic expression.
The piano won’t be the only toy in your Extended Play show. How important do you feel the element of fun is in a live performance — for you and audiences alike?
Concerts are much too serious affairs. I just want to escape from the ivory tower and have some fun and take the audience along on the ride.
Combined with this playful program is the Australian premiere of Crumb’s piano cycle. What was it like working with this composer on a piece made just for you?
The making of Metamorphoses was both fun and a profoundly moving experience. Here was this iconic composer creating a work tailored to my idiosyncrasies, incorporating toy percussion instruments as well as the toy piano — and using my voice in unusual ways, which I like to do, for example: cawing like a crow in the Van Gogh Wheatfield with Crows movement.
And such a modest man, asking for my critical input into what he had written, and taking my suggestions very seriously indeed!
How does the composition reveal your identity as a musician? As it was written for you, what does it say about you?
I think it is one of George’s great late works. I am honored to have been his muse and part of the creative process.
You’ve forged your career with a strong focus on the avant-garde and experimental music. So, having achieved such success as a virtuoso, why do you think audiences are still debating the accessibility of “modern” music?
I have created a niche career that has gradually evolved over time. What I do is a reaction to highbrow academic modern music. I revel in making music with the mundane objects of everyday life, whether it is soy sauce dishes or tuna fish cans. It really is mission accomplished when audiences come up after a performance and tell me how much they love avant-garde music!
Turning quirkiness into an art form has its own set of challenges, but I am glad I went down that rabbit hole rather than stayed on the traditional route.
What do you hope listeners at Extended Play will gain from the experience? Should they prepare to be enlightened?
I am not out to enlighten anyone, I just want to be an entertainer and give people a good time.
Signing off with a huge accomplishment — being the first woman in the history of Juilliard to graduate with a doctorate – what’s your advice to fellow women, who are making their own career ‘firsts’ as they go?
Stick to the strength of your convictions, and never let anyone dissuade you from pursuing an idea — no matter how wacky it may appear to the outside world. They will come around if you persevere and it has genuine merit. See what happened with the toy piano? It’s now regarded as a real instrument!
See Margaret perform her Sydney debut, the Australian premiere of George Crumb’s Metamorphoses, and her first show as headline artist (yep, all that) at Extended Play: Miniature Meets Monumental, 7.30pm August 31 in the City Recital Hall.
We partnered up with the City Recital Hall to bring you this interview! You can find out more about Extended Play on the website. Margaret’s is just one of 20 new music performances that’ll take place in 12 hours!
Images supplied
