BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Contrary to the commonly held belief that the violin is a superior instrument, Jin Tong Long was in her primary school years when she realised viola is just as cool.
And it was certainly a worthy discovery – the University of Melbourne student has excelled in her field, taking out scholarship after scholarship; and participating in prestigious programs with the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, and Australian Youth Orchestra.
Notably, she also took part in the 2017 Mimir Chamber Music Festival in Texas with her Inctivus Quartet. Indeed, the festival’s emerging artists now return for Mimir’s 2018 Melbourne event, and Jin Tong Long is here to tell us all about it.
In this series, we explore the TOTAL SUPERSTARS of Mimir (why wouldn’t we be enthusiastic about music education?). It’s an event that’ll bring together international talent with students of University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (who Mimir founder Curt Thompson says “have been preparing for their arrival for weeks”), a whole heap of Melbourne secondary students, and medical-professionals-turned-musicians from Corpus Medicorum.
As for Inctivus? It has performed as Australian Festival of Chamber Music emerging artists, won the Victoria’s Ringwood and Waverley Eisteddfod prizes and the Trudy Williams Bequest, has featured on 3MBS The Talent (and took out the audience prize), and won last year’s Annual Chamber Music Competition at MCM. Oh, and the group also performed at a Parliament House awards ceremony.
Hey! So, what you are up to in Mimir this year?
In July, I had the privilege to travel with my quartet, Invictus Quartet, and our friends of the Kalon Quartet, to Fort Worth, Texas for the Mimir Chamber Music Festival. We received daily coaching sessions with faculty and were given the opportunity to perform Debussy’s String Quartet at the Emerging Artists Concert. (You can hear us play a movement at the lunch hour concert this Monday 27 August at 1pm in Melba Hall at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.)
My quartet and I are so excited to be part of the festival again, this time in Melbourne, less than two months since returning from Texas. We are currently working on Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 9 and hope to continue building on the skills we learnt and developed.
Aside from the coaching sessions, I am really looking forward to the concerts by the artists and being exposed to this level of artistry once again.
What do you anticipate will be some of the big differences (or similarities) between your experiences with Mimir in Texas and Melbourne?
The weather! It was the middle of summer when we were in Texas and it was hot.
On a more serious note, Mimir in Melbourne will be very similar to Mimir in Texas. However, there will be six string quartets performing as emerging artists in Melbourne who are all studying at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. As the artists coming to Melbourne will mostly be the same, my quartet and I are really looking forward to working with them again on new repertoire.
What are some of the most significant things you learnt through your daily coaching sessions in the United States?
For the four players in a string quartet to achieve a perfectly blended ensemble sound, and to essentially become a unified body, is the ultimate goal. This was something the faculty members never stopped pushing for in the sessions.
We were lucky to have the opportunity to take Debussy’s String Quartet to the festival with us, as it provided so many different quartet textures and sound worlds to explore. It was incredibly rewarding to be coached on how to obtain a fantastic quartet sound and execute the colours that the piece demands.
Other major lessons I learnt at the festival were to listen, create contrasts, and just enjoy the sounds and music we were making.
Why are coaching and masterclasses even more useful when they’re undertaken during a festival environment?
I would describe being at the festival like living in a bubble where everyone is enjoying and making great music. The focus was on the festival and music without the distractions of everyday life.
Although the faculty had packed rehearsal schedules, they coached us with so much passion and enthusiasm. We received coaching once or twice day, which meant we were constantly building on the things that we worked on in the previous session. This also allowed for the faculty to go into great detail and depth with us on the works.
You’ve taken part in some great performance opportunities with Invictus. How does Mimir compare to other festivals and events in which you’ve performed?
The Mimir masterclasses, where all the faculty members are present and giving feedback together, was a very unique experience. The faculty had an incredible combined wealth of knowledge and it was inspiring watching them bounce off each other’s ideas.
The level of engagement we received from the faculty, both within our coaching sessions and outside those times, meant we got to know them well and hear about their own experiences.
Why would you encourage young or emerging musicians to come along this year?
The concerts are definitely one of the highlights of the festival. Words cannot describe the feeling of being at the concerts and feeling the energy that is coming from the stage, so you just have to be there in the audience!
Get your masterclass hat on and rock up to the Mimir Chamber Music Festival this 29 August-2 September.
Don’t forget to check out the full program and book yourself in on the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music website.
Be sure to check back in with us again, too! We’re partnering up with Mimir this year to take you behind the scenes with these musical LEGENDS. Stay tuned for our next interview celebrating music education with Mimir musos (like these folks, pictured below).
READ NEXT: Our interview with the Mimir founder himself, Curt Thompson!
Images supplied. Group image feat. Curt Thompson courtesy of Giulia McGauran/UniMelb.
