BY LAURA BIEMMI
Grace Clifford is one wildly impressive 19 year old.
Currently in her fourth year at the Curtis Institute of Music, Grace has played as a soloist with the Adelaide Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, and Melbourne Chamber Orchestra. Pretty wonderful, right?
But that’s not all. Grace has also toured as part of a piano trio for the Selby & Friends Australian tour, become a fellow at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute in 2017, and even won the 2014 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year. Honestly, I’m exhausted just thinking about it all.
This year, she will perform as the youngest ever player in the Australian Festival of Chamber Music – an initiative under the artistic direction of Kathryn Stott. Speaking about the opportunities that AFCM brings to young musicians, Kathryn says:
“This year, Australian violinist Grace Clifford, will be our youngest ever AFCM guest – how exciting is that?!
“It’s so special for our younger musicians to work with those who are very well established but equally, our younger guests can really keep us all on our toes and bring freshness through their new experiences. It’s a win-win scenario.
“I’m very fortunate to have the means to bring people together with an age span of 40 years, and see them collaborating in the way they do. Music has no boundaries and at AFCM we celebrate that as much as possible.”
So before she makes her big AFCM performance, we speak to Grace about the adaptability of the violin as a chamber instrument, the multilayered communicative ability of chamber music, and the warmth of Australian chamber audiences.
Congratulations on your involvement in the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. What made you want to be involved in this significant event in Australia’s musical calendar?
It is such a privilege to be able to be a part of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music this year. I love the scope of the festival under Kathryn Stott’s direction, with the incredible range of music to be performed and the variety of musicians taking part. The opportunity to completely immerse oneself in chamber music and learn as much as possible from working with the incredible guest artists will be inspiring and humbling. I always love returning home to Australia and have very happy memories of visiting Townsville for the first time in 2013.
Tell us about your instrument – how does it lend itself to the intimate nature of chamber music?
One of the things I love about playing the violin is the adaptable role of the instrument in chamber music. A violin can imitate the human voice, singing or speaking poetically or prosaically; it can hold the melodic line or it can merge into the background. I particularly love playing as an inner voice, as second violin — to be intimately connected with the other voices in harmony and texture, listening and adjusting, and then to emerge from the texture in other moments.
Which piece are you most looking forward to performing at the AFCM, and why is it a powerful one?
I’m looking forward to playing such a variety of interesting repertoire with many wonderful musicians, but I am particularly glad to be a part of celebrating Julian Yu’s compositions, with his Piano Trio and Passacaglia for solo violin.
Passacagalia has a combination of ethereal purity and raw intensity, and demands everything of the violinist, physically and emotionally. It is very challenging and unlike anything I have ever played; I am both looking forward and slightly terrified, in equal measure.
Why is chamber music an important genre of music for instrumentalists to play?
Chamber music is for me the essence of what music is and what it is capable of — the potential for honest and deeply personal communication in chamber music is unlike any other experience. The several layers of communication — between composer and his [or her] composition, composition and musicians, musicians and musicians, and musicians and audience. And the transparency and intimacy a small chamber ensemble allows can be meaningful for everyone.
Listening to each other and responding in kind — a balance of give and take — is part of what makes chamber music so challenging and so fulfilling.
What is the highlight of your chamber music career so far?
The very nature of chamber music lends itself to memorable experiences. Tours with Kathryn Selby and Clancy Newman these past two years as part of Selby and Friends have been invaluable; Kathy and Clancy are wonderful people as well as inspiring and honest musicians.
Other highlights include being immersed in Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire before a performance with soprano Lucy Shelton in New York, and two years of exploring repertoire and performing with a quartet of fellow students from Curtis. Participating in Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute in Chicago was in turn an overwhelming and an illuminating learning experience for me.
In your experience, how does Australia’s approach to chamber music compare with other countries?
I am probably not experienced enough to gauge international differences beyond comparisons to American summer chamber music festivals and chamber music at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. I believe smaller Australian chamber ensembles or festivals are very likely to encourage an openness of communication between musicians and audience, whether through musicians speaking about the program from the stage or through a generally more informal or intimate setting. Perhaps reciprocally, I feel there is a particularly wonderful and palpable warmth in Australian audiences.
As a young artist, what do you feel is the importance of festivals such as the AFCM? What does this offer you in your career?
The opportunity to rehearse and perform alongside much more experienced artists, and to absorb as much information and learning from them as possible, is invaluable. The experience of playing a variety of music with artists you have only met for the first time a few days before — of being launched into a situation that will be challenging and humbling — is also important. That it will be in an environment that fosters the joy of music and of music-making is wonderful.
AFCM brings together people of all ages from around the world to make music together. Who are you most looking forward to working with?
The opportunity to work with and learn from so many of the guest musicians is the wonderful part of being able to participate in AFCM. I am particularly looking forward to working with Kathryn Stott, whom I have admired for a long time.
Why should young listeners make the trip up to North Queensland to see events with you and the other artists of AFCM? (Aside from the fact that it’s tropical, scenic, luxurious…)
The incredible range of music, from Bach to world premieres; the variety of ensembles and settings in concerts all throughout the day; the calibre of the international artists playing, and the involvement of young ensembles in the Winterschool Program…The concerts will not only be immersive musical experiences, but also explorations into different times, cultures and means of communication.
Grace is the youngest ever AFCM musician. Check out the full festival program to make sure you see her in action between 27 July to 5 August! (And don’t forget, if you’re under 30 you’ll get $30 tickets for any of the 30 concerts. How sweet is that?)
Image credit Anthony Browell.
