BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Welcome to our new series, What the Fact?!
Throughout 2018, we’re teaming up with talent at the Australian National Academy of Music to bring you informed answers to real questions and topics about your music career.
Ever wondered why you feel performance anxiety? What the deal is with tuning to 440Hz – or not? Why you should bother undertaking a music residency? We’re here to tell you all about it.
Here we chat with Mana Ohashi.
Beginning her musical studies at the age of three, Mana was still in primary school when she started attending the ANAM Young Academy. More than 10 years later, Mana has now reached her third and final year at ANAM. She performs actively in and beyond the Melbourne community and has participated in the Australian Youth Orchestra, ACO Academy, and Melbourne Youth Orchestra.
Mana has also appeared as a finalist in the Bach Competition, a Top Class VCE performer, and in performances of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy and Vivaldi’s Summer with orchestra at the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Federation Square respectively. Along with her fellow musicians, she won the ANAM Chamber Competition final in Stanhope’s Second String Quartet, and was awarded the Musica Viva prize.
Now, she’ll bring all of this together in her role as concertmaster, leading the ANAM Orchestra in A Bernstein Celebration this Friday under the baton of Jose Luis Gomez.
Let’s hack the huge role of CONCERTMASTER!
Mana, you’re concertmaster for the upcoming performance of Bernstein. How’d you achieve this position?
One of the great things about the ANAM orchestra is that with every orchestral project, there is a new roster. So every concert, we experience what it’s like to sit somewhere different.
It’s my first time leading the ANAM orchestra for a big orchestral project and I’m really very honoured. It’s not something you get to do all the time, particularly with such great colleagues and friends, not to mention a wonderful conductor at the helm, José Luis Gomez!
I’m in my third year at ANAM, and look at a leadership opportunity like this as playing a part in the huge learning curve that has been my life as a musician. This is an invaluable experience from which I will undoubtedly learn lots!
You’ve been with ANAM for a really long time – since you were in primary school! What’s the biggest learning experience you’ve taken away that you fuel into your performances?
Yes, I have been! I attended the ANAM Young Academy on Sundays when I was seven or eight years old. To be honest, I’m not sure that I realised how lucky I was to be exposed to such a fine music-making environment at such a young age. However, just like the experience I am getting at ANAM currently, I remember there being abundant opportunities to perform, and that it was a safe environment in which one could really learn and grow as a musician.
Since those days, every time I perform I find that I learn a little more about myself and the art of performing. And it was not any one specific experience or a kind of epiphany as such, but rather a culmination of performing experiences that lead to a certain realisation: that performing is something that should be utterly selfless. As performers, we are the medium through which a composer’s message is communicated to an audience. Personally, I think it’s important for me to remember that.
Reminding myself of why I do what I do, and love what I do, allows me to centre myself in performance and combat nerves that can always creep in!
What have you learnt about yourself in this leadership role?
It’s become evident that. like anything, you can only ever be ‘comfortable’ in a situation with experience and time. We are currently only one rehearsal down, so I expect to learn a lot more over the next week and I hope to really step up to the responsibilities of the role so that it really pays off in a wonderful concert.
So…what does it feel like? Take us through the moment you walk out onstage, through to the conclusion of the work.
Typically for concerts like this at ANAM, I am very excited – before, during, and after!
The backstage buzz before the concert is a very unique thing, and to then be able to take that enthusiasm and share it with your colleagues on stage is a very special feeling. We get the chance to deliver a composer’s stunning work to a gorgeously keen audience, while acknowledging our week’s worth of hard work, and this is very cool!
The works I am leading include Bernstein’s Overture and Suite from Candide, which is bursting with exuberant energy; and then Barber’s Adagio for Strings, which we all know is known to be a profound work and an absolute tear-jerker.
I imagine the sensations I will feel will differ greatly between the works, but this is all part of the experience and I’m looking forward to it.
Off-stage, what are your responsibilities with the orchestra?
Having sat behind the front desk several times before, I have come to know that a concertmaster carries a great deal of responsibility – deciding on the technical things that will unify the strings, and also communicating clearly with the other sections in the orchestra to achieve that rewarding sense of cohesion we strive for in orchestral playing.
I think, however, that it’s really all about the team. It’s important for me not to forget that I’m not just representing the section, but inviting them to play with me in the most musically approachable way possible.
To be able to do this with the amount of confidence required, you have to really know your part. I have learnt that it’s just as important to know the other parts as it is to know your own, and this is when a score is crucial! Having looked at and studied the score prior to a rehearsal is one of the concertmaster’s responsibilities.
What’s the biggest challenge that you’ve discovered so far as concertmaster?
Particularly in the Bernstein works, there’s lots of rhythmic diversity, and therefore a real need for me to be clear in my gestures and to also have a lot of clarity in my sound. I can never get stuck in my own part, and so being hyper-aware of my surroundings will help me.
What advice would you give to other young musicians looking to take on a concertmaster role?
Oh, I don’t think I’m in a position to give advice at this stage, but I would say when an opportunity like this arises, take it! Even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. I’d imagine it gets easier every time!
Mana Ohashi will lead the ANAM Orchestra as concertmaster in A Bernstein Celebration, 7.30pm April 27 in the Melbourne Recital Centre. You’ll also be treated to works by Copland, Barber, and Ginastera.
Check back in soon for our next What the Fact?! with professionals in the music industry.
Images supplied – credit Pia Johnston. Emoji via APACHE – License 2.0.
