Julian
Tear
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Meet Julian Tear
Co-leader
What do you enjoy about
playing with Britten Sinfonia?
As a freelance musician I
suppose that one opts for a varied and, at times rather precarious,
career path and it is comforting to belong to a group of genuinely friendly
people in an enterprise that has constantly been developing over a number
of years. There have been many highlights of playing with BS - a great
quality of the orchestra is in the diversity of what it offers to the
paying public and the un-pretentious way in which it goes about its
business.
When did you start playing
the violin?
I first became aware of the violin
when my mother's father gave me one to play with. I just fooled around
with it a bit but was not given any instruction on how to play. Then later
my father's father also gave me a violin which, looking back, was a definite
sign. I started having lessons at the age of eight. The music teacher
came into the classroom one day and asked if anyone was interested in
playing. My hand went straight up. At that time Southampton , where I
am from, had a very lively peripatetic scheme along with some good
youth orchestras which I later joined.
At the age of eleven I started
learning with Mark Knight, a teacher who went to great lengths to immerse
his pupils in many different musical experiences. He introduced me
to quartet playing and playing in small string orchestras, which not only
introduced me to lots of different music but also the thrill of performing
concerts. Two years later I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship
to study at Wells Cathedral School . Wells was, and still is, a school
with a specialist music scheme where one can study music alongside normal
school work. I suppose from the moment I went to Wells aged 13 my path
was already set.
How did you get into playing
professionally?
I was a student at the Guildhall
School of Music and Drama where I studied with Yfrah Neaman and Giorgi
Pauk. I suppose coming from a specialist school gave me an advantage in
that my technique was pretty sound and I didn't have to do all that technique
re-fit stuff that many students go through when they start college. I
was fortunate to be able to lead both the symphony and the chamber orchestras.
Leading the former for Simon Rattle when we played Berg's Lulu and Brahms’
Symphony No.4 was one of the highlights of my time there. He was an incredible
motivator which is a rare quality among the conductors I have known. My
greatest achievement at the Guildhall was winning the Gold Medal.
I did a few professional engagements
while still at the Guildhall School but when I left I took up an invitation
to join the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, after one of the principles of that
orchestra had heard me play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on a middle-Eastern
tour with another free-lance orchestra. I stayed here, in my own back
yard so to speak, for about three years and learned a lot about the repertoire
and the chamber orchestral discipline, in a very easy-going
environment. But after a few years I felt I was missing out and London
had to be the next place to go. It was at this time a
golden opportunity came my way.
One of the guest solo/directors
that occasionally came to Bournemouth was Iona Brown, the solo/director
of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. I remember very gingerly asking
her after a concert if there was any possibility of playing with the Academy.
Within a few days I got a call and found myself sitting on the front desk
with her in a concert at the Brighton Pavilion. Over the next half a dozen
years and some gruelling tours, we gave some amazing concerts. I finished
playing with the Academy after 13 years.
Do you make a living playing
music?
Yes but unfortunately I am not
going to be able to retire at 50. I have only recently started teaching. I
consider teaching a great responsibility, not to be entered into
lightly.
What is the most memorable
musical experience in your career so far?
When I perform with a group I
want there to be, above all, an emotional intensity in what we do. To
be able to cast an all-consuming musical spell on oneself and the
audience is a great thing and, for me, is the raison d'ętre of being a
musician. This energy can only be achieved when everyone feels it
and desires it that way. I am not very sympathetic to conductors and players
that only aspire to things such as ‘Does that trill begin on the upper
note’!
Has anything funny ever
happened during a concert you were playing in?
There have been many humorous
happenings on the concert platform. Owing to the serious, concentrated
and, at times, nerve-racking nature of the business of performing, most
musicians I know relish the odd bit of comic relief. I remember an Academy
concert in Italy with Sir Neville Marriner conducting when there was some
confusion over which encore we had to play. One half of the orchestra
attempted to play the well-known Brahms Hungarian Dance while the other
half decided on the slow movement of the Reformation Symphony by Mendelssohn.
The Brahms won by a short head! Meanwhile Neville looked at the band,
red-faced, and spat the word "Idiots". Marvellous.
Do you have time for
anything else?
I am a committed family man. My
wife and children are the perfect antidote to life's negatives. I am quite
fond of the odd game of golf and tennis and I like to keep an eye on the
results of Southampton F.C. My wife Laura is Italian and I have taken
immense pleasure in visiting that country and indulging in its food and
culture.
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