When and where was your first concert with the MCO? Recklinghausen, Germany in 2002. I remember it well. Was an opera actually, Mozart's “Don Giovanni”. I recall being about 15 minutes late for my first ever rehearsal with the orchestra even though I had arrived at the hotel three hours earlier! Got totally lost trying to find the Opera House and was certainly not a good first impression. Great project though. I probably did spend a little too much time in the wine bar next door, but had lots of fun.
What do you do before a performance? This is something I've never quite figured out. Some colleagues have very strict routines they follow before concerts..... but not me. It all tends to be a bit chaotic unfortunately! Maybe I just don't think about it enough.... but I always seem to run out of time before I've manged to do all the things I had planned (sleep, shower, eat etc). I think some of this comes from my aversion to the pre-concert back stage concerto competition which seems to happen in every orchestra. I just want to arrive, unpack my viola and go on stage. Simple. But I have to admit I do cut it rather fine sometimes!
What would you do if you weren't a musician? 15 years ago I would definitely have said a football player. Now? I have no idea. Actually it might have happened. As a youth I used to play for my home town club, Huddersfield Town, whose senior team play in Division 1 of the professional football league in England. I was totally hooked on football and only really decided to take music seriously at the age of 15, after a bad injury. I often wonder what could have been but I still play amateur football as regularly as I can, even on tour with MCO occasionally.
How do you spend your free time? Difficult question. Lot of time planning schedules, booking flights, trains, cars etc.....could really do with a secretary sometimes! I suppose it's a result of having two jobs and freelance work in London and elsewhere. Can be pretty hectic. When im not tied up with work or organising I love eating, playing/watching football, hiking and sleeping......something I'm rather good at.
What’s the best thing about playing with the MCO? The energy, passion and commitment. I am lucky to have worked in many orchestras but none have quite the same feeling as MCO. Concerts can be electric. Also having so many friends as colleagues is pretty special.
BIOGRAPHY Joel Hunter is in great demand both as a principal orchestral player and as a chamber musician. Since graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1997 he has performed all over the world with many leading ensembles and orchestras and works regularly under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Valery Gergiev and Lorin Maazel.
In 2005 he was appointed Principal Viola of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra now under music director Daniel Harding in Stockholm, a position he manages to combine with his commitments in the UK and the MCO. He has appeared as guest principal viola in many British orchestras including the London Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, English Sinfonia and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He also finds time to work in the studio orchestras of London recording music for film and television.
As a chamber musician Joel has appeared alongside such eminent artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Augustin Dumay, Piers Lane, Pascal Roge, Christian Tetzlaff and Gary Graffman in concerts throughout the world. He has toured Italy, Hungary and France as a member of the Cat quartet and regularly performs at international festivals most recently in Germany at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival with the Kungsbacker String Trio and in the U.S.A at the Charlottesville International Chamber Music Festival. He is also chamber musician in residence for the Chopin Society of Hong Kong at their annual international festival.
Joel is a member and director of the Goldberg Ensemble playing frequently throughout the UK and specializing in new music with its own critically acclaimed contemporary music festival running alongside a highly successful chamber music series in Manchester. Invitations to join ensembles such as Chamber Domaine and The London Conchord Ensemble have led to highly acclaimed performances and recordings, most recently of Gorecki and Ned Rorem on Black Box Classics and Nicola Lefanu with Naxos.
In 2001 he was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London for his service to the profession.
