During this very busy 10th anniversary year of MCO the question that seems to have been on everyone's lips is "did we ever imagine ten years ago MCO would be where it is now". Well, if I tell you last Thursday MCO found itself playing in a techno club in Berlin then the answer has to be, no, we could not possibly have predicted such a concert would happen. Like all MCO events, however, this had something special about it.
The venue was Berghain, possibly Europe's most famous techno club, the soloist was Kolja Blacher, one of the finest violinists of now, and the whole thing was organized by “Universal Music Classic&Jazz” as part of the Yellow Lounge series where famous classical music artists play in night clubs in Berlin with the intent of developing a cross over in audiences and music.
Berghain itself is an old converted factory I am guessing wildly is from pre 1940`s, that looks from the outside to have seen better days. Once inside, however, the setting resembles something in between Batman's cave and a stage set from the film Blade. The audience stands, kneels, sits (with there gin and tonics), all around the orchestra who are bathed in deep yellow light. As we began the opening tutti of Schumann's violin concerto amid this very informal and live setting, I was suddenly aware of the huge live projections of the orchestra beamed around the walls. Amazing! Audiences never get to see players at such close quarters when they are sitting in the middle of a 2000 seat concert hall.
The very next day saw a no less remarkable concert. The venue was Berlins Jewish Museum, the audience, 150 privately invited heads and friends of a big company and the atmosphere needless to say very, very formal. Having said that, what I found inspiring was not the opposition of the two performance environments, though for sure it was stimulating, but more the enjoyment MCO had, playing, regardless of where we happened to be.
On my Saturday morning flight back to Malmö, I had time to reflect a little on the week in Berlin. Apart from the two aforementioned concerts in Berghain and the Jewish Museum, we bounced around different rehearsal venues, recorded the Schumann violin concerto with Kolja and were invited for a very nice buffet lunch at MCO’s wonderful new office set in 270 square meters of truly beautiful 1920`s Art Nouveau Berlin apartment.
I also had time to reflect a little on my feelings for 10 years of MCO life. If I would list everything we have done it seems we would have played everywhere with everyone on all the worlds stages with all manner of great artists on every continent. Of course this is not literally so, but what I do know is that in our short life so far as an orchestra, we have, with interpretation and live performance practice achieved more than most other orchestras could ever dream of coming close to in 200 years (even if this has meant some very controversial reviews). The joy and curiosity we approach everything from the music to conductors to soloists to where we travel to, reminds me of something told me a long, long time ago:
It was the mid 1990`s. I was still playing in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (we had not founded the MCO yet). I would always rave passionately about each GMJO tour to my then viola teacher in London where I studied. One day she turned to me and said "really enjoy your music making in that orchestra because when you leave you will never find the same in any professional orchestra. Well - !!! More than 10 years on !!! - I can of course turn round and say "you were wrong".
