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An interview with the cellist Christian Poltéra about the Classix Festival

2021-09-19T06:17:14.515Z


Kempten - Christian Poltéra talks about his repertoire, the Classix Festival, the pandemic and about Kempten's place in classical music.


Kempten - Christian Poltéra talks about his repertoire, the Classix Festival, the pandemic and about Kempten's place in classical music.

Cellist Christian Poltéra is a welcome - or listened to - and meanwhile regular guest on the stages of master concerts such as the Classix Festival. This year he will set “standards” at Classix on Wednesday, September 22nd, at 8 pm, together with Markus Schirmer on the piano and Esther Hoppe on the violin. The concert will be recorded by Bayerischer Rundfunk. The concert “Es ist das Angerierter” with Christian Poltéra and a soloist ensemble of strings, winds and piano will also be recorded the day before (Tuesday, September 21, at 8 pm). The

Kreisbote

interviewed the Swiss cellist beforehand.

Mr. Poltéra, in your musical life you have been coming to Kempten for concerts for a long time. What do you have in common with this city, which is not in the top league in terms of music and culture?

Christian Poltéra: When I see which musicians perform in Kempten, I don't think there is any significant difference to a bigger city or a more famous stage. I believe it is thanks to Dr. Tröger (organizer of the master concerts and the Classix festival; note by the editor) has been making his large network of musicians available to an interested audience for decades. An audience that he has drawn into himself a little, in that he succeeds in captivating and inspiring the audience with his incredibly broad and great knowledge of classical music. He trusts him to get involved in music that may not fill the big concert halls. It's something that needs to grow and doesn't happen overnight. I don't even know anymorewhether I was in Kempten for the first time with the Auryn Quartet or at a Classix festival, I only know that my own teacher, Heinrich Schiff, was already a guest in Kempten, ie the network of Dr. Tröger goes way back in time. It doesn't depend on the quantity, but on the quality, the famous “small but nice”, and Kempten is doing very well there.

What is different about the performances in Kempten compared to the renowned venues and stages?

Christian Poltéra: There is something special in Kempten, especially at the master concerts: the preliminary talks with the artists. There is something personal about the contact with the audience that is not necessarily found in the larger cities and concert halls. You could say a bit provocative - that is not my work - at larger and more commercial festivals or events the interesting audience goes and the interested audience goes to chamber music like in Kempten. Now, of course, that's a bit nasty, but as a musician you can feel that there are people coming to the concert who are primarily interested in the music and, secondly, in the musicians. The common experience of the music is in the foreground and not the social event in which participation is part of the good tone.

If you look at your repertoire, at first glance you don't see any preference for certain music.

Are you open to any music composed for your instrument, the violoncello?

Christian Poltéra: There are gaps where I feel I don't have that much access.

But with the cello in particular, it's nice when you don't have to specialize.

The repertoire for the cello is bigger than you think, but it is not as endless as, for example, the repertoire of a pianist.

With the cello, you can rather afford not to specialize, and I find this attractive.

They can be heard as soloists, chamber music and in large concert settings.

As a universal musician, is it that you like to play at every wedding?

Christian Poltéra: Maybe not the most interesting answer, but I really like the mix. I definitely don't want to just play cello concertos all the time, because rehearsals are inevitably much more superficial. In one or two rehearsals it is important that the orchestra is not too loud or too slow, but of course that is not the musical work that leads into depth. Chamber music is responsible for this. I think solo playing, cello concertos, have a different appeal and a different technical challenge. They give you the technical tools to hopefully feel even more comfortable in chamber music. Ideally, both of these fertilize each other.

In addition to your work as a concert musician, you are also a lecturer at the University of Lucerne, artistic director of a chamber music festival, juror at cello competitions and lecturer in master classes.

What is the temporal relationship between the performing musician and the organizing and teaching musician?

Christian Poltéra: The nice thing about the job is that you can't really separate it all.

For me, it has shifted from just performing 100 percent at the beginning to a balance between playing concerts and teaching at the university.

And right now because of Corona, I am teaching more than I have ever done before.

The next few months or even years will show how the relationship will develop further.

Until Corona, however, the focus was clearly on concerts.

How did the program for the upcoming Classix Festival come about?

Christian Poltéra: At Classix, the artistic director, Benjamin Schmid, invites musicians who, in his opinion, fit together for a program that he specifies.

As a musician I then of course have a veto right to say that I either don't like this piece or I can't.

I myself usually agree, because it is also part of the festival character that you get involved in new things.

In contrast to the concerts that you plan yourself, you have to be open.

Of course, there is also a certain risk involved in the lecture, which can include everything, from the finest hour to the less than optimal.

Repertoire and musical constellation, both make things exciting.

Finally, a question that is unfortunately still topical at the moment: To what extent have you been affected by the corona pandemic in your work as a musician and artist over the past year and a half?

Christian Poltéra: Basically, the corona pandemic - I think we all agree - is a catastrophe for culture in general.

And it's also something that can't be fixed that quickly, I'm relatively negative about that.

But apart from that, the level of concern varies greatly from person to person.

Personally, I cannot complain because I have a second mainstay at the university and was able to take on a larger workload, at least temporarily.

But I'm not an example for the entire world of musicians, because many don't have such an opportunity.

Mr Poltéra, thank you very much for the interview.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-09-19

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