In Conversation with Jennifer Marten-Smith

Guest interview by Elena Wittkuhn — Mirabilis Collective cellist and creative contributor

Jennifer Marten-Smith, thank you so much for joining us. Firstly, could you please tell us a bit about your introduction to music?

I was five years old when I started piano lessons. Growing up in a musical family, I think it was inevitable that I would learn an instrument. My father was an opera singer, my maternal grandfather was a renowned tenor in Germany, and my mother studied piano although she did not pursue this as her profession.

As a child I had the fortune to have my mother sit with me for every practice, which kept me company but also kept me focused. I also had the great fortune to have a piano teacher whom I adored. I looked forward to my lessons – every Wednesday afternoon – to show him the progress I had made.

What was a turning point in your early musical journey? Were there any challenges or highlights you’d like to share?

At the age of twelve I was invited to study with Frau Professor Gediga-Glombitza at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, Germany. Because I was born in Bremerhaven (my mother is German, and my father had a career in Germany as an opera singer), there was no language barrier. The professor’s house was closer to where I was living than the Musikhochschule, so she would let me go there to practice while she was at work. I have a wonderful memory of hours at the piano, entertained by red squirrels running up and down the beautiful tall trees outside the window. Shortly before I returned to Tasmania, the Hochschule put on a concert where I performed Beethoven 32 Variations, another highlight of that trip.

Do you think your talent affected your childhood or artistic identity in any way?

I do not think growing up as a ‘talented’ pianist really changed my childhood that much. I still got to ride my bike, play with friends, go horse riding, do gymnastics. My favourite time was spent with my family and my animals. We had holidays at Christmas, and we often stayed at a shack on Bruny Island, where they let us bring our dogs and cats. It was great fun, running on the beaches, climbing rocks, avoiding snakes, and trying not to get hooked on blackberry thorns. They were happy times – but after two weeks I would be itching to go home because I missed my piano.

Could you please break down the differences in the roles that you take on in your career – between soloist, accompanist and repetiteur? Do you have a favourite, and if so, why?
I have worked as a soloist – there’s so much great repertoire to explore – and there is something really fulfilling about performing when every musical decision is your own, where it is just your own skills that need to be honed and where you are solely responsible for the beauty of your sound.

I have also worked as an accompanist/collaborative pianist – which still involves solo skills but also requires knowledge of the other part. Where two people must make the music sing, where two opinions are brought together to sound as one, and where you sometimes must be willing to relinquish control over musical direction.

Some partnerships require work; rehearsals to figure things out, such as: phrasing, dynamics and breathing written into parts. Others coalesce more quickly, and when you play, everything simply falls into place. Both types of partnerships are exciting! When you get on stage to perform together, and you bring the music to life for the audience, it does not matter, at least to those listening, how long it took to put the jigsaw together.

Thirdly, I have worked as a repetiteur – in Australia and in Germany – and this is also a fascinating role. Although as a repetiteur, it can feel a bit more as though one is in the background, as it is rarer to be involved in the actual performance. Nevertheless, it is exciting to be around opera. You get to meet a lot of people, as well as the core group of musicians working at the opera companies – guest singers, conductors, directors, choreographers, and you work on a wide variety of shows. Perhaps because I grew up in an “opera” family I was destined to work in this field for a time at least, 25 years as it turned out. I continued to play solo, and I did many, many concerts collaborating with singers. I also played a lot of chamber music, another love of mine.

All these styles of “being a pianist” are great, but deep-down performing is still what I love the most, so I will put it out there that being a freelancer now, with all the options at hand, is a fun time of life.

What is your approach to practice?

As a child I had a regular practice routine – a certain amount of time spent learning at a particular time of the day. It is a little trickier as an adult, juggling bill paying, work, family, and other commitments, so I have had to come up with ways to learn music thoroughly but quickly. Lots of focused ways to challenge the brain, ears, fingers, and muscle memory. Luckily, through early training, I am a very good sight reader. This talent, plus the ability to hear absolute pitch away from the instrument, saves a lot of learning time.

We’re about to see you and the wonderful violinist Johan Dalene embark on a national tour with Musica Viva. What has the preparation process been like so far?

For this Musica Viva tour, performing with violinist Johan Dalene, I have been afforded the luxury of time. With soloists like Johan, much in demand, timetables are tight, and concerts need to be booked in early. There is a great variety of music on this programme, and it has been a fun journey learning the notes, the style, working on technique, listening to old recordings, coming up with new ideas.

And the best part is still to come – meeting Johan for the first time just a few days before our performance at the Melbourne Recital Centre, with a short intense rehearsal period to bring our ideas to life.

At Mirabilis Collective, we’re always excited to hear female compositions and new works. This program features one of each – “D’un matin de printemps” by Lili Boulanger, in its original composition for violin and piano, and the world premiere of Jack Frere’s “Tilted Scales”. How would you describe the program as a whole?

The programme we are performing has something on it for everybody. From classical through to a brand-new commission. You’ll hear a lot of beauty and a lot of impressive technique from both instruments – a feast for the ears, eyes, and heart.

Jennifer Marten-Smith and Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene will perform in Perth on Thursday 19 June at the Regal Theatre , as part of their national tour, “Northern Lights”.

For full concert details, visit the Musica Viva website.
To book your tickets directly, head to Ticketek.

Photo credit – Luke Frost