Charlotte Maclet, our artistic director, gave an interview for a the bulgarian magazine Impressio
Here the English translation:
– Намираме ви в празнични дни, в очакване на Новата година. Как прекарахте празниците?
– We meet during the holidays, just before New Year. How did you spent the Christmas days?
I spent Christmas in France with my family, trying to recreate a homemade cocoon of love and
protection around a slightly broken family, like most people!
– По Коледа стават ли чудеса?
– Do miracles happen around Christmas?
Miracles happen all the time. I think people might just be more open or more sensitive to them
during this time!
– Създавате хармония и духовна сила с изкуството си, но днес агресията между хората е
особено крайна. Бяга ли надеждата от човешките души?
– You create harmony and spiritual strength trough your art, but the agression between people
these days is particularly extreme. Does hope run away from the human soul?
For me it is not about hope but about personal responsibility. Using art or any other aspect of
one’s life to go towards more interaction, building stronger human links between people and not
letting fear or obscurantism grow inside ourselves and inside our societies is for me a major goal.
– От три годишна свирите на цигулка и пиано. Как се появи музиката в живота ви?
– You started playing violin and piano at the age of 3. How did music appear in your life?
My parents wanted me to have the chance to speak the “ no barrier” musical language. They
offered the violin or the piano. But as we already had a piano in the house and I had never heard
of a violin, I went for that one out of curiosity!
– Опишете Шарлот Макле днес?
– Can you describe Charlotte Maclet today?
Come to the concert and you tell me!
– Работите и свирите по целия свят, остава ли време за личен живот?
– You work and perform around the world, is there time for personal life?
I am lucky enough to do a work which I do not need to dissociate from my personal life. All of
my researches in different aspects of life and hence through the violin are part of a same search,
so every aspect enriches the others. I have also chosen to play with people I love, so I don’t feel I
have to sacrifice a side of my life for my career.
– Любовта?
– Love?
the reason why we do it all
fluffy little red lights bringing joy on the way
– Музиката?
– Music?
a toboggan of creativity leading to the great bubble bath of where we are coming from
– Кое е най-голямото предизвикателство в нея?
– What is the biggest challenge in music?
Integrity.
– Какво мислите за комерсиализирането на класическата музика и особено цигулката?
– What do you think about the marketing side of music these days, especially in violin playing?
Coming back to the concept of integrity, I think each musician has to find his own voice and its
own way to present it to the world. I can only judge my own.
– Обичате да експериментирате в музиката, колко дръзка можете да бъдете?
– You like to experiment with music, how far can you go?
Personal experimentation has only the limit of your own imagination. I try to stretch mine all the
time.
– Ако трябва да се опишете с музика, с кои произведения или автори ще го направите?
– If you had to describe yourself through music, what pieces or composers would you use?
Haydn for the humour, ACDC for the rockn’roll power, Bach for the spiritual connection.
– Във вашето творчество възприемате традицията, без да бъдете ограничавани от нея?
Трудно ли се постига такъв баланс?
– In your work you assimilate the tradition without allowing yourself to be limited by it. Is it
difficult to achieve this balance?
The challenge here is to take onboard new projects an audience that can be quite conservative.
For me the good balance like in many other aspects of life is to open people’s mind by stretching
them in a respectful way. I don’t believe in violent revolutions anymore.
– Как започна началото на вашия струнен оркестър “Камерата Алма Вива” ? 16 музиканта
от 9 националности?
– How did your string Orchestra Camerata Alma Viva started? 16 musicians from 9 nationalities?
I was studying Quartet with the fantastic musician Gabor Takacs-Nagy in Geneva. One day we
did an orchestra project without a conductor. All of the musicians suddenly seemed to get alive,
the listening was fantastic and this concert felt like a chamber music performance even though we
were 40. To many of us this was a revelation and I decided to extand our quartet techniques of
work to a wider ensemble and see how far we could go.
– Жив оркестър с жива душа? Това го има и в името ви?
– Life orchestra with alive soul? That is in the name?
The name of the group really comes from the spirit that is at the basis of our relation and of our
work methods.
Camerata: “group of people living together harmoniously or pursuing a
common artistic or intellectual interest”. From Italian, late 16th-cent.
Alma Viva: “the Living Soul”
– Всяко представление на “Камерата Алма Вива” се смята за оригинално сензорно
изживяване за слушателя, а не просто за концерт? Какво се случва всъщност?
– Every Camerata show represents an original, sensorial experience for the listener. What happens
there?
We have used transdisciplinarity since the beginning of the group. Our concerts have included
singing, poetry, live painting, dance and juggling.
– Направили сте смелата програма от Хендел до Джими Хендрикс? Как се борите с
консерватизма?
– You have just created a brave cd program: From Handel to Hendrix. How do you fight
conservatism?
I don’t feel the need to fight anything. For me trying to stay true to what I really believe in and
doing it the best way I can is a big enough job!
– В “Камерата Алма Вива” работите с революционни техники за репетиции, включително
медитация, импровизация и театър, поставяте духа и движението в центъра на музиката?
Какво представлява този уникален метод?
-In CAV you work with revolutionary rehearsal techniques, including meditation, theatre and
improvisation, you put the spirit and the movement in the centre of music. Can you tell us what
these methods really are?
First of all I try to reconnect the musicians with their own bodies. The disconnection between the
two in the way classical music is generally taught has created generations of suffering bodies and
a general lack of awareness of the great ressources we have inside ourselves. Through physical
warm up, the musicians get back in contact with themselves. Through meditation or QiGong, I try
to connect people together or allow them to connect with powerful energies that can support their
work and lives. Through musical warm up, which includes musical meditation, I try to get rid of
the natural stiffness that most people have developed during their years of training, mentally and
physically, and to allow each one of the musicians to find ressources bigger than themselves. This
translates into new colours of sound, new perception of intonation, and over the years in the
creation of a very varied and special group sound.
– Интересувате се и практикувате Шиацу, ЧиГонг и медитация? Разкажете ни за тях?
Изполвате ги и в рабатота си?
– You are interested in practices like Shiatsu, Qi gong and meditation? Can you tell us more about
it and how do you use it in your work?
I studied Shiatsu as a way to start interacting with Energy and the Qi, and to study Chinese
Medicine.
The Eastern Asian take on the world in general and on health in particular is non dichotomyc.
That means our Western separation of brain (or soul) and body is non existant there. In Chinese
(or Indian Ayurvedic) medicine, the energy that flows through the body is the basis of life.
Through this principle people can cure themselves (with Accupuncture for example). The same
principles can be applied to any other part of nature, or any other activity. It’s a way of
understanding and being in touch with yourself and with the world around, and that creates a very
different way of playing the violin. Nowadays my personal practice is mainly about unlocking
micro tensions while playing or connecting to bigger places and energy centers. The whole search
goes towards more freedom and the disappearance of fear or discomfort of any kind.
– Гостували сте вече в България? Каква е българската публика? Харесва ли тук?
– Have you been in Bulgaria before? What is the bulgarian public like?Do you like it here?
This is my third time in Bulgaria. I had a great experience every time I came, and I am in love
with Bulgarian food!
– Работите със Стефан Хаджиев, провокирани от идеята за нещо различно от вече
установените норми в интерпретирането на музикални произведения? Как го постигате без
да нарушавете цялостната концепция завещана от композитора?
-You work with Stefan Hadjiev, with the idea of doing something different when it comes to
music interpretation. How do you achieve this while respecting the composers’s vision?
Stefan has a lot of interesting ideas of his own. We both have a very personal search on our
instrument and putting these together is a non stop creative brainstorming.
– С какво ще ни изненадате на концерта ви “Шедьовър” на 4 януари в “Къщата на София”?
– What you will surprise us with at your concert on the 4th January
Some of the pieces we will play (Kodaly or the Schumann Quartet for example) are not so often
played, even though they are proper jewels of the repertoire. This is a good opportunity to
discover them.
– Кое е по-различното в камерната музика и по-малките сцени, които създват особена
близост със зрителя?
– What is the particularity of chamber music on a smaller stage?
From an audience point of view, I think it’s always nice to be closer to the musicians so they can
really feel the interaction, the energy, the humour sometimes which are part of a performance.
– Вашето послание за Новата година?
– Your message for the New Year?
It is a great joy to spend the New Year in Sofia and I hope our concert will be a good start of the
year for all of you!