At the Glenn Gould Studio tomorrow evening, violin sensation Lara St. John‘s concert will be unlike any she’s done before. Her performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Astor Piazzolla’s Seasons of Buenos Aires will be accompanied with installation art and readings of live poetry. We caught up with St. John to talk about the concert, her recent Juno nomination and the deficiencies of muzak.
What’s different about this show?
It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything with installation art. I’m totally interested in what on earth they’re going to do. It’s probably something that has never happened in the Glenn Gould Studio. I think the installation art is just going to decorate the stage in an interesting new way. Her name is Kristen Peterson, and she has done work for Peter and the Wolf before. Phoebe Tsang has written some poems, which are going to be read in between each season.
What was it like getting nominated for a Juno?
I’m here in New York, so I didn’t really hear about it. All of a sudden, I received text messages like, “Congratulations on the nomination!” It’s really cool. Unfortunately, I can’t go to the ceremony, which is a shame.
When you wind down, what kind of music do you listen to?
I like eastern European folk and gypsy music, and that sort of thing. I think I’m not alone here in the musician world, but generally, when you make a living on music and it’s what you do, then the nicest thing to come home to is silence.
So it’s like people who cook for a living. They go home from work and eat cereal.
Exactly. Doctors don’t go home and watch 200 episodes of ER. You want to get away from it a little bit. That being said, I often have music playing, probably more than most musicians, but it’s never classical. It’s always jazz or eastern European folk, or something like that.
Does jazz influence your music?
I’m not a jazz player; it’s a different language. I would need to do some serious studying to be more comfortable with the genre. I love listening to it, especially the classics, like John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. I have every single Thelonious Monk album that ever came out. I’m a huge fan.
What do you say to people who think classical music is boring and mellow?
It’s a shame that it’s perceived that way. I think sometimes people make the mistake of thinking musical is what you hear in the elevator, and it isn’t. That’s muzak, and every classical musician hates muzak more than anything, because it does give it a mellow reputation. If you think Kenny G when you say jazz, then you’re quite mistaken. It’s a very wrong perception. For this concert, we are trying to meld other art forms into it, which I hope will generate interest. We don’t like that kind of perception out there. Classical performance is very in-your-face.
Canadian Sinfonietta and Lara St. John, Glenn Gould Studio, March 5.