Linsey Pollak: Maker and Adventurer (re-release)
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
05/18/24
•103m
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This week, I’m featuring a wonderful episode from the archive, with Linsey Pollak, which was recorded and released in Season 2 of this podcast, 2022. Linsey Pollak is an Australian musician who is known worldwide as a passionate and creative advocate for community music. His life has been full of unusual opportunities to explore different styles of music, and his inventiveness has spurred him to create countless instruments from found objects. In this episode you’ll get to hear him play 4 different instruments in different improvisatory styles, and I’m sure that everyone will be inspired by stories from his life, describing some of his incredibly unusual, fun and beautiful collaborations and creations.
I take care of all the many jobs of research, production, and publicity and I really do need the help of my listeners to keep this project going; please consider buying me a coffee through my support page which is linked to Paypal:
https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks so much!
You can watch this on YouTube as well, and I've linked the transcript here too: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/linsey-pollak
Linsey Pollak website: https://linseypollak.com/
My complete catalog of episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about
Podcast newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter
photo credit: Beat Lehmann
Timestamps:
(00:00 Intro)
(01:58) gaida music
(05:10) Rafting trip, discovering Macedonian bagpipes, first trip to Macedonia
(11:35) trip to Greece to study klarino with Stavros Vasthekis
(13:15) discovering the Macedonian community in Australia, establishing Kulcha
(17:36) Linsey’s start making instruments, London and Early Music scene
(23:14) busking in Europe, learning Macedonian dance,
Živko Firfov Group, Destan Destanovski
(31:48) importance of humour in his solo shows
(33:17) duduk design and music
(39:57) Linsey’s early musical education and projects
(41:27) developing live looping in the early 90s, his solo shows
(50:30) rubber glove bagpipe
(54:36) Linsey’s current project going out to record in the forest with ambient sounds (his album of this music is on Bandcamp), also the frog sounds album
(56:53) Dva with Tunji Beier and now Beier-Griffin-Pollak trio with Philip Griffin
(58:23) Humarimba community music project
(01:09:16) Paranormal Music Society Romano Crivici and Blair Greenberg, and QWERTY with Peter Rowe
(01:13:47) MIDI wind controller Dangerous Song project with demonstration using animal sounds
(01:33:26) Linsey’s drive to create instruments and connect people, his creative process
(01:37:20) Linsey’s decision to stop touring outside of Australia
(01:40:07) Linsey’s advice
Previous Episode
Cheng² Duo
May 11, 2024
•79m
This week’s episode is with the brilliant cello-piano ensemble, Cheng2 Duo, with siblings Bryan and Silvie Cheng. They have performed to great acclaim worldwide and have released to date four fantastic albums, the most recent Portrait which was nominated for a JUNO award. Portrait features music by composers from diverse Asian heritages, and in this podcast, Bryan and Silvie reflect on some important personal experiences related to this. We are featuring some of the music from Portrait and some of their other projects in this episode, with their insights on championing living composers such as Paul Wiancko and Dinuk Wijeratne and reaching new audiences. I asked them about their Carnegie Hall debut when Bryan had just started high school, and some of their individual experiences with concert preparation, touring, and finding a life-balance. Some of what you’ll hear about are Bryan’s reflections on his memorable childhood lessons with Yuli Turovsky, the incredible opportunity he’s had to play the Bonjour Strad, and his experiences with international competitions. Silvie shared her reflections on her mentors and her life as a performer and educator in New York. Bryan and Silvie grew up in Ottawa, Canada where I live and it’s wonderful to see their careers expanding both individually and as a world-renowned chamber ensemble. Bryan spoke to us from his home in Berlin, and Silvie from her home in New York.
Can you buy this independent podcaster a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!
Like all my episodes, you can also watch this on my YouTube and it's linked with the transcript on my website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/cheng2-duo
Weekly newsletter sign-up: https://mailchi.mp/ebed4a237788/podcast-newsletter
Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about
photo: Andrej Grilc
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(03:11) album Portrait, early pandemic in New York, Asian heritage, erhu
(12:33) Hua Yanjun Moon's Reflection upon a Spring
(20:26) anti-Asian harassment, making a difference in the world as musicians
(24:46) Paul Wiancko
(29:00) Paul Wiancko clip from Sonata 1, Part 1
(28:59) concert presentation, connecting with the audience
(31:33) Carnegie Hall debut experience, importance of commissioning new music
(35:51) Yuli Turovsky
(40:48) Romance for Cello and Piano Scriabin from Russian Legends
(42:56) could you buy this independent podcaster a coffee?
(43:32) Brazilian composers, Chiquinha Gonzaga, women composers, Silvie’s duo with violist Georgina Rossi
(45:24) Silvie’s work as a teaching artist Orto centre and Living Arts Collaborative
(50:36) family history, parents’ support
(54:08) Silvie’s mentors Jeffrey Cohen, Menahem Pressler
(57:21) learning music, comparing the analytical and intuitive
(01:01:25) Bonjour Strad cello
(01:03:07) Silvie coping with different pianos on tour, pianists’ psychology
(01:05:12) Bryan’s reflections on competitions
(01:08:46) pre-concert routines and mindset
(01:11:20) tour to India, Dinuk Wijeratne “Portrait of an Imaginary Sibling’
(01:14:27) excerpt from Dinuk Wijeratne “Portrait of an Imaginary Sibling’
(01:17:05) tour to India
Next Episode
Rachel Mercer, Cellist: re-release with added music!
May 25, 2024
•73m
This is a special re-release with cellist Rachel Mercer, with added music from some of her recordings. This was orginally recorded and released in Season 2 of this podcast in 2022, and now in Season 4 2024, Rachel and I are including some tracks from some of her albums in the podcast version of this episode. See more below for some of the many topics covered!
The original video is on YouTube with the transcript, everything linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e9-s2-rachel-mercer
We discussed the arc of her career so far as a chamber musician, soloist, and Principal Cellist of my orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. One of the musical selections added to this podcast is from the album “Our Strength, Our Song" with Rachel’s sister, the wonderful violinist Akemi Mercer-Niewöhner. We also talked about and many other chamber music collaborations and unique projects, as well as her way of approaching music. You’ll also hear some of Rachel’s memories of the late Yehonatan Berick who was an amazing violinist and pedagogue and was Rachel’s life partner. As well, Rachel very generously made a special recording of the prelude from JS Bach's fifth solo suite for this episode in 2022, and her heartfelt introduction to the power of this music is right after our conversation, so please keep listening till the end.
Rachel Mercer’s website: http://www.rachelmercercellist.com/
Support link to buy this independent podcaster a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!
Complete Catalog of Episodes: https://www.leahroseman.com/about
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