Interview: Marina Roznitovsky

For our second interview, we decided to feature our one native Israeli. Marina , 26 years old, was actually born in the Ukraine to a Russian-speaking family and moved to Israel when she was 6 years old. She began harp lessons at the age of 12 with Olga Moitlis originally of Moscow, who has become like her second mother. (Whose harp teacher is not like a second mother?)  When she finished high school, she was lucky to escape the mandatory Israeli army duty because they had too many women that year; it would have really put her career on hold for several years, even keeping her from leaving the country. So, she happily went to study with Susann McDonald at Indiana University. Six years later, she had accumulated a Bachelor’s Degree, a Master’s Degree, and a Performance Diploma. After graduation, she moved to Reno, Nevada, where she teaches at the University of Nevada, and plays in various area orchestras.

Can you tell us a bit about how you prepared for the competition?

The competition was basically something to do once I graduated. Just as I was graduating, the repertoire came out and I thought, “Gosh, I’m not going to have lessons every week to prepare for. I have to have a goal in front of me.” I think this is so valuable to people like me. I think I would have degraded if I weren’t preparing for something. It really kept me going. Every semester I did a recital with the music I was preparing for this. And because there was a chamber music round, I was able to play with the other faculty members of my school more than I had before.

Is there anything you would like to share about your experience here at the competition?

I’m really glad the competition is getting this exposure. I think it has moved a couple of steps up. I was not at the previous ones, so I don’t have the direct experience to compare to, but I’ve heard from other people who have been. I know that the harps we have right now are just phenomenal, and the living arrangements are very comfortable, it’s just the ultimate thing you can have. It’s not in this really fancy kind of hotel that would almost distract us from what we’re doing, so I think they are very ultimate conditions. Also, the opening concert was very impressive. It’s something that’s a high accomplishment for a concert in Israel. The competition is getting a lot of media attention – it’s been on the radio, on the news… it’s just the first stage of the competition, not even the final! But even simple things like that make me happy.

Since you ‘re the only Israeli that is doing this competition, do you have a network of local friends and family who are directly participating in it?

Of course, yes, this is big! I know that Sivan [Sivan Magen – 1^st prize 2006] won it last time. But like me, he’s not directly from here. We are both studying or living somewhere else, so you’re not a local anymore. But still, I have family here and friends and neighbors, and they are all very proud. Just the simple fact of being here and doing this, making harp appear one more time for just regular people, they become like a little fan club.

What Marta has been up to

So far on this blog, there has been a lot of Marta writing about what I have been doing. Today I am taking over the keyboard to let you know what Marta herself has been up to. While my life these days is a pretty predictable sequence of practicing and playing (and sometimes getting dressed up and posing for pictures), Marta gets to do a much more interesting variety of things with her time.

For one, she is our faithful blog updater. She heroically fights with the unreliable internet in our hotel and gets news posted as fast as possible.

With the same level of devotion, she has been listening to everybody at the competition and keeping detailed notes on their playing. (That is in fact where she is now.) Practicing to be a jury member herself one day, she has come up with a complex system of scoring, in which individual scores for each piece and for musicality, technique, and stage presence are averaged together. Armed with this scoring system, she accurately predicted the results of first stage before they were announced. This makes her an invaluable resource for me – not having the time or emotional energy myself to go listen to everybody – to know what is going on. After each session of listening, she filters her comments for me and reports back with relevant advice such as, "We haven’t been able to hear the last note of anyone’s Hindemith because the hall swallows it up. Make sure you play it out!"

Marta is also my official fashion consultant. Back in Paris, she helped me plan out my wardrobe for each stage – matching jewelry and all. Here she is in our hotel room altering my first-stage dress! She actually took in a whole seam in back because it was too baggy. This involved scary things like cutting the fabric, but it all came out perfectly.

On the side, she has been knitting a Learn-to-Knit Afghan, which will be a patchwork blanket of 64 knitted squares, each of a different pattern. The idea is that once you have done all the squares, you will be well-versed in all the different patterns and ready to conquer things like sweaters. She is just starting the 12th square. Even this turned out to be useful to the harp competition, since I have been taking one square out with me on stage each time that I perform, to wipe my hands in case they feel sweaty.

In many little ways, Marta has kept me sane and focused, by taking care of all the little errands and chores that pop up. On our first day here, she unpacked both our suitcases and arranged the room. Yesterday, having been here a week and getting low on clean underwear, she laboriously washed all our laundry in the sink and hung it out to dry. Honestly, if you are planning to do an international harp competition, I strongly advise taking a marta along with you, because I can’t imagine how it would be possible any other way.

Stage 2 debriefing

Just a quick post to let you all know that El was amazing today!

I spent the whole day being sick to my stomach for her, while she happily ate lots of food and was not at all nervous. I guess she had already been nervous once this week, and twice would have been too much. She played better than I have ever heard her play, and I am really proud that she had such a great performance here at the competition. Now whatever happens, we know El gave it her best, which is a great feeling!

before...

...and after

Interview: Gwenllian Llyr

Yesterday, Elizabeth decided that it would be worthwhile to start a mini-interview series on the blog. We have met so many harpists here, we'd love to share them with you too! The social dynamics here are unique in that everyone comes from a different background, but shares the last two year's worth of work and experiences, albeit in a different setting and with different approaches. Also, we have noticed that our readership has expanded from our original audience of family and friends, to those of the other competitors as well as completely unrelated harpists! We thought it would be nice to give those people a connection to the other harpists here too.

For our first interview, we chose to feature Gwenllian Llyr ("Gwen" for those of us not versed in Welsh) because of her exuberance and because she conveniently happens to be our neighbor in the hotel! Also, her name is very hard to pronounce, so here is an approximation: Gwenshee-an Shee-er. Gwen, age 21, is currently doing her undergrad at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she studies with Caryl Thomas. You can visit her website, a product of a third-year school project (with some help from her dad).

What is your favorite piece on the competition?

I can't say because some of them I know better than the others. It depends if you mean what I enjoy playing, or actually if I had to listen to it twenty times.

What do you enjoy playing the most?

Definitely not Salzedo, so dodgy! I guess I enjoy playing my encore piece, which is the Fauré Une Châtelaine en sa Tour and the Ginastera. I guess in the second stage, I love the Bach, but it is so easy to mess it up... but I do love the Bach. I generally am not the biggest fan of Bach, so when I knew I had to do Bach for the competition, I though "oh no!" but when I started playing it I realized I actually love this piece!

Can you tell us how you prepared for the competition?

My first international competition was last year, the Cité des Arts. I had already learned the first movement of the Ginastera for another competition, and I already knew the Hindemith, so I learned the Bach and played that in the competition. But just doing the competition helps you understand the pressure and everything of such a big competition with important people watching you. There, the first round didn't go so well, I just took all of the pressure and put it into my playing, so it was not my best performance. But the second round went much better.

So that helped prepare you for what to expect?

Yes, just getting the judge's comments, and listening to other people of the competition, it helps you to find what you are aspiring to be. Professionalism and accuracy was what was missing from my playing. Jana Bouskova told me afterwards that you have to know that you know the notes, which was not necessarily the case at the time, so I think that helped me prepare the way I learn pieces now; I learn them better. You have to make sure that when you start learning it from the beginning, don't start playing wrong notes. Then when you play it in a concert it is more likely not to go wrong. Also, I went to Aspen this summer for ten weeks, and studied with Deborah Hoffman and Nancy Allen. That was really good because it made me practice loads. I got back before the last week of August. And then I did a few recitals at home before I came.

Is there anything you would like to share about your experience so far at the competition?

It's nice that everyone is so friendly, because in Paris I was there with my parents so I didn't meet anyone. I decided that coming here alone would be a really good idea, but also kind of scary. But everyone is so friendly, not just the Israeli people, but also the contestants. We know that there can be competition, but they are all nice. I feel like you do want everyone to do well, even though obviously you want to get as far as you can and to do your best, but you don't want someone to play badly, because you get to know them. Also, it means that if you do get to the finals, you know that you got there with everyone playing their best as well, so you know it wasn't a fluke.

What are your plans for after you finish the competition?

I have one year left. It is kind of my year of competitions. I am hoping to go the Netherlands competition, and to Bloomington. And I have my final recital, then I have to decide what I'll do next year!

The Shabbat Elevator

From our first ride up the hotel elevator we had both been puzzled by this admonishment on the elevator buttons:

We mostly wondered why anyone would need to touch the doors on any other day…

On Friday night, the mystery grew stronger, as the “Shabbat Elevator” suddenly came to life and seemed to have a mind of its own. Of the two elevators, one was completely disobedient to any commands given to it and would take its passengers up rather than down, to the second rather than the third floor, and so on and so forth. On our way to dinner we were warned by fellow wide-eyed harpists not to use the haunted elevator on the right if we wanted to get to dinner on time.

Elizabeth decided it was time to figure it out – she rode down on the elevator and discovered that it just spends the Shabbat going up and down from floor to floor, waiting several minutes with its doors open on each level. The mystery was solved. Apparently, pushing buttons on elevators is considered “work” and is thus forbidden during the Shabbat. Thus, special Shabbat Elevators have been installed in most buildings.

We soon decided that using the “Secular Elevator” on the left was much more efficient, if not as culturally appropriate. So down we went to dinner feeling a bit like sacrilegious heathens…

First Stage Results

ELIZABETH MADE IT !! After about an hour of deliberation, the jury announced the results last night at around 11:30pm. The rules and regulations state that 16-18 people are admitted to the second round. Since only 20 competed, the obvious choice was to pass 16. So without further ado, here is the schedule for second stage:

Monday 12, 14:00

Rachel Piesslinger, Austria

Elisa Netzer, Switzerland

Noel Wan, USA

Remy van Kesteren, The Netherlands

Monday 12, 19:00

Gwenllian Llyr, Wales

Paola Baron, Italy

Ruri Chikaishi, Japan

Elizabeth Jaxon, USA

Tuesday 13, 10:00

Emilie Jaulmes, France

Ina Zdorovetchi, Moldova

Meredith Clark, USA

Anna Aftaeva, Russia

Tuesday 13, 19:00

Valérie Milot, Canada

Emily Levin, USA

Marina Roznitovsky, Israel

(El will probably be playing around 9:30pm on Monday night.)

The Aharon Zvi & Mara Propes Prize for US$2,500 for the best performance of Out of Infinity by Ytzhak Yedid went to Ina Zdorovetchi of Moldova. Bravo!

On a special side note, Victoria Davis of the UK also passed into the second stage, but due to illness has had to go home. I am very disappointed that I won’t be able to hear her play again. Her first stage performance was extremely good. Musically, she had a really intelligent and well-felt interpretation, and was technically very solid indeed! It’s a pity to see such a good player have to abandon the competition after so much work just because of a nasty bug.

Victoria, Remy, El on our first evening in Tel Aviv

Lastly, I would like to apologize for the delay in getting these results posted. The hotel’s internet had been down for over 24 hours, and I almost had to hunt for a McDonald’s with free wifi . (If you look past the food and the social stigma of going to such an American establishment, it’s actually pretty nice to know that wherever you go in the world, one thing is sure – free wifi at McDonald's!)

El's victory pretzels, not from McDonald's

How El is doing

I have been getting many emails from concerned family members and friends to the effect of “how is Elizabeth really doing?” So I’ve decided to elaborate on her general state of physical, mental, and musical well-being. I separate these three states because we have been having different problems and having to find different solutions for each one.

Physically, El has a predisposition to dramatically become smaller when under stress (to the dismay of her slightly plump duet partner who then feels …well…really plump). She has known about this since her college days, and has dutifully taken measures to gain five good pounds before coming to Israel. Luckily so, because I’ve had to chide her several times for not even touching things she’s put on her plate. Years of training under my Polish mother have not gone to naught, however, and I have been able to keep her eating good nutritious things more or less three times a day. The worst was the 24-hour period before first stage when her stomach crunched up so much that nothing beyond half a container of yoghurt at a time would make it down there. Happily, now 24 hours later, El is lying on her bed gently patting her very, very full digesting belly after a gloriously huge meal that even I couldn’t have eaten. On a side note, the food here is extremely good and really copious!

picking at the delicious complementary cookies we found in the room upon arrival

Dealing with getting sufficient nutrition is merely a mechanical matter: insert food, chew, swallow, repeat. Coping with the varied silly and not so silly thoughts that enter ones head at a competition is a bit more complicated. Obviously, the general rule is to treat all thoughts with optimism. Luckily, El is naturally optimistic and very well balanced, so we don’t have monsters like “I’ll never get through this stage” or “I should quit because I can’t be the best”. Little bugs like “is the jury going to like my interpretation?” or “will my memory hold up?” are more common, and can generally be battled with a healthy dose of rational thinking, ie “I believe fully in my interpretation, therefore it will come across clearly, and that is all I have control over” or “I have been practicing this for two years, there is no way I could have a memory crash.”

Musically, now is the time to polish up the last bits of super detailed memory and to make sure that the musical intentions are coming through. We have done a lot of El playing, explaining her musical choices, and me listening to see if they are obvious enough or need to come out more. Music is strange like that – often exaggeration is in really bad taste, but not doing enough just buries the effect that you are trying to make. It is a hard balance to strike. Also, we are testing a new theory for second stage: fine-tuning muscle memory. Working on mental memory is what we usually concentrate on in the last moments before a performance, but equally important is to do the same work with the memory in the fingers for difficult passages.

the elosaurus-rex has returned (practicing character in the Yedid, first stage)

On a final note, El’s tendinitis has not returned!

* * *

This afternoon, we had a lovely trip to the beach. The sun was hidden behind a light haze, so it was not too hot. The sand here is truly amazing; it is very fine and light, perfect for building sand castles! I appreciated the warm water and sandy bottom (with no nasty seaweeds to maliciously pull me in when no one is looking), though I am still dubious as to the presence of sharks (sharks live in the salty pacific, the Mediterranean is salty, therefore sharks live in the Mediterranean…) and those awful jellyfish things. I am really spoiled having grown up on the shores of lake Michigan with equally big beautiful waves, but without the awful salty taste and nasty lurking sea-creatures.

El makes a point, Remy agrees

Ruth and Gwen

I survived the beach!