Interview: Jean-Paul Gasparian, Pianist

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians ?

First of all, passion, because if you’re not really passionate about what you are doing, it will never work: you need to have a very strong inner desire for music, for producing music yourself, discovering the repertoire, playing on stage and with others, and it is this passion that will also help to find the permanent motivation in the everyday work. And this passion, I think, comes a lot from listening, from the early age, and then listening not only to the works that you are currently practicing, but also to the great masterpieces from the chamber music repertoire, symphonies, operas and so on.

Then I would say inspiration and freedom. Because at the end of the day, when you have learned the score, when you have a precise knowledge of the style and the composer’s indications, it is the singularity of your own interpretation that matters, and that will make the difference on stage – your capacity to re-create the piece, to invest it with your own musical feelings, ideas, decisions and spirit. And for that you need a certain amount of thinking, sensibility, and audacity.

Then of course, a young musician who is starting out should know that apart from the live performances, there is also the everyday work of practicing, which is after all the fundamental process of a musician, and that requires a lot of discipline in order to achieve the best quality of playing. Possessing that instrumental mastery will permit you to realize the interpretation you are looking for, to search the sound you aspire to.