Medijan, the first Chinese musician of the Berliner Philharmonic: Love is the best teacher

Source: Beijing Youth Daily

Medean The berliner philharmoniker was the first Chinese musician

On 14 February, the Berliner Philharmoniker officially announced that medejan, a German violist, would be appointed as the orchestra's principal viola. Since then, the world's top orchestra has welcomed the first Chinese musician in its 140-year history. It is understood that the Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra has three permanent principal positions in the viola department, of which two are principals and one is vice principals, and Medejan has won a principal position. After successfully passing the probationary period of the Berliner Philharmoniker, he became the orchestra's lifelong viola principal.

Recently, Medeyang was interviewed by media by video. Speaking about joining the Berliner Philharmoniker, Medejan said, "I was lucky to find a career I loved. In the eyes of many people, the viola is an instrument with a low sense of existence in the orchestra, for which Medyan hopes that everyone will abandon this prejudice, "In fact, the viola has a lot of very good works, and even the protagonists." I hope to introduce more viola works to you in my own way and present the beauty of the viola. ”

Passed four rounds of assessment to obtain the chief position

"Everyone applauded me after the interview"

As one of the world's leading orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker has always been known for its pickiness in recruiting its members, with musicians often having to go through several rounds of rigorous performance exams and pass the voting of orchestra members to qualify for the orchestra. It took four rounds of evaluations to get the chief position, and before that, the position had been vacant for two years.

"The feeling I got from this test was that it was really harsh." Recalling the job exam, Medejan can still feel the tense atmosphere, "a classical concerto, a romantic concerto, and then a clip of Don Quixote." A total of two days and four rounds of screening, each of which required the members of the whole regiment to vote. It was the first time I had met and they made the exam a sacred thing. ”

Medejan revealed that because the Berliner Philharmonic has done a very good job in publicity and marketing, the first recording I heard from my childhood was the Berliner Philharmonic, "The rehearsal videos of the two Berliner Philharmonic conductors who have had the greatest influence on me since childhood, one is Chelibidak's "Seventh Symphony" conducted by Bruckner, and the other is Karajan's "Symphony of Destiny" conducted by Beethoven. ”

In Medejan's view, the taste and selection criteria of the Berliner Philharmoniker are very different from other orchestras, because the musicians in the Berliner Philharmonic are "soloists", and everyone has their own artistic opinions in the orchestra. "It was the first time I went to the orchestra, and I also had the mentality of trying. It is a very fortunate thing to be able to pass smoothly. What I found more impressive was that at the end of each round, the orchestra musicians applauded me. In fact, in general, the interview will not applaud, which also reflects a mutual respect. ”

The starting point of his career is quite high

"Love is the best teacher"

As a hot player in today's music scene, Medejan's career start is quite high. In 2018, he won the first prize in the Viola Competition at the 67th MUNICH ARD International Music Competition, as well as all six other individual prizes. He is also the recipient of the Borleti-Buitoni Awards in London, England and the Musical Achievement Award at the Osnabrück Music Award in Germany. In addition, he has won the 52nd German Mark neukirchen viola competition, the german Marx Rosta International Viola Competition in Berlin, Germany, the 40th American International Viola Society Young Artist Competition, the 19th Austrian Brahms International Viola Competition, etc., can be said to be a winning general in the viola competition. In this regard, Medeyan said, "I use every competition as a stage, every round of performance is my concert, I basically prepare for it this way. Maybe I was lucky enough to find something I love. For professional musicians, there are a lot of new tracks to deal with every day, and it is particularly painful to not have a love for the industry. ”

Prior to the Berliner Philharmonic, Medejan was the lifelong viola principal of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the first Chinese principal in the history of the Munich Philharmonic and the youngest musician in the string vocal department. "The most important improvement in Munich is that I have accumulated a lot of repertoire, such as the traditional Bruckner Symphony, because our director Gergiev is Russian, so we also perform a lot of Russian repertoire, such as Shostakovich and Stravinsky."

In the eyes of many people, the viola is a foil instrument in the orchestra, and the sense of existence is very low, but Medeyang does not think so, "I really hope that one day people will not be prejudiced against the viola." In fact, the viola has very good works, and even the protagonists, such as Mahler's Ninth Symphony and The Fifth Symphony. That's how I understand it, in mozart's and Beethoven's day, there were no particularly good viola players, so they didn't have the opportunity to write a good work for the viola. But in fact, Mozart and Beethoven themselves played the viola, and they even played their quartets as a viola. So I think every instrument should be equal, whether it is vocal music or wind music, the ultimate pursuit is art, as a performer, to convey their own unique understanding to the audience. ”

I was lucky enough to learn the viola

"Wanted to present the beauty of the viola"

Coming from a family of engineers, Medeyang revealed that he was arranged by his parents for many extracurricular classes since he was a child, and Olympiad, English, painting, etc. are all extracurricular classes he has attended. But my grandfather, who was a history teacher at Hunan Normal School, liked music very much and wanted Medayang to learn an instrument, so he began to learn violin at the age of 5, "At the beginning it was very painful for others, because it was too difficult to hear, but I thought it was quite interesting." "When he was 6 years old, the teacher thought Medayan was very talented and suggested that he train systematically. At the age of 9, Medeyang went to the Central Conservatory of Music to take the primary school, and passed the violin examination. "My main teacher, Mr. Wang Shaowu, came to Changsha to proctor the examination, saw that my hands were relatively large among the same age, maybe at that time I had already shown a little talent, Teacher Wang asked me if I was interested in playing the viola, although I had no concept at the time, but after consulting with my mother, I still wanted to try." When I really played the viola for the first time, I felt that this was the sound I wanted, the violin was too loud for me, the little boy wanted a more mature male voice, I thought the sound was too magnetic, so I began to learn the viola. It's really lucky and a good opportunity. ”

For more and more Chinese admitted to foreign orchestras now, Mediyang believes that it can be seen that the education in music in China is getting better and better, "When I went abroad in 2014, I did not feel that I needed to make great changes to adapt to Europe, because Germany does not have a mainland such a high school model, many people are starting from undergraduate studies, so we have certain innate advantages." ”

Medyan revealed that he will return to China this summer for a tour, including solo and concertos and other forms, "There are many classic works in the viola, and I hope to present the beauty of the viola for everyone." ”

Article/Reporter Tian Wanting