Xenia Pestova
Xenia Pestova is a very talented pianist/educator and recording artist who is originally from Siberia, Russia. Although she was trained in traditional classical music, she has always loved exploring contemporary classical music. When her family moved to New Zealand during her early teens, Xenia began to seriously study piano with renowned pedagogue Judith Clark. At this point, Xenia was preparing to enjoy a career in the creative world of music. As she states about Judith " She completely changed my life, and I like to think that her influence and enthusiasm still shapes my musical decisions." Xenia eventually secured a Doctorate degree in Music, while studying with other teachers such as: Philip Mead and Ian Pace (London), Hakon Austbo (Amsterdam), Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen (Avignon and Paris), Louise Bessette (Montreal) and Sara Laimon at McGill University.
Xenia has performed in the world's finest venues and festivals such as: Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Glasgow Royal Concert Halls, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Festival Archipel (Geneva), Christchurch Arts Festival (New Zealand), Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival (Canada), Frontiers+ (Birmingham), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Lanaudière (Canada), Festival Musica (Strasbourg), Sonorities (Belfast), Spark (USA) and Voix Nouvelles Royaumont (France).
Currently, Xenia is the Director of Performance at the University of Nottingham, and continues to mentor emerging musicians in workshops at conservatories and universities around the UK, Europe, Canada, New Zealand, USA and Brazil. Xenia is a Naxos Records recording artist and currently has four CD's out showcasing the works of John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and more. She has recorded on other labels as well. I recently corresponded with Xenia about her wonderful career in music.
R.V.B. - What was your first exposure to music while growing up in Russia?
X.P. - I was fortunate to have really wonderful teachers, both in piano and in composition. They gave me a fantastic foundation in music. I can only imagine how much poorer my life would be without these early experiences. I studied in Tomsk (my birth city) and Novosibirsk (the fantastic music school at the Conservatoire, and also the Specialized Music College).
R.V.B. - Did you learn the standard classical repertoire while learning in grade school... Bach, Beethoven and Mozart pieces?
X.P. - Absolutely – I am raised very much in the classical tradition; but I think I always had a bit of a “taste” for contemporary music.
R.V.B. - What were the circumstances of your family moving to New Zealand? How did it come about studying with Judith Clark and what can you describe some memories of working with her?
X.P. - My family moved to NZ when I was twelve (my father got a teaching job at the university in Wellington). I started working with Judith at sixteen. She completely changed my life, and I like to think that her influence and enthusiasm still shapes my musical decisions, more than three years after her death. Judith was wonderfully supportive and really stood behind her pupils. At the same time, she did not tolerate laziness. You had to work very hard! This is what she taught us, being humble and working hard at the service of music – although she also had a fantastic sense of humor, and we had a great time together.
R.V.B. - At what age did you realize that music would be your career and how did your college studies help achieve these goals?
X.P. - I really enjoyed my university studies, and I think it was at some point during that first degree I was doing with Judith (while also studying composition with Jack Body, Ross Harris, John Psathas and John Young) that I felt the call of music very strongly. I just couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. I went on to study piano in London, Amsterdam and Montreal after Wellington.
R.V.B. - Can you describe how the professors that you studied with in college may have shaped your views on contemporary music?
X.P. - Judith always got her students to play contemporary music: it was just a given. In London I specialized in 20th Century repertoire with Philip Mead and Ian Pace, going on to Amsterdam Conservatory to work with Håkon Austbø. All three pianists are incredibly accomplished (and very different from each other in terms of technique and sound production), and have worked extensively with living composers. I was also very lucky to play Messiaen several times for Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen in Avignon and Paris during that time. She was wonderful, and really helped me in so many ways. Then it was onward to Canada: the Montreal Conservatory to study with Louise Bessette, and McGill to work with Sara Laimon. Again, two very different musicians, and both very experienced in contemporary repertoire, so I had a very wide range of influences. I must also mention Ruth Harte, a former professor at the Royal Academy in London. I have worked with Ruth privately over the years in New Zealand and in London, as she was a very good friend of Judith, and sometimes still play to her. I am immensely grateful for her support. All of these teachers have advised me and introduced me to new repertoire, ultimately helping me learn that the greatest teacher is within. As a post-script, a note about teachers: they are invaluable in the early days, but as we grow and start to test our limits, it is also very important to learn to work independently and use one’s own head and ears. Sometimes it is also just as handy to play through to a good musical friend or colleague. My dear friend Ivana Grubelic Malo, who is now a sought-after pedagogue in California, has listened to me play and helped me countless times through the years.
R.V.B. - After college, how did you migrate into the professional performance and recording world?
X.P. - I don’t think there was a radical point of departure: I just somehow started performing professionally more and more, and it happened naturally. I did win an international competition at one point, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this was something really game-changing in my career. I suppose the more high-profile concerts started in mid-2000s with my piano duo partner at the time, Pascal Meyer. We had a lot of fun, and traveled all over the world.
R.V.B. - You perform a lot of current music from contemporary composers. What is the process for preparing a performance of a new piece. Do you visually study the piece and use a certain amount of your own interpretation as well as maybe work with the composer themselves?
X.P. - I always try to work with the composer if this is possible! Mostly this is very useful. I say mostly: take it with a grain of salt. I do study the score away from the piano, but not as much as some. I have a friend, a wonderful pianist now based in Germany, who learns his scores entirely by heart away from the instrument before playing them through for the first time – an incredible skill. I am not that clever. I am very visual though, and like to see shapes, structures and patterns in the music. I often mark up my scores with different colors.
R.V.B. - What are some of the classic old school composers that you still enjoy listening to and performing every once in a while?
X.P. - I absolutely love Bach (how can you not? I once had a student in a group performance class tell everyone that she simply hated Bach, and giggle absent-mindedly; it was the most disheartening experience of my teaching career. I hope for her sake she repents and gives it another try). Scarlatti. Beethoven. Schubert. Liszt. Brahms. Rachmaninoff. Debussy. Ravel. Is this still sufficiently “old-school”? The list goes on!
R.V.B. - You've played in many types of venues... Concert halls, churches, outside stages and even in caves. Do you have to adjust your playing sometimes to match the acoustics of the venue?
X.P. - Oh, yes! All musicians have to work with the acoustic properties of the space (and the instrument in the space). So much depends on this: shape, timing, color... This is why it can be so daunting to perform with fixed media or a click track: you can’t adjust to acoustics as much. Pianists are used to matching and modifying their playing depending on what instrument can be found in the space, too – an invaluable skill. As we can’t carry our concert grand pianos, we are at the mercy of whatever we find. Amplification is another strange beast that comes in when playing with electronics, presenting all sorts of challenges.
R.V.B. - As an educator and a performer is there a certain amount of balancing your time in order to maintain your performance chops?
X.P. - This is the greatest challenge of my life! For the moment, I can’t imagine how people also manage to have children: certainly something has to take the back seat. Perhaps it’s the best way to put things into perspective… In any case, I am constantly balancing, often on knife-edge, I confess. I keep telling myself that next year I will be really organized and prepare absolutely everything well in advance, let’s see if it works this time!
R.V.B. - How do you enjoy adding unusual instruments into your performance repertoire such as the toy piano, the Seaboard grand and other emerging technologies?
X.P. - I fluctuate in a love-hate relationship with the toy piano. It’s really fun, and really challenging. I go through phases of playing a lot of toy piano (the advantages are so many: portability, breaking down barriers with audiences, improving one’s technique), and then I abandon it for a while (the sound is very tiring in large doses, carrying an instrument is difficult – pianists are also very spoiled not to carry instruments! My partner now refuses to carry toy pianos around for me after years of doing so). New technologies are great: also challenging and exciting in many ways. I’ve enjoyed my work with the Seaboard very much… but sometimes I also just want to go back home to the piano.
R.V.B. - What do you enjoy most about teaching students music and performance?
X.P. - It’s exciting to see ideas stick. Sometimes I throw something at them, and it just runs off them like water off a duck’s back, as they say. But at other times they take it on board and run with it, and this is very rewarding. Watching them grow and try something out of their comfort zone is fantastic.
R.V.B. - What are you proud of in your place in music up to this point?
X.P. - Hmm, this is a tough one. I suppose I always look forward and onto the next challenge, but perhaps I should look back more often and be grateful for what I have achieved. I am very happy about some recent composer and performer collaborations. I also still feel pretty good about my first recording (Stockhausen). Finally, I am always touched when an audience member comes up to me and says they’ve learned something, or they enjoyed the performance: it always means a lot.
R.V.B. - What are you currently working on?
X.P. - I am about to embark on a tour of New Zealand! I will play pieces by some of my fantastic composer “family” (Patricia Alessandrini, Ed Bennett, Heather Hindman, Glenda Keam, Daria Dobrochna Kwiatkowska, Annea Lockwood, Arlene Sierra, Miriama Young) plus the “old school”, as you call them: Bach, Berio (does he count as “old school”? I hope so!), Debussy, Scarlatti and Clara Schumann. I hope to show my audiences that there are connections between the music of the past and the present, and also introduce them to some fabulous new pieces.
R.V.B. - Thank you for considering answering these questions.
X.P. - Thanks for asking!
Interview conducted by Robert von Bernewitz
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For more information on Xenia Pestova visit her website www.xeniapestova.com
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