For our inaugural #MiddayMusic performances, we premiered videos from Dinara Klinton (piano) and Jonathan Radford (saxophone). Here below you can read our exclusive interviews with them, and watch their performances.

Dinara Klinton: Finding joy in everyday life  

Multi award-winning pianist, Dinara Klinton, has spent recent months steering her own musical career – and that of her students – towards positive growth.

“As the RCM’s newly-appointed Assistant Professor of Piano, teaching my students, while learning from them, has been especially rewarding. Whenever hard times come along, it’s very important to consider humans, nature and the things around us. If we each put on hold our own selfish interests and look around, it makes a huge different to all of us. This is something I call ‘love’ at its ultimate level.

Away from her teaching commitments, Dinara has been busy performing. “On the 4 October, I performed Sonata op. 78 at Hugh Mather’s ‘St Mary’s Percivale Beethoven Piano Sonata Festival’, which was live streamed on YouTube, with no audience in the church. On 10 October, I’ll play an online concert for the Beethoven Piano Marathon in Osijek, Croatia. That time I’ll do Sonatas op. 2/1, op. 10/2 and op. 13.

Later this month I’m also looking forward to recording an online concert with the magical flautist, Noemi Gyori. This concert was requested by Rhyl Music Club, and will be broadcast to their audience and those of a few other Welsh music clubs sometime before Christmas.”

You can find out more about Dinara at https://dinaraklinton.com

Jonathan Radford: Fusing music and art

Musicians’ Company Yeoman, Jonathan Radford, is a multi-award winning saxophonist who regularly performs at major venues across Europe.

“The last few months have presented huge challenges and affected us and our industries in ways we couldn’t have imagined previously. I’ve tried to keep positive and active by using the extra time to learn new repertoire, and develop and build new projects. I’ve been very fortunate to take part in a number of online concerts and conferences as well as maintain my teaching.

I’m very much looking forward to my first live concerts with pianist Ashley Fripp which will take place on October 15th at Benslow Music, Hitchin at 3pm and 8pm and October 17th for the Thames Concerts series in Kingston at 7.30pm. I’m incredibly excited for these two performances and can’t wait to perform for a live audience with another musician!

I chose Gilles Silvestrini’s concert études for my Musicians’ Company #MiddayMusic recording. I discovered these wonderful pieces whilst a student in Paris but have never previously performed them in concert. Each piece is inspired by impressionist paintings by Monet, Renoir, Boudin and Manet. The compositions provide a musical interpretation/impression of these masterpieces and allow the listener to experience the paintings in new ways. The video includes images of the original paintings to remind listeners of the artwork the music represents, and to allow listeners to immerse themselves in a fusion of impressionist art and music.

This form of composition becomes slightly more complex than usual – not only does the performer interpret the music, there is the added layer of the existing interpretation of the composer from his view of the artwork. This creates another dimension for the audience, distinguishing between the relation between the art forms. I found this concept particularly interesting as it creates a wider scope of imagination for the performer, and for the listener.”

You can find out more about Jonathan Radford at jonathanradfordsaxophone.com