This week our Young Artists Eunsley Park (violin) and Élisabeth Pion (piano) performed for #MiddayMusic. You can read our exclusive interviews with them and watch their videos below. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch all our upcoming videos.  Details of their repertoire can be found in the details section on YouTube.  All of our #MiddayMusic videos can be watched on our exclusive playlist.  Next week you can look forward to performances from Tamila Salimdjanova (piano) on Monday and Amarins Wierdsma (violin) on Wednesday, both at midday.

Eunsley Park : A deeper love for music

Musicians’ Company Yeoman Eunsley Park is a London based award-winning violinist who regularly performs across the UK and abroad. Here she tells us what she’s been up to over the last few months and the inspiration behind her choice of music for the #MiddayMusic concert.

“Personally, the pandemic has been an opportunity to build a deeper connection and commitment towards my love for music. Music is even more important in a time of crisis; it can provide so much comfort and inspiration to so many people. I feel lucky and blessed that such great works of art exist. When it’s time to return to the stage, I will be even more grateful to be able to do what I love, and will consider it a great privilege to perform alongside wonderful musicians and share amazing music. In the meantime, I intend to stay curious, passionate, in love and in awe of the way music can move and touch us.

During my walks in lockdown I listened to lots of music and podcasts but Wagner’s Albumblatt, with its lush harmonies instantly captured my heart. It is not often played and surprisingly unknown, but I was happy to find this instrumental piece by him (arr. by August Wilhelmj for violin and piano). This is the first piece I chose for my #MiddayMusic concert.

The second piece is Ysaye’s Solo Sonata No. 2, a piece I gave myself to learn as a project during lockdown. This particular movement heavily quotes Bach, who Ysaye was obsessed with at the time. The title of the movement is ‘Obsession’ and its Dies Irae theme interwoven with the Bach quotations seems quite an apt choice for our current times.”

You can find out more about Eunsley at eunsleypark.com and her upcoming concerts as 1st violin member of the Philharmonia Orchestra at philharmonia.co.uk.

Élisabeth Pion: Channeling her creative energy

Multi-award winning pianist, Élisabeth Pion, has spent the last six months in Canada. Now back in London, Élisabeth tells us how composing, founding a festival, giving online recitals and completing her Artists Masters in Performance has kept her busy during the pandemic.

“I’ve been learning a lot of new repertoire, both solo piano and concerti, in recent months. I’ve also started composing for the first time since I was a child, but it isn’t anything serious yet. It just feels like a wonderful release. Along with cellist Agnès Langlois, a great friend of mine, I founded Festival Unisson, which took place in August near Montreal. The festival is inspired by Marina Abramovic’s exhibition at MoMA and the 1:1 Concerts held in Germany, and provides a one-on-one immersive experience between the listener and musician, using the power of silence, music and gaze.

I’ve had a few online recitals recently, notably for the Orchestre Classique de Montréal in June, and given my final recital for my Guildhall Artist Masters in Performance, which I gained with Distinction. In November I’ll record an online recital which I was supposed to play as part of the South Hill Park concert series Alistair Jones manages, but which was cancelled. I’ll end the year with an all-Beethoven recital as part of the Festival Classica in Canada.

Highlights for next year include a performance with my trio, the Saorsa Trio, at Leeds Internatinal Concert Season and my rescheduled Wigmore Hall solo debut on 13 July 2021.

For my #MiddayMusic concert I chose Chopin’s Preludes which I’ve felt very drawn to in recent months. It’s incredible how much these pieces say in such a short amount of time. Chopin shows real mastery of small form. The pieces don’t need to be endless to be striking. Since the #MiddayMusic concert is a 10-minute performance I thought this would be a good one to pick.

You can find out more about Élisabeth on the Company profile page.

More information on Festival Unisson can be found at www.facebook.com/festivalunisson