Dmitry Smirnov: “Gut strings taught me a great deal”

By Emilia Campagna - February 28, 2023

Dmitry Smirnov is the extraordinary soloist who accompanied us on our Beethoven adventure: let's get to know him better in this interview
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The residency during which Theresia was conducted by Giovanni Antonini came to an end with two extraordinary concerts. The two evenings were great success, where the orchestra received applause from a truly enthusiastic audience; two concerts in which Beethoven’s music sparked with energy, transparency, and expressiveness. This was also thanks to the extraordinary soloist who accompanied us on our Beethoven adventure, a first both for Theresia and 28-year-old Russian violinist Dmitry Smirnov.

In a break between the balance rehearsal and a concert, we had a long chat with Dmitry and we’d like you to get to know him a little better too. And we highly recommend to follow his brilliant career!

We started at the very beginning, when Dmitry Smirnov was only a small little boy who started to play the violin…

“I started to play the violin when I was five years old: it was thanks to my parents, who are both professional musicians, specifically singers. They took care of the first part of my education. I was obviously trained to play the modern violin since it is not so easy to approach the baroque instrument in Russia as a young pupil: I realised that in Italy many of my peers were given the opportunity to try the baroque violin at a very young age, probably because there’s a stronger tradition in historically informed performance here.”

At some point you did turn to the baroque violin: how did this come about?

“I had moved to Switzerland to study at the University of Basel, where I met a great musician: Rainer Schmidt, who was my violin and chamber music teacher. I learned a lot from him, although the work was always focused on the modern violin. But just at that time, when I was 20 years old, I attended a concert of Il Giardino Armonico in Basel: and it was there that I finally discovered a different way of playing, which affected me deeply.”

What struck you in particular?

“At that moment, the rhythm which had an energy all of its own, but also the simplicity of the act of performing. Then, over time, I realised that what struck me came from articulation, from intonation, from a number of things.”

And what did you do next?

“I kept on researching, listening, informing myself. Then, in 2017, I tried gut strings on my own instrument. It was amazing because I realised that by playing with gut strings and the baroque bow I was learning a great deal: it’s as if the gut strings taught me again about the articulation of sound, phrasing, things that I had learned, that were taught to me but somehow I had forgotten or kept at the back of my mind.”

Did you take lessons?

“Of course I did. Among other things, I was lucky enough to take a masterclass with Amandine Beyer: I played Bach, and she taught me so many things, with such an open mind. Like me, she comes from modern violin background too, but nowadays she’s a leading reference for those who want to play the baroque violin.”

So today, what relevance does the baroque violin have in your career?

“Well, it is not my primary activity, but I try to play the baroque violin as often as I can. And, I would love to end this separation between modern playing and historically informed playing, as you can apply HIP’s approach to any repertoire.”

When did you meet Maestro Giovanni Antonini and started working with him?

“This was in 2019: we had had some encounters in Zurich, where I had attended some performances of Il Giardino Armonico. I remember listening to Handel’s Alcina and Mozart’s Idomeneo. He probably had listened to some of my recordings, because he invited me to join Il Giardino Armonico for a recording of three of Haydn’s Symphonies.”

How was the experience of being conducted by Giovanni Antonini?

“It was great! Giovanni Antonini is at the heart of the orchestra, he lets something incredible happen: I found myself surrounded by wonderful instrumentalists, where everybody was humble and generous at the same time.”

Did you experience the same feeling with Theresia Orchestra?

“Sure I did. It’s an amazing ensemble, the musicians are so energetic. And I must acknowledge that the organisation was impeccable, they have a wonderful team of staff working behind the scenes.”

Speaking of ensembles, you founded your own a few years ago: what kind of ensemble is “Camerata Rhein” and what repertoire does it focus on?

“It is a variable chamber music ensemble based on a trio of clarinet, violin and piano: I must confess it was born as a sort of pet project, just to spend time reading new music and playing with friends, with the idea to let others join us (for example, inviting a cellist to perform Messiaen’s Quatour pour la fin du temps). Giving it a name was in the first place a way to justify the amount of time we spent together playing! But then we were lucky enough to be invited to many festivals in Switzerland, where our project was really well received.”

What do you do when you’re not playing? Do you have any hobbies or is music taking up hundred percent of your life?

“Music took most of my time when I was young especially due to bad time management: today, music is indeed my passion, and when your job coincides with your biggest passion in order to save yourself, you have to pull the brake sometimes and let it cook. I love to learn new things, like languages, but also spend more time with my family, and obviously with my wife, who I married one year ago. I also like to listen to a different kind of music than the one I play: I especially like Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, two artists who by the way often work together, and I recently discovered Gregory Porter, a fantastic singer.”

With Theresia, you rehearsed in Ravenna, and performed in Rovereto and Florence: what did you enjoy most on this Italian tour?

“I would say the food, but that’s not very original, is it? Well, Ravenna and Rovereto are two places I didn’t know at all and I very much enjoyed visiting both cities. I noticed that Rovereto is very close to Lake Garda, which I love very much, but there was no time to get there as we only stayed there shortly. Luckily, we had more time in Ravenna: the mosaics are astonishing and as it often happens while in Italy, I enjoyed being surrounded by things that bring you into the history of the place.”

Giovanni Antonini and Beethoven as you do not expect

By Emilia Campagna - February 22, 2023

A few days away from the concert where he will conduct Theresia, we caught up with Maestro Giovanni Antonini for a well-rounded chat about his musical career and his relationship with Beethoven
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A few days ahead of the concerts in which he will conduct Theresia (in Rovereto on February 26 and in Florence the next day), we caught up with Maestro Giovanni Antonini for an insightful chat about his musical career and his relationship with Beethoven.

Giovanni Antonini, you will conduct the orchestra in an entirely Beethoven focused programme, such an iconic composer: what is your relationship with Beethoven?

I have had an ongoing connection with Beethoven since 2005 when I started a recording project of the complete Symphonies with the Kammerorchester Basel. The project lasted 10 years, so the whole work was very thoughtful and thorough. My starting point with Beethoven was similar as Theresia Orchestra’s today: the orchestra has a very extensive experience in the classical repertoire (Haydn, Mozart, but also a lot of less familiar composers) but never approached the Beethoven Symphonies. That was the situation for me as well. From a certain point of view, it was an advantage: Beethoven is perhaps the most performed composer, and over time he has been attributed even with extramusical, often political, meanings. By coming to his music after considerable experience in the earlier repertoire, I was able to approach it with freshness and a new outlook, free of bias.

It must be said that a remarkable technical leap was taken by Beethoven: his music was extremely difficult at the time, specifically because of its technical complexity, which often had to do with the required dynamics. Beethoven was the first composer to demand such a high degree of intensity from the orchestra, which was truly unheard of in those days. Taking on Beethoven is quite a challenge and also an opportunity for both technical and musical growth.

Compared to less historically informed performance approaches, what does playing on period instruments tell us about Beethoven?

Playing Beethoven according to historically informed performance practice allows us to rediscover aspects otherwise overlooked: one of these is frailty, an aspect that is hardly associated with this composer. Beethoven is the titan, the hero, in his most stereotypical depiction. But Beethoven also has another side: he explores our human dimension, of which frailty is an important aspect. And that aspect emerges powerfully from playing on original instruments, the ones that were used in his time and for which he composed.

Because of its complexity, Beethoven’s music gave an incredible boost to the technical development of instruments. Today’s string instruments have metal strings that produce a mighty sound, or we have bright and powerful woodwinds, but at the time of the creation of this music, this was not the case. Think of the flute for example: in the 1800s it was an instrument that would express sweetness, with a soft sound: then it changes and becomes powerful, but the modern flute has very little to do with the instrument Beethoven had in mind.

You will be conducting Theresia, an important step in their professional and musical training for many members of our youth orchestra: thinking of you at that age, what were the key events or encounters at the beginning of your career?

The most important encounter was with my colleagues with whom I founded the ensemble Il Giardino Armonico. Our work together has been a true musical journey: we rehearsed so much, exploring the 17th century Italian repertoire, and our joint effort paid off with great success.

A music lesson… Giardino Armonico in the early days

As far as my role models are concerned, even though I did never had the chance to engage with them directly, I owe a great deal to both Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Franz Brüggen. Harnoncourt changed the vision of Italian Baroque music and not only: I remember for example his recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, a scratchy sound that was both ancient and brand new; and then Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, where he gave great prominence to the woodwinds; on the other hand, Brüggen took the flute, which was considered a second-rate instrument, and proved to everyone that it could be a leading instrument.

How did you start conducting?

It was thanks to the work with Il Giardino Armonico: at a certain point we had the chance to perform with a larger ensemble and we needed someone to conduct, so I volunteered… and I learned to do it. It went on for years and I discovered that conducting is an expansion of musical potential: the conductor doesn’t produce any sound but builds the whole performance step by step. I had conducted Il Giardino Armonico exclusively for years, when in 1998 other orchestras started inviting me: it was the time when modern orchestras started to be interested in the historically informed practice and of course, they needed someone trained in the field.

Let’s talk about Dmitry Smirnov, the violinist who will perform as a soloist with Theresia and with whom you have already worked: what do you like about this young talent?

Smirnov is a violinist at the highest technical and musical level: a violinist of the modern school who can play anything and who, as happens to be more often the case, is also interested in performing on original instruments. He is part of a generation of musicians for whom it is not mandatory to choose between the modern instrument and the period one: indeed, as a violinist trained in the modern school, he absorbs the experience of historically informed performance like a sponge. That gives him the ability to tackle with Beethoven without adhering to stereotypical models.

Do not miss Giovanni Antonini conducting Theresia: concerts take place on February 26 in Rovereto and February 27 in Florence!