>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. ^M00:00:03 ^M00:00:22 >> Nicholas Brown: Hi everyone. I hoped you enjoyed the concert. My name is Nick Brown [applause]. I didn't do anything especial, it was all her. We're so pleased to have Anne Sofie here to spend some time with you all. Well, just I'll start off with a couple of questions and then we'll open it up to all of you and hopefully our colleagues will join shortly. This is a very interesting program, in terms of the mix of contemporary popular artists as well as the earlier Renaissance and Baroque music. Is this something new for you, to mix up the types of music? Or have you been doing it for a while? >> Anne Sofie von Otter: I mix -- I frequently mix the composers and the genres in my concert programs because I enjoy it very much myself, and then I hope that the audience does too. And there are plenty of other singers who put together different types of more specialized -- I mean only Schubert or only the German Romantics. So this is also always been my -- it's always given me a lot of pleasure to mix, to vary the programs and [inaudible] only in English Renaissance music I wouldn't even want to do that. So this is my little cook-up. And because the musicians are so fabulous, they can play these other types as well. >> Nicholas Brown: Wonderful. Can you tell us how you three came to start working together? >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Oh, there they are. ^M00:02:01 [ Applause ] ^M00:02:04 [ Inaudible Response ] ^M00:02:09 [ Background Conversations ] ^M00:02:14 Yes. Well, I have sung quite a lot in Paris, with the different [inaudible] there, and Thomas lives in Paris. And so we met each other for the first time five years ago or something. And I noticed this young man, how extremely talented he was. And he also liked to fool around and then you know we would do a pop song. And so I thought he's the guy. And I tell you that not every lute player has such freedom as you do, as Thomas does. And then we needed a third person. And I had never worked with you before. But I think you said, and other people said, to ask Jonathan Cohen. He's fantastic. So I did, and it turned out that these two knew each other really well. They love playing together. And Jonathan is a conductor, not only a keyboard player and a cello player. He's also a conductor. That's what you do. >> Jonathan Cohen: That's right [laughter]. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Maybe more than [inaudible]. So anyway, you knew each other, and it was the perfect combo. And I just love these guys. They are so wonderful. They're really such musicians and such freedom and so nice. And I wish we could -- I hope we can do a lot more concerts together. >> Nicholas Brown: Wonderful [inaudible]. Has there been a highlight from this tour, in terms of a specific performance or a specific venue or a specific audience? Assuming that this is the best, of course. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: We were just talking about that [inaudible]. >> Nicholas Brown: Jonathan. >> Jonathan Cohen: Well, you know when we go on tours, especially as a keyboard player, you often have sometimes very different instruments in different places. I have to say tonight I really enjoyed the fantastic harpsichord and organ that we had here. So that was a real highlight for me to be able to play these instruments. >> Thomas Dunford Duration: I loved all of them and they were all different. This one was [inaudible]. But Philadelphia was fun. The first one was wow [inaudible] they were all different and there but I love them all. >> Nicholas Brown: Have you two toured much in the US? Separately I know you've been in here, in Washington recently and such. >> Jonathan Cohen: Yeah. I come to the US reasonably regularly in different guises. I work a lot with the [foreign accent] in Minnesota and come to New York with my ensemble. [foreign accent] always love coming to the US. The audiences are very friendlier. And I find people enjoy classical music a lot here in the venues that we come to, like here, for example. It's great. >> Nicholas Brown: Are there plans for the three of you to tour further in the future? >> Anne Sofie von Otter: In our heads, yes [laughter]. >> Nicholas Brown: Wonderful. What for Anne Sofie -- what is an important thing that you hope US audiences gain from the Nordic music that you share when you perform over here? Because I think a lot of the composers aren't so familiar to us over here. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Nordic. You mean when I do other recitals with Nordic music? >> Nicholas Brown: Yeah. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Well, Nordic music, a lot of it is extremely beautiful and has a certain -- its own character and the text and everything. Of course, Swedish is my own language, but the songs are exceptionally good. Grieg, the Norwegian composer, Grieg, Sibelius. And Sweden doesn't have a big name like that, but we have I don't know five, 10 different fantastic [inaudible] composers. So I almost always include them in my programs, and I know that the audience really take them to heart. >> Nicholas Brown: Wonderful. Thank you. I think we'll just switch it over to ask -- you can ask questions now. If you could just raise your hand and wait for a microphone to come to you that would be great. You all didn't have a drink before, did you [inaudible] [laughter]? >> Anne Sofie, you did an album with Elvis Costello. What was that like? >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Well, Elvis is a really fantastic guy. He's got so much experience. He's really, really clever and is a very creative person, as you know -- anyone who knows Elvis Costello. I mean he does all kinds of things and plays and sings with all different kinds of people. And he's just written a fantastic book. So it was a great pleasure to work with him. We had got to know each other several years before we recorded, so I really felt that this was someone I could trust. And he'd been to many, many concerts at different classical music that I'd sung. And we started discussing what kind of pop music I liked and why. And why I didn't like other kinds. So it was sent in cassettes. This was the day of the cassettes, so it sent back and forth. So all in all it was a very wonderful experience and he really knew what he was doing, doing this you know he had -- the putting my voice in the right context and choosing the good songs for the disc together. >> Nicholas Brown: Yes. My microphone runner disappeared but [inaudible] -- ^M00:07:52 ^M00:07:58 >> Audience Speaker: So I actually have a question for all of you. Is there some decent music that -- is that better? >> Yes. >> Audience Speaker: I had a question for all of you. Is there some piece of music that you have really always wanted to perform? Or perhaps a role Anne Sofie that you have always wanted to do but it hasn't yet come to fruition? What is your white [inaudible], if you were? ^M00:08:23 [ Laughter ] ^M00:08:25 [ Background Conversations ] ^M00:08:30 >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Well I've had a very long career. And I've been very lucky, and I've done most of the things I wanted to. And there are few things that I would like to do but which are not for my voice, unfortunately. Well, unfortunately I've been -- you know I've had such a wonderful career doing the kinds amazing roles and pieces with wonderful conductors, so I can't even say at the time I'm happy or bitter or anything. I'm doing now contemporary or [inaudible] I used to because well, the composers will maybe write with me in mind, which is nice. [Inaudible] and I'm doing a Finnish opera in [inaudible] opera, right? Yeah. So that kind of music, but otherwise I feel fulfilled. ^M00:09:38 [ Laughter ] ^M00:09:42 What would you like to do that you're not [inaudible]? ^M00:09:44 ^M00:09:48 >> Thomas Dunford Duration: Everything that I haven't played [laughter]. Any style. I'd like to do classical. I'd like to later stuff. I'd like to play Mozart, Beethoven, [foreign name]. I'd like to play jazz, rock [inaudible] try out on lutes many different things. There's a lot to play. >> Jonathan Cohen: Well for me, I'd love to do the height and creation [phonetic]. That's something that I haven't done. I really love that piece and it's like an ambition of mine to do that. And [foreign name], in general. Actually in the Baroque stuff I don't know [inaudible] and that kind of early Baroque German music. I haven't done so much of that and I think it's fantastic. So lots of things yet to do for me but -- >> Anne Sofie von Otter: You're both so young [laughter]. I have -- may I ask a question? How come you don't chew [phonetic] all the time during the concert because I've done some concerts with [foreign names] lute before. There's a [making lute sound] several times during the concert. It takes a quite a long time every time. Now, you have not done this once, I don't think [laughter]. And so I wondered is it because your lute is so well built that it keeps its tuning? Or do you play a little -- you know you change where your finger is so then -- because you can hear I need to play a little higher. How come? >> Thomas Dunford Duration: It's technology. No. It's just because 300 years ago we used gut strings. And they were very good at making gut strings, especially for lutes. And they were specific and really great and kept the tuning. But it was an art, so like Stradivarius' process for making wood with violin. It was very -- a real art that's been a bit lost. And I'm not very satisfied with the sound of gut strings now because it's all made in factories and stuff so it doesn't sound as, on the lute, as nice. So I just used synthetic strings, which most lute players use because if you'd go on tour San Francisco to -- from LA to Washington and every day go in different places. And you guys would spend your life listening to tuning. It'd be really boring. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: So it's because of the strings. >> Thomas Dunford Duration: The strings are good. And when you change them, it moves a bit. But then it settles down, and it doesn't move too much. Yeah. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: I also would like to know how long can you play on this lute? It looks like it's been quite used a lot, a little wear and tear. And do you use it -- is there a moment when the lute has had enough and you have to throw it away? Or do you then renovate it and put on new polish and change a few things, and then it's good as new? >> Thomas Dunford Duration: Well, I really love this lute. I had it when I was 14. And I've been playing it all the time since -- when I first got it. Wow. This thing's got a resonance and it was amazing. It was a young wow. Now it's an old guy who's seen the world, and I really love him, as he's still great. Love it. But he's dying. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Is that a fact? >> Thomas Dunford Duration: No. But he -- you know like the table is really used. That it's been hit, and it doesn't have the same youth it used to have. And lutes are -- it's very fragile. So they tend to -- I hope he doesn't die soon. So I'm going to do everything I can to take care of this, but I've been playing too much all over -- like on beaches and wrong places [laughter]. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: So that's what I mean. I mean you would never stop using a cello or a violin. You would give it to the whatever it's called, the shop where they make good as new, right? >> Jonathan Cohen: He was practicing in Central Park in New York a couple of days ago. Just under a tree. >> Nicholas Brown: Did you make any money [inaudible]? >> Thomas Dunford Duration: No. ^M00:13:54 [ Laughter ] ^M00:13:58 >> Nicholas Brown: A question following up on that for Anne Sofie. How have you noticed your voice evolve throughout your career and have you done anything specific to kind of -- >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Well, I work very hard now that I'm older. I've always been quite disciplined but never as disciplined as now. I can tell you, if I wouldn't practice and keep my voice -- work very hard with it -- I would have to retire immediately because at my age the voice really wants to be like the rest of the body [inaudible]. So you have to hold it up, up, up, up, up [laughter]. It's true. I'm not fibbing. This is very -- I mean if I just let it go, it goes wow, wow, wow. So to be able to sing Baroque music and straight tones and [inaudible] it's just very hard work. You have to be very -- you have to think about what you're doing. >> Nicholas Brown: How does your warm-up differ from a program like this versus the Mahler that you performed at the Kennedy Center a few weeks ago? Or is it the same? >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Well, for Mahler Third Symphony, which I did a week ago with a wonderful orchestra here and Christoph Eschenbach. It was a huge experience. It was very intense and I loved it. But to prepare for that the instrument is bigger, so to speak, and I need to warm up in a bigger way because I sing differently. So I still need to warm up. Of course, for this but then when I go out on stage, I sing in a much more contained way. The warming up itself is not so different. >> Nicholas Brown: Any other audience questions? Yep. One second. ^M00:15:57 [ Inaudible Response ] ^M00:16:02 >> Audience Speaker: I was very pleased to hear you mention Eva Cassidy. And I was just curious to know how you came to discover her music? >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Yeah, Eva Cassidy -- I wonder if her friend didn't say have you heard of Eva Cassidy? I think so. And then I was hunting around for Simon and Garfunkel songs, and on Spotify, her name came up. And I recognized the name. And I listened and then it's so beautiful, and I went out to buy a disc. But I, and most of the world, didn't know who she was when she was still alive. Apparently she really wasn't famous outside Washington. And then somebody did put together some songs or made a program about her. And then she -- you know people heard how beautifully she sang. But she didn't -- she had a -- you know she [inaudible] so much in a much tougher way, but she really knew how to use her voice. It's very sad that she died so early. >> Nicholas Brown: Time for one more question. ^M00:17:14 ^M00:17:17 [ Inaudible Question ] ^M00:18:07 >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Music education in Sweden is terrible [laughter]. It really, really is. I mean at least, if you're thinking classical music, musical education [inaudible] in a broader sense why this is. But a lot of people still sing in choirs, all different kinds of choirs, and so -- but [inaudible] phenomenon is still is incredible. I mean there are so many. It's not just [inaudible] somebody called the red one, and my son's trying to do the same thing. So this is now a kind of -- I guess we all learn from each other. But no, unfortunately the music education, I think, in most countries but maybe not in France or in Germany but in most other countries -- >> Jonathan Cohen: Yeah. Well, in England, there's a big campaign at the moment to try to get music much more in schools for kids and for everyone when they're young to do it. And I think it's so important because if you have familiarity with that in your youth, then that's a real pleasure to be able to do that your life. Whether you do it professionally or not and maybe the audience of the future, you know it's important. You know, it's important, I think, so important that kids [inaudible] to music even if they don't want to do anything after a while. That they should be given the chance, so important. >> Nicholas Brown: In France? >> Thomas Dunford Duration: Yeah. It was good. But the thing is when you learn in a conservatory or anything, there intends to be something very rigid about the way of learning about -- this is harmony. ^M00:19:58 You have to learn four, four and three, three, and you forget about five, seven, Indian music, jazz, improvisation, and all this stuff. And they tend to have this thing of schools. We are the best school. You have to stay in school and study here. But actually music -- the best experiences is playing with people. And that's how I learned even more. It's good for giving a basis, but I think schools don't do everything as well. It's also experience. >> Anne Sofie von Otter: Sure. >> Thomas Dunford Duration: So -- but I was very lucky in France. They have good systems for that where you can go to class half-time and conservatory half-time. And you get to meet young guys who play saxophone and teach you jazz, and it's great. I was happy. >> Nicholas Brown: Do you ever go to jam sessions with your lute? >> Thomas Dunford Duration: Yeah. >> Nicholas Brown: Nice [laughter]. Next time you're in DC, you'll have to do one at some club and we'll all go over there. >> Thomas Dunford Duration: Okay. Great. >> Nicholas Brown: Wonderful. Well, thank you to Thomas, to Anne Sofie and to Jonathan for joining us up here [inaudible] do you still have the cds? Has he gone already? Okay. Nevermind. No more cds, unfortunately, but you can go online and find them. Thank you again for a wonderful performance and for speaking with -- >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov. ^E00:21:15