Big ideas from 2025
Over the year, we've interviewed our artists about their current projects, ideas and hopes. As we come to the end of 2025, we've collected some of their most topical and thought-provoking insights
AUTHENTICITY
‘I am not interested in reproducing Debussy, Wagner or Mozart like they were played the first time. I don’t believe in the ‘authenticity’ of a piece of music. It’s important to make our own interpretations. We are modern interpreters and everything comes through the filter of our own times.’
BOUNDARIES
‘Categories are useful for listeners who are into a specific style, but more and more artists are blurring genres. The algorithms need to know what kind of audience would like your music, but audiences like a lot of different kinds of music, and as an artist, if you’re making something new or experimental, you don’t necessarily know which genre you fit.’
THE CANON
‘There is this idea that the canon has been decided by music historians, but in fact we are constantly making it in real time, continuing to decide what it is with our programming. It’s essential to take part in this evolution, opening the doors for other voices to be present in the concert hall.’
ENERGY
‘Enthusiasm is a powerful energy, but without control it becomes meaningless. We have to find a way to channel it to make sure it gets to people in the best, most effective way. With experience, I am able to ‘be’ the energy, rather than just to receive it and send it away. It’s in everything you do: your body language, the way you rehearse. But it also has something to do with being true to yourself.’
EVOLUTION
‘It’s important to have the chance to grow into a career, for it to be a gradual learning curve. It certainly was for me. Learning to handle the pressure and reality of a career should go hand in hand with your evolution as a musician. It’s best to progress slowly.’
FOLK MUSIC
Duncan Strachan, Maxwell Quartet
‘Classical repertoire can feel quite daunting: there’s a perceived sense that it requires a degree of intellectual rigour. That is important and rewarding, but you risk losing the connection with the emotional, physical aspects, which seem to come more naturally in folk music. Applying that folk music attitude helps us with our interpretations of classical quartets.’
PLEASURE
‘I don’t believe that people in France don’t want to go to classical music anymore. There is a crisis about cuts to public subsidies, but I believe people are still interested in classical music. We can’t take them off the street and force them to go to the opera or theatre. It has to do first with education, desire and pleasure. I believe in pleasure!’
PROGRAMMING
‘We have arrived at the second step: we don’t want to play music by female composers just because they are women, but because it fits the programme. We still need to consider which pieces written by a woman could work in any programme, but with a more artistic view rather than only being about gender.’
RELEVANCE
‘Relevance is not a strategy, it’s a necessity. If the text has no urgency in the present, it should be left alone. But making it relevant doesn’t mean updating costumes or adding references – it means creating a space where the play’s internal tensions can collide with contemporary realities. You can go very far with the original – as long as you stay honest.’
RISK
‘I see the recording situation as an opportunity to play with high risk. Some people get worried and tight in this situation, but I enjoy it, because the worst that can happen is that you have to do the take again. High-risk playing might not quite succeed five times, but all you need is one wonderful take. It’s not about hitting every note, every time, but catching something special, beautiful, and – at best – magical.’
