As the Three Palaces Festival draws closer, Jo Caruana interviews top Russian violinist Ania Safonova, who will be holding a solo concert in the Throne Room of the Grandmaster’s Palace on November 9.
Ania Safonova is a musical force to be reckoned with. From her humble beginnings as a child musician in Siberia to her current role at the Opera House Orchestra in London, she has proved her incredible talents and watchability time and time again. Now, local audiences will have the pleasure of watching – and listening to – her, as part of the upcoming Three Palaces Festival in November.
“Music has been a part of my life forever,” Ania smiles, explaining that she started playing the violin when she was just five. “I was born into a family of musicians. My mother taught piano and my father was a flutist with the symphony orchestra. The question was never ‘if’ I was going to play, but ‘what’ I was going to play!”
Having observed her older friends play the violin, Ania naturally gravitated towards the instrument too. “My first musical memories are of playing duets with my father. When we moved to Israel, where I later joined the Tel Aviv Conservatory, I remember busking on the streets with him. We played quite a lot of concerts together to earn money – it was my first real job.”
A few years later Ania moved to London – “quite by chance”. A delegation from the Purcell School had visited her music school in Tel Aviv and, upon hearing her play, one of the teachers suggested Ania audition for a scholarship – which she did.
“Three months later I arrived in England. I barely spoke any of the language at the time but, over the next year or so, I passed my Cambridge English Proficiency Exam and started to settle in. I am actually still in touch with my teacher of English from that stage in my life. She became so important to me and somewhat of a mother figure.”
The question was never if I was going to play, but what I was going to play
Moving further into her career, Ania received the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Scholarship at the Royal College of Music. While in her last year of college she was offered a part-time associate leader job at the Halle Orchestra, which helped to shape her next stage. “I had never thought of a career as an orchestral musician, but found that I really enjoyed it,” she says. “I find the way the orchestra works absolutely fascinating! And the repertoire is amazing.”
So, her time with Halle turned into a very interesting learning curve and she stayed with the orchestra until she became pregnant with her first child. “At that point I had to concede that commuting to Manchester with a baby just wasn’t going to work. Instead, I decided to audition to join the Royal Opera House, four weeks before my due date. I actually had to stop midway through one of my pieces because my bow got stuck on my ‘bump’! Less than a year later I joined the Opera House Orchestra as an associate concert master. Back then I had never played an opera in my life but, as it turned out, I loved it! I haven’t looked back since.”
Having now played with many of the top orchestras in the world, including BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ania is travelling to Malta for the first time as part of the Three Palaces Festival. She will perform solo in the Throne Room of the Grandmaster’s Palace, Valletta on November 9. “I was thrilled to be asked to take part in this festival, especially as I have never been to Malta,” she says.
The programme is almost entirely for solo violin. It will feature J S Bach’s violin Sonata No.2 in A minor, F Kreisler’s The Recitativo and Scherzo and Paganini’s Nel Cor Piu Non Mi Sento, all of which Ania will play on her own. One exception on the evening, however, will be the retelling of Ferdinand the Bull – a book published by American author Munro Leaf in 1936 that has been translated into 60 languages since and turned into a Disney film. This will be played alongside a reading of the book.
“In 1971, educator and church musician Alan Ridout chose to set the story to music and, as a narrator tells the same, the characters and events are depicted by different themes played on the violin using a variety of demanding techniques. I am sure it will be very well received and I am hoping it will get a few smiles from the audience!
“I am very much looking forward to the whole showcase, particularly because all the pieces hold a very special place in my heart,” she says with a smile.
The Three Palaces Festival will be held between November 4 and 13.
www.3palacesfestival.com