Stephen Waarts
Born in:
Fremont, Kalifornien
Current centre of life:
Berlin
Instrument:
Violin
Second, third or even fourth instrument:
Piano
My career aspiration as a child:
I actually wanted to become a musician at a very early age, otherwise I would have liked to become a scientist or mathematician.
This was the profession my parents envisioned for me:
My parents are both scientists and so are my siblings, so I suspect they could have imagined it well for me. Nevertheless, they always supported my enthusiasm for music and were able to adjust their expectations well.
Works or concert experiences that shaped me:
I remember falling a little in love with Heifetz’s recording of Vieuxtemps Concerto No. 5 when I was 9. That was probably the first time I felt that way. When I was 14, I had the opportunity to play Ravel’s string quartet. That’s when I discovered my enthusiasm for chamber music. Since then, there have been many things that have always influenced me.
Work with the greatest music-making pleasure (and why?):
Bach’s sonatas and partitas, because you can create a whole world with the violin alone. Add to that Brahms’ Violin Concerto and I think it’s impossible not to be happy during the last movement of Mendelssohn’s Octet.
I would like a work for my instrument by this composer (and why?):
We violinists can consider ourselves very lucky in this respect, but pieces by the great piano composers would have been nice. Chopin and Rachmaninoff wrote cello sonatas, but nothing for the violin.
Likewise, we are blessed with five wonderful Mozart concertos, but I wish he had written one more later in his life. It seems a bit unfair that the pianists got 27 concertos. Maybe it would just be nice if it existed.
I would get up in the middle of the night for that:
For that to happen, there would have to be a natural disaster or an invasion of my house. Not that I’m tempting fate here now… ????
Special / curious own concert experience:
I think directly of the final of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2015, which was a very unique experience and atmosphere in the hall! Another special experience for me was the performance with Timothy Ridout on the viola and the European Chamber Orchestra conducted by Andras Schiff. It was the first time I played Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, a piece I have loved for a long time.
My most valuable tip for the next generation of musicians:
Keep loving the music and remember that the emotional connection should always come first! We work on the smallest details in our daily practice life, and in doing so we run the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture.
That's what I wish for the future of the classical music scene:
More contemporary music and also pieces by under-performed composers from the past. For me, it is not enough to play only the music of the greatest composers. I would like to see more concerts with unique ideas and reasons for choosing the programme instead of just doing the same thing over and over again – but I also think that this is already improving!
My next project:
I will soon be playing the Brahms Double Concerto for the first time in the Netherlands.
That's what I associate with Leipzig as a city of music:
In the summer of 2020, I was in Leipzig for the first time. Friends from Berlin and I went on a pilgrimage, so to speak, to Bach’s grave in St Thomas’s Church and afterwards we also visited the Bach Museum next door. Despite the many composers who lived in Leizpig, I first associate Leipzig with Johann Sebastian Bach.