Children should not be pressured into playing music and, instead, be allowed to truly enjoy their passion. That is the best way for them to flourish into a great musician.
Alexei Volodin knows about this very well. After all, he started learning the piano in St. Petersburg as a 9-year-old child.
“If you already love music then try to make it your friend not your enemy,” Volodin told Good News Macau on the sidelines of his rehearsal at the Macao Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape on Wednesday.
The Russian pianist is in town as one of the guest performers in the two-weekend Macao Orchestra’s (OM) “Tribute to Brahms” Concert Series that kicked off last Friday.
The concert series are part of OM’s 2024-25 Concert Season, which is jointly organised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Macao Orchestra Company Limited, as well as Macau’s six integrated resort companies, with the support of Bank of China Macau Branch.
Explaining his remark, Volodin said: “It’s good to have a responsibility and try to be a good musician but I don’t want the music to be tensed and for them to develop some kind of complexes like they have to do this or that, or they have to be on the top level otherwise they’re nothing.”
He pointed out that many music teachers and parents have tendencies to put such pressures on the children, so these young learners start seeing music as a burden instead of something enjoyable.
“I think they should always see music as something that enhances life and makes life better.”
He continued, “If they truly feel themselves as musicians there will be no pressure on them to continue but if they feel no desire to be musicians then they should not force themselves.”
Born in Leningrad in 1977, Volodin moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow at around the age of 10. There he studied at Gnessin Music School and later on with Georgian pianist Eliso Virsaladze at the Moscow Conservatory. He won 1st prize at Géza Anda International Piano Competition in 2003, and he has since performed across the world.
Back in St. Petersburg, however, he did not envision becoming a globetrotting pianist.
“As a 9-year-old I just told my parents I wanted to learn the piano. It was just like that, completely without any intention for me to become professional,” he reminisced. But he surely enjoys his life as a touring musician now. Macau happens to be one of his favourite cities.
“I like everything about the city. I like the ambience and architecture; very special and very different to other cities. It’s a different world for me and I’d like to be back again,” he said.
Volodin first visited Macau as a tourist over a decade ago when he had a gig in neighbouring Hong Kong. In 2016, he came to Macau again to perform at CCM.
This time, Volodin performed alongside other musicians in the first two concert sessions last week, and he will play in the Brahms concert series’ grand finale on Saturday night.
Speaking about his performances last week, he said, “The audience was fantastic. I was happy to see how concentrated, attentive and appreciative they are. That felt like they loved the music … I think, in general, it went quite well.”
Despite his busy schedule, Volodin has managed to roam around the city in between his rehearsals, doing various things a tourist would.
He said: “I cannot say everything, but I did as much as I could as time allows me, from the streets of Macau to churches and to the casino [resorts] and restaurants.”
Still, he can’t get enough of the city and already looks forward to visiting the SAR again in the future.
“It would be my dream [to return to Macau] because when you have come a few times you start to develop a relationship with the place,” stressed Volodin. (Gilbert Humphrey)
Photos: Good News Macau/Gilbert Humphrey
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