(Konstatin Heidrich | Photo courtesy of High Desert Chamber Music)
German Cellist from Award-winning Piano Quartet
On Sunday, October 8, one of the world’s leading piano quartets, the Fauré Quartett, will be making their Central Oregon debut by kicking off High Desert Chamber Music’s 16th season. Cellist Konstatin Heidrich recently spoke with us about his early musical life, some of his influences, and how the quartet got together.
Konstatin grew up in Germany and his father is both a violinist and a composer. This helped to develop and shape his musical life. At first, it was difficult because Konstantin saw that the profession of a being a musician was not necessarily a family-friendly career choice, despite music being such an important part of his life. However, his father’s compositional skills were what ultimately intrigued him. “I would say my father’s compositional and general music skills were even more helpful than his instrumental and didactic abilities. So, I quite early got interested in harmonies and musical form. Of course, as time went by their connection through music grew deeper and took on a more mature form.”
Konstatin had many defining moments that helped shape his musical life growing up. Early on, playing his first Bach Cello Suite helped kick off his musical journey. Later, he got to know other cellists from around the world, which really made him want to practice! During his studies in Kahlsruhe, he met the other members of the Fauré Quartett. The four of them did not have plans to form a group, it happened very organically. “We were all quite young and without deciding on it beforehand, we all wanted the same thing: To make the scores become alive for the senses.” The rest flowed on from there — they began winning competitions and eventually began to realize that this was a viable career option for them. Fast forward to today where the Fauré Quartett still consists of the same four members as it did during its inception in 1995.
As a musician, Konstatin is a big fan of the music of Shostakovich and Brahms. He is particularly fond of Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony, which, “as a teenager I might have heard a trillion times.” Additionally the cello sonata, concertos, and piano trios are all inspirational with their harmonic and virtousic qualities. However, it wasn’t all classical music that influenced Konstatin. He was also big fan of Prince and his first pop concert was Michael Jackson’s Bad tour in 1990.
Please join us on Sunday, October 8, at 3:30pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon in Bend for a rich program of Fauré, Brahms, and Mussorgsky. There will be a pre-concert talk with members of the group at 2:45pm as well as an opening night celebration immediately following the performance. This concert is brought to you by Miller Lumber. Tickets are available through High Desert Chamber Music by phone or online. Come hear the music!