In Conversation with Konstantin Shamray
BY TAHLIA LAMEY
Pianist Konstantin Shamray is a valued friend of UKARIA’s, and one of the artists who appears most frequently on our stage. His fearless command of the instrument and audacious solo performances are balanced with astute sensitivity as a chamber music partner.
UKARIA CEO Alison Beare’s curation of the concert season often includes pairing visiting artists with an Australian-based chamber music partner, and through this process Konstantin has formed associations with musicians including trumpeter Jeroen Berwaerts, and cellists Li-Wei Qin and Daniel Müller-Schott. Other musical partnerships have included Kristian Winther, Richard Tognetti, Timo-Veikko Valve, Satu Vänskä, Celia Craig, Natsuko Yoshimoto, Dale Barltrop and the ASQ, as well as chamber music performances at events such as Umberto Clerici’s UKARIA 24 in 2021 and Ulrike Klein’s 80th birthday concert.
Konstantin reflects on the diversity of the experiences he’s had working with such a stream of artists. ‘It is quite remarkable, what you have just named. It is quite interesting for me to look back and realise! Honestly, it is hard to say anything except that I deeply enjoyed playing with them all. This makes me truly happy. Every connection and music-making has been unique. Even rehearsal processes can be polarly opposite. For example, two brilliant cellists, Umberto Clerici and Timo-Veikko Valve (Tipichka as I call him): with Umbie, we discuss interpretation quite a lot, whilst with Tipi we just play for hours, barely saying a word, and I mean it literally...’
Konstantin has also given solo recitals at UKARIA, most recently in September 2024 with a program of works that lie close to his heart by Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Medtner. Konstantin says it’s ‘completely different’ to appear as a soloist compared to as a chamber artist. ‘Everything: energy, balance, sound quality, concept. Playing with partners, you feed off their ideas too – playing solo, you are on your own. Even such a small but important detail as using scores in chamber music versus playing mostly by memory in solo recital.’
Konstantin notes that his curation process is equally unique from concert to concert: ‘Every time it is different. I generally take quite a long time to come up with a program that feels natural and interesting to me. How many times I couldn't decide the exact order, and under the pressure and guilt of delaying the advertisement process, something would suddenly appear in my head ten minutes before sending off the final version – and I knew it was what I was looking for. I generally have zero interest in programs that are clearly put together on the basis that each work is a so-called “smash hit”. It is totally soulless and against the arts as a creative form.’
Konstantin’s collaboration with violinist Kristian Winther has certainly inspired unconventional but poetic programming decisions, as the two artists have bonded over their zeal for discovering new music. As Konstantin elaborates, ‘Kristian is to me an example of a daring artist, uncompromised with his choices and ideas, in the best sense. He always makes me come out of my “comfort zone”, both in playing and thinking in general. His musical scope and knowledge is incredible.
Also, we often have quite different interests, meaning that I always have so much to learn from him, and I love it. For example, Kristian introduced me to a masterpiece symphony by Reinhold Gliere which I had no idea about, or some music by Schoenberg, Reger and so on. On the other hand, we do share our deep love for some things, such as Shostakovich’s Second Quartet, or Tchaikovsky’s Second and Third – real top works that are underplayed in my opinion.’
Konstantin and Kristian’s recital at UKARIA on Sunday 23 November offers a chance to witness the ineffable creativity of their partnership. Kristian writes that it is a program that bonds seemingly disparate works by Kurtág, Kopatchinskaja, Webern, Messiaen, Ysaÿe and Debussy in an ‘intangible, unspoken, dream-like manner’. Konstantin encourages us to be curious about what might be revealed to each of us in the moment: ‘I just hope that the public can come, listen and think – each person individually – why this particular program was played, and like it or not. We are all different, we feel and think differently, and that's the real beauty of the world.’
KRISTIAN WINTHER WITH KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY
SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2.30PM