“It was originally my idea to give my audience, not only my audience, but audiences around the world and people who learn an instrument an opportunity to participate in a sort of an event,” says violinist Ray Chen of Thursday night’s Play With Ray component to the concert at the Hollywood Bowl where he’ll be appearing. “At first it wasn’t a competition, it was more of a ‘hey, let’s play together.’ Then I thought why not call it ‘play with Ray.’ From there the idea slowly evolved.”
I was speaking by phone with Chen shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles prior to Thursday’s concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic where he will be performing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. The Play With Ray component found violinists from around the world submitting a video of them playing in order to secure the chance to perform the Vivace movement from Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins with Chen and the LA Philharmonic.
For those unfamiliar with Chen’s off-stage life, he has creatively and aggressively used social media in a way many other classical musicians have not. Or did not until he found great success in mixing the rigors of classical music performance with humor. As an Australian might say, taking the piss out of it all. Chen, who was born in Taipei, spent his formative years in Australia.
If you aren’t Australian, you wouldn’t necessarily know that Chen truly has an Australian accent. That’s because he has a chameleon-like ability to take on the accent of the person with whom he’s speaking. As he did in our conversation sounding completely American. That prompted me to ask if doing so allows him to remain somewhat enigmatic with the media?
“Speaking with Americans I do adopt the accent you are hearing now,” he says. “That’s what you’ll see of me in the videos – this version of me. When I speak with Australians back home…” and with that he immediately switches to what one would assume is his normal speaking voice. “People freak out. They say ‘who are you?'”
He proceeds to talk about having Germany as his home base for the past four years and mentions that while employing a German accent. But why?
“I think it’s just a desire to be closer to the person. There’s less of a barrier between us. Let’s say I speak with an Australian accent, they are more focused on the accent than what I have to say.”
When he speaks with the violin or about the music he plays, Chen is truly at his best. Since he is playing Bach I asked him about his thoughts on the composer’s view of music. Bach said, “The aim and final reason of all music should be none else but the glory of God and refreshing the soul. Where this is not observed there will be no music, but only a devilish hubbub.”
He pondered the quote for a minute before responding. “Whether or not you are religious, music is, when done correctly, refreshing for the soul. That can have many different takes on what that means. Refreshing as a cleansing way which often happens with Bach’s music. Let’s contrast that with Paganini, a devilish composer and violinist and the opposite end of the spectrum. Yet when you hear his music done right, it’s also cleansing and refreshing to hear. That’s why we have art. Art done well is refreshing for the soul. It makes you view things differently and from a different perspective.”
Chen has carefully considered the perspective audiences have of classical music. He also has strong opinions about the role of the artist in not just maintaining that audience, but expanding it.
“This is a really interesting topic I’ve thought about a lot,” he reveals. “I think that too many artists have ridden on the cloud of classical music. Either the musician should expand audiences by doing whatever they can – social media is my path – or expanding the repertoire of classical music. So often they don’t do either of those. That’s causing the problem. Those people who only play the big five violin concertos [Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky], there are too many of those people. There have to be people who are pushing the boundaries. If you are going to be comfortable you stop becoming an artist because you stop creating.”
Given Chen’s passion for social media, I wanted to conclude our conversation with a quote by Leonard Bernstein who said, “The joy of music should never be interrupted by a commercial.” Of course, Bernstein wasn’t around to see Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. But perhaps he would say the same thing today and be even more emphatic about it.
“I think the joy of music has many facets to it. Think about going to a concert and then the experience that comes with the concert itself. But also what you did during the day; what lead up to the concert; how you were feeling in that week. The joy of the concert is something that is intertwined with the rest of your life. It is the concert itself, but it’s everything that surrounds it. That’s why as a classical music lover you come back again and again. I think that if I were not a violinist, I’d be one of those who comes back and then listens to other things.”
Then, as should be expected from someone who has mastered social media the way Chen has, he gives a contemporary spin on it.
“I started creating content in 2014. That was just five years ago. Back then there were hardly any organizations doing that. People were using Facebook. To think about how so much has changed in five years. Back then I was slightly concerned that I might be criticized for showing a different side. But now people see that’s the right way. ‘He’s gone ahead and still maintained that high level and put music first.’ That’s the most important thing. Everything else is a bonus. It only serves to help our art.”
For tickets to Thursday’s concert go here.
Ray Chen will perform a recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall on November 6th with pianist Julio Elizalde. For more information and to purchase tickets go here.
Photos of Ray Chen by John Mac/Courtesy of the LA Philharmonic Association
