AN INTERVIEW WITH ADAM GOLKA
Our last interview this season is with the brilliant young pianist Adam Golka. Some of you may remember Adam from his solo appearances with the MSO, or from his last concerts with Frankly Music playing the Tchaikovsky Trio. We’re thrilled to have him back on March 21 for our second Chopin/Schumann concert. Note that he will be performing all 12 Chopin Etudes, Op. 10, including the famous “Revolutionary” Etude.
1. At what age did you start playing, and who were some of your earliest artistic influences?
I started lessons at age five with my mother, who is a wonderful piano teacher. Actually, I studied violin and piano simultaneously. My oldest brother Tomasz, a violinist who now conducts, was an enormous inspiration growing up, and probably the first to instill a major passion for music in me.
2. What advice would you give a young musician thinking of entering the classical music field?
Don’t do it unless you have to.
3. You have a fair amount of experience with music competitions; how do you see their role in the music world today?
I am pretty disturbed by the amount of music competitions today. I have personally avoided entering competitions for the last five years. I feel that so many musicians of my generation just want to compete in one event after the other. If it helps give opportunities and money, then great! But it’s also dangerous, because in the best case scenario, one wins, and there is the danger of being branded as a “competition winner.”
If anything, competitions can distract from a musician’s development and are a way of avoiding the deepest challenges of day-to-day music-making. Color, nuance, interpretive creativity, deep emotion – these don’t seem to be qualities that are often recognized in international music competitions. I personally see competitions as a major threat to preserving high aesthetic values in our society. (A recent experience judging a competition helped confirm my sentiments.)
4. You’ve played here a few times over the last several years, both on this series and with the MSO as soloist. Briefly explain why Frankly Music is your favorite chamber music series in the world.
It’s true… it is… but I can’t figure out why… certainly it’s not because of Frank… right? 
5. On average, how much do you practice each day? With your schedule, how often do you fit in lessons with Leon Fleisher?
Practicing is difficult. I try my best to always be emotionally and intellectually engaged when I practice. On some days, I can hardly do more than an hour or two. Other days, I can spend eight hours at the piano. Generally, I try for four or five.
I usually play for Fleisher ever two or three weeks. Lessons with him can be incredibly inspiring and also quite challenging.
6. What’s the most difficult thing about being a classical musician, and what’s the most enjoyable?
The music!!!
7. What’s your view on the classical music field right now? Is there a “crisis”?
I don’t know. There is no question that appreciation of the highest art has always been limited to a small, small percent of our population. Previously in history, that group was the aristocracy. Now, the appreciation is not limited to any class per se, thankfully, but because devotees are scattered around in this complicated world, the situation can seem bleak when few people show up to classical music concerts. I think that improving arts education in schools is the only real solution to building classical music audiences. Good marketing can only go so far with great art, since great art is not necessarily meant to be immediately appealing or gratifying.
8. Do you have any unusual or offbeat repertory or projects coming up?
I am getting ready to make my first official recording. It will feature Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata and some other works. Look out for it!!! (www.adamgolka.com)
9. What makes a great live performance, as opposed to sitting at home and listening to a recording?
There is a certain energy and vulnerability that comes out when you know you’re being listened to. That has the power to shed incredible new light and new insight in the interpretation of a musical work.