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It's just one of those strange things that you, that the music comes out, you think you know what

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you're doing, but sometimes it's, it's a bit strange the creative process. Sometimes you're not

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thinking, you're listening. Oh, I will invert that theme and do double counterpoint with the blah,

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blah, blah, and then I'll use, no, I don't have any of those thoughts when I compose. I mean,

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it might be that once I've written a piece, you can go back and analyse it and see that that's

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exactly what I've done, but I won't be consciously, I don't know what other composers think when they

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compose, but certainly for me, I might discover afterwards that I've done something, oh, that was

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quite clever. I did a bit of that, I did a bit of a stretto fugue there or whatever, but normally

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it's, it's the listening that dictates the process. Often the music is already there, it's kind of up

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there somewhere, so I can see it and hear it, an object, and all I have to do is bring it down and

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write it out. Welcome back to the PianoPod. I am your host, Yukimi Song. Thanks for tuning in for

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the second half of season three, episode 20, with a special guest, Mr. David Hackeridge Johnson,

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composer and multi-instrumentalist. In this second half, we focused on his compositions other than

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piano solo pieces, such as his 15 symphonies and recently premiered opera called Blaze of Glory,

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and more. As always with each guest, we ended our conversation with philosophical questions,

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such as how to keep our industry relevant in the post-pandemic era, and how we classical musicians

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should reach out to the 21st century audience more creatively. Before starting this episode,

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I want to welcome everyone listening to the piano pod for the first time. I'm a classical pianist

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and educator from New York City, passionate about creating a thriving and meaningful community of

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the classical music industry through this podcast. Please visit yukimisongstudio.com to find out more

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about my work. In each episode of the PianoPod, I interview a guest speaker who has been breaking

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exciting new ground in the industry, so please rate the show and review it on your favorite

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podcasting platform, because every rating review will help people find my show. So dear friends,

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here is part two of the PianoPod's season three, episode 20 with David Hackridge Johnson. Please

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enjoy the show. We are always looking for new music, especially during the COVID. I think there

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was a big wake up call where, you know, we classical musicians tend to stick with the, you know,

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good old regular composers, but then during the COVID time, we had more time to experiment and

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explore different things and realize that we need to play more new music. And then I think people

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should play your music more often, Mr. Hackridge Johnson, I think. So I would love to see your

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scores in my hands, you know, being published and then being able to purchase.

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I will consult with my, shall we say, my syndicate of supporters, which is basically my wife and my

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family, and see if we can't come up with a plan. To me, because I'm always a bit obsessed with

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things, I write a piece and I think, oh yeah, I should try and get that out there. But when I

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get up the next day and I come down and I thought, actually, you know what, it's easier just to write

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another piece. The simpler option for me is to write something new. If I've heard it, if something

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in my head, if it's not in my head, I don't write, it has to be there. The Colonel has to write

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it, the idea has to be there. But that always seems to be an easier option than doing that extra

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mile where you actually get your music out. I mean, at this point, I should mention a person who is,

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of all people in recent years, is probably most responsible for any of my music appearing at all.

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And that's Martin Anderson, who's the director of Takata Classics, who I've known for 35 years,

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probably. And we met through an organisation called the Havigal Brian Society. Our associations

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were really through other people's music, particularly neglected English music, British music,

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I should say. And in 2015, I had a health issue which was quite serious, but it was tremendously

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dealt with by my local hospital. But when I came out of the hospital and I was convalescing,

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I had a bit of a talking to myself because I knew that I had this monstrous pile of music,

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which I'd never shown anyone to. People didn't know what I was doing. And I thought, what the

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hell, I'll send Poppy of my Ninth Symphony to Martin. And he wrote back a couple of days later

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and said, what the hell have you been doing the last 30 years I've known you? What is the Opus

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309 to whatever it was? What on earth have you been doing all this time? And he sent this music,

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sent this Ninth Symphony to the conductor Paul Mann, who said, right, we're going to record this.

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So the rest of that you probably know, the CDs that came out consequently. But someone had to

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say, yes, someone had to say, okay, yeah, we, I believe in this piece, we're going to do it.

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And that person was Martin. And then the conductor was Paul, who then went forward with it. So I

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can't quite remember how we got onto this aspect. But the idea of promotion and the availability of

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music, I think it is very difficult for composers because of course, there are hundreds of us,

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you know, you lift up a pile of leaves and there's five composers under there. You look in a waste

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bin and there's a there's someone in there composing, we're everywhere. So it's extremely

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difficult, because you could you could send a piano piece, you could send it to 100 pianists

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and not get one reply. Yes, but there are too many pianists out there to, you know, always looking

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for wonderful, great music, you see my point. So there are too many of us, too many, too many

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podcasts, too many pianists, too many musicians. But then there's always your niche. And then

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somebody is recognizing you, someone like Lowell, someone like Steinway Company, right? So I really

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I'm saying this not to twist your arm to do something that you don't want. But you know,

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we are always looking for great music.

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So, you know, you have more piano music

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that I listen to on YouTube, songs of the seasons, I listen to Tales from the Forest.

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And what else? Paraphrase on an English carol in the beautiful setting of Bristol Cathedral.

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I mean, I would love to try them. And I would love my for my students to try some of the smaller

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pieces. I wrote a lot of pieces. I started to write an enormous amount of piano music.

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After I met Ronald Stevenson, he invited me to a summer school that he wasn't running,

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but it was a society, the Ronald Stevenson Society was running it. And he said, well,

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why didn't you come? And I went up there. I had written piano music beforehand. But this was a

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revelation, because Ronald Stevenson is a great pianist, a great composer. And of course, he

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attracted lots of pianists to the summer school. And two of the pianists I met. Well, I first of

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all, I met Chisato Kusanoki, who was at the summer school. And I wrote a lot of pieces for her.

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And I met her teacher subsequently, Nicholas Austin, who lives up the road here, who is a

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marvelous pianist who tends to specialize in the romantic repertoire, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, but

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also composers like Godovsky, of whom he's, in my opinion, a really leading expert in piano.

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An expert in Godovsky's very, very difficult, very, very beautiful piano music. And I started to,

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once I'd been exposed to their way of playing and their approach to the piano, I began to perceive

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the piano more in terms of the sound and the textures of a piano, the sonorities of a piano,

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rather than just thinking, oh, I thought of a really good tune and just do that. So it became

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not just about material, but it became about the medium. And I wrote a lot of piano music,

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which was exploring that sonority. I think one of the pieces I wrote at that time, which isn't on

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the album, is Five Coloured Parakeet, which Chisato recorded many years ago now, which I felt was a

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bit of a breakthrough piece for me, because it was the first piece where I thought, I'm thinking in

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terms of the piano rather than just thinking in terms of a piece that could be written for anything.

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That really changed my approach. And probably why I've written so much, I'm going to love the piano

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as an instrument because I play it all the time and mainly improvising, mainly jazz, but I love it

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as an instrument to compose for. And you've got these great pianists and they're at your back.

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They're thinking, well, you know, write me something good, you know, write me something for the piano.

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Because the piano is a beautiful instrument, right? You know, it really is, because it's an instrument,

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it's an instrument, isn't it? It can't sing, the piano can't sing. It's not singing, is it?

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But yet it does sing. If you write work in the right way, it can sing as well as any other instrument.

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How about orchestral work? How many symphonies did you write?

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Well, I've written 15 symphonies and I keep trying to write a 16th symphony,

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but because I've spent the last four years writing operas, I'm getting a bit stuck now.

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So I start my 16th symphony, I've started my 16th symphony about five or six times now,

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and it goes very well up until about four minutes. And then I think to myself, well, hang on,

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somebody should come in and sing now. So somebody should be singing, because I'm so

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now involved in this, it is a very involving world, the world of opera, where instead of just

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writing half an hour's music, you've got to write two hours plus, you've got a libretto,

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which dictates to you what you have to write. And you have the dramatic concepts of narrative,

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which inevitably make you write in a different way. And so now I'm finding it quite hard to write

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a long orchestral piece. I keep expecting someone to go in, burst in and suddenly go,

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Oh, the king is dead.

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But oh, that's the end of that symphony. That one's finished.

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Now that you mentioned about opera, I want to know more about this blaze of glory.

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And it's interesting, this opera was set in the 1950s Welsh Valley's mining community.

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And then I saw that a little bit of a mini clip of this opera, there were like a lot of audience

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reactions and your comments. And then there's like a few sections in the opera of this male

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male choir singing that that's actually quite remarkable. It's different. So tell us a little

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bit more about this blaze of glory. It is an unusual piece because it it combines lots of

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different types of music. Because it's set in the 1950s. And the libretto is very much of that time.

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It lays out quite clear the librettist is Emma Jenkins, an absolutely marvelous writer.

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And it lays out quite clearly the types of songs and the types of music that are required

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that go with the story. So the basic story is that a Welsh male voice choir, its numbers have

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become decimated due to a pit explosion down the mines. And they're very depressed. But there's a

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move to try and stimulate the choir master Mr. Pugh, who's played quite magnificently by Jeff

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Lloyd Roberts in the production, to start the choir again. Come on, stop being miserable.

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We've got to. So the first quarter of the opera really is trying to persuade this rather downcast

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man that we can still sing. And in fact that we must sing because it's our hope of salvation.

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And so of course, the repertoire of the Welsh male voice choir, it's difficult to say,

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it plays an important part in the piece. So there are several set pieces and some pieces that we've

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actually revived from the old repertoire of pieces that were sung in the 1940s and 1950s.

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They form part of the opera. There's also a close harmony vocal group consisting of three ladies

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who are really like the Andrews sisters. So it's got a lot of American influence in it.

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So there's quite a lot of jazzy numbers in which right there in the text. And it also has

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a competition which has to be set to music. So there's a competition between choirs,

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because of course in Wales there's a great history of competitive singing through the

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eisteddfodz. And the choir does eventually get going. And so far so good. It's quite male

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orientated. It's rough miners in the bar arguing. But actually it's got two remarkable aspects to it.

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All based on fact, I might add, this has all been thoroughly researched by Enamor and it's all factual,

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that they kidnap a countertenor from a rival choir. So this guy, it's played by Fergal,

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Fergal Mostyn Evans, who's got this marvellous countertenor voice. And he teaches the male

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voice choir to yodel. And it's all based on a true story. And there's also a character called Miss

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Price. Now of course, like a lot of societies, that on the surface at least, and perhaps even

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going quite deep down, they look 100% patriarchal. They look male dominated. The men are, they're

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quite gung-ho. They're quite, you know, they think they're in control. But actually in a lot of ways

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they're not, they're really, their behaviour, at least to a certain extent, is being governed by

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their women folk. And it's in fact Miss Price who not only galvanises Mr Pew to start conducting

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again, but also excites his emotions. So there's a very improbable love story between these people

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who are deliberately portrayed as of a certain age. They're no spring chickens. And they form

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this rather unlikely bond, which I think when I read the libretto, I thought, gosh, I've got to

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write some nice music here because it's a very touching aspect to it. So it has a community feel

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to it because of all these different musical aspects that come into it. And it was an absolute

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joy to write. And I've been so lucky with the creative team. Caroline Clagg has produced this

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fabulous staging, which almost never stops. It's this tremendous activity. And Ryan Upton has

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been consulting on the choreography. And I've got the marvellous Stevie Higgins in the pit,

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who is just this wonderful kind of centre of calmness and musicality that keeps the whole

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thing going. So it came out of nowhere. Well, it was quite strange because I was doing my teaching

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and doing the occasional jazz gig and minding my own business. And I suddenly get a text from

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someone saying, you've got to go and meet David Poutney, the director, about doing an opera for

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WNO. And I thought, oh, well, at first, I thought it was an April Fool's joke, but it was January.

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And I went and trust it. And I got that job. The very next day, I got another phone call

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from Jonathan Booker, who runs Surrey Opera. And he offered me the job of doing an opera

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called Madeleine based on Madeleine Smith, the famous Scottish Poisoner, allegedly.

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So I had to do suddenly from not really doing anything, just minding my own business. I had

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two opera commissions on successful plays. And so of course, the first thing I did when I got home,

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I thought to myself, help, what am I going to do? Suddenly got all this enormous quantity of music.

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So it completely takes you over. So I'm up at five in the morning, working till midday and then

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collapsing. Went on like that for years. You have two operas? Yes, Madeleine was performed last year

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by Surrey Opera. And Blaze of Glory is in, well, it's coming to the end of its run, actually. We've

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done, I think, four, five performances in Wales and five or six, is it, in England. There are two

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more to go. And yeah, it's a lot of fun. And what pleased me, actually, the audiences have been

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lovely. And also the musicians appear to really enjoy doing it, which is obviously a bonus one.

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Wow, amazing. Then you also wrote ballet music too, in the past, right?

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It's never been performed. A choreographer has not had a whiff of any of these pieces.

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Although, funnily enough, because I got to know Ryan with WNO, he has suggested something. I won't

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say too much about it in case nothing ever happens. But he does have a desire to do

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at some point a full-length ballet. But watch this space. I think it's the best thing to say about it.

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It's a very, very interesting subject and I'm amazed it's not been done before.

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So I better keep quiet about it in case it gets pinched.

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Okay, wow. Now, how are you composing all these different genres? I'm sure you attend a lot of

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opera concerts and ballet and inside out about the industry too. But composing is a different thing,

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especially when you think of opera, there are so many elements to it, not just the singers,

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orchestra pit, and also choreography being involved. And there's a dialogue involved.

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In a ballet, you have to think about choreography. And I honestly, I took just a few years of ballet

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when I was a kid. That's the only knowledge I have with ballet. And then, wow, I can't even imagine

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what sort of knowledge you have to have to create. Well, I can't dance a toffee. I mean, I can tread

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on people's toes, but I can't dance. But I can look at dancing and I can appreciate it. In fact,

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I find the ballet absolutely extraordinary. Because I'm a bit physically lumbering, I find

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that what goes on on a ballet stage is to me utterly miraculous. It moves me to see it and to

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think of the utterly glorious music that they have. What a wonderful life. I mean, I know it's

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terribly hard and they get injuries and it can be cutthroat, but what an extraordinary world to be

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involved in. But yes, so I watch ballet, I go to the ballet, and I go to the opera. Because I think,

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you know, that's the way to learn. You've got the best stuff out there. I mean, who's going to write

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better ballet music than Tchaikovsky? Not me, but you can learn from it. You can learn how it's done.

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And the great thing about doing an opera or a ballet is that it's a collaborative thing.

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Obviously, when you're writing, because the composer writes completely alone. I mean, I don't

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let people in to tell me what to write. I mean, I have to write it myself. And then you let it go,

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because it then has to go to the director and the musical director. And if I get a phone call,

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and this did happen, this happened with both the operas, you get a phone call and think,

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well, David, yes, we've got this bit of music here. But actually, that we only need to get three

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characters off stage and two characters on stage. But you've given us a four and a half minute

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on track. Do you mind if we they want to cut it? So you think about it, you think, yeah, well, yes,

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if it's going to make the drama flow, you've got to let things go. So there's that collaborative

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aspect where your part of you, the egocentric part of you wants to say, no, you must play every

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single thing I've written exactly as I've written it. You can't do that because I'm not a director.

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I'm not a choreographer. They're the professionals. They know what's going to work on stage.

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And I trust them not to do serious damage to my music, which they don't. I mean, literally,

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it's a few things here. And actually, sometimes they ask for more music because they've had a

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change of heart about how to do a scene change. A lot of these questions are about scene changes.

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How much music do you need? And what's actually going on? Somebody might need a costume change.

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Well, how long take to get in and out of a suit? You literally have to time it. You literally have

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to put stopwatch on the character and say, right, go. How can they come off stage? How can they

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come off stage, change clothes, come back on stage all safely in the dark with just a, you know,

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just a bit of light on them? Do that safely. Come on. That's the amount of music you need.

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So the composer has to think about that and not be too egocentric about things that need changing.

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And in the end, when you see it and you know they're right, you're absolutely right what

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they're asking you to do. And that was the case with both Jonathan, who not only conducted but

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directed Madeleine as well, and also Caroline, who's directing Glaze. All of those things,

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they were fairly minor things compositionally, but they all amazingly made so much difference to the

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the dramatic flow of the totality, which you must have. Otherwise audiences get, they switch off,

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don't they? Thank you. I never knew that part of compositional process. And obviously I'm not a

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composer. So you're not yet a composer, but who knows? I don't think I will ever be. It's okay.

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So then, you know, you are multi instrumentalist. You mentioned that you started learning violin

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first, not piano, because your brother was an excellent pianist. So you chose a different path

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and also jazz music. And then you can play violin, piano, drum, you can also sing.

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Any other instrument you can play? Well, I have played other instruments. I'm interested in

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free jazz, completely free form jazz. And intermittently over the last 20, 30 years,

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or even 40 years, I have played free form jazz, often using instruments that aren't my specialties,

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simply in order to access a different voice. So for instance, I can get noises out of things like

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trumpets and clarinets, but I've quite deliberately not learned to play them properly. So that what you

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get is a series of sound effects. And I've got two very, very old and very close friends, Marcus

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Wright and Paul Rogers, with whom I've done a lot of this kind of thing. And it's very, very

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interesting. I was inspired initially to explore this style of music by listening to Cecil Taylor

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and Ornette Coleman, who are two of my really great heroes. Cecil Taylor is an extraordinary

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pianist who appears to be playing free, but actually he's using an awful lot of patterns

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and things that he's worked out, often very bluesy, also using modes of which he's a really expert

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improviser in the modes, but also quite chunky, almost late romantic piano textures. You hear him

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do things like this. That's a kind of Cecil Taylor type sound, which seems to me a lot of what he

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does is derived from Brahms' second piano concerto, but only he's often playing quite atonally and

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he's a very percussive pianist. And I thought it was a revelation when I first heard him play.

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And so I thought, well, I want to try and do that. So I have done some free jazz piano playing,

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but often when I'm with Marcus and Paul, I think, okay, let's see what's going to happen

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with the euphonium, for instance, which again, I can make noises down. And I don't have any of

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these instruments here to demonstrate for you, alas.

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It's okay. Wow. You know, you also composed pieces for like, you know, viola. I really enjoy

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listening to the seven versets for viola played by Peter Shepard. I can't pronounce his last name.

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Peter Shepard Scarford. He's a force of nature. He's one of those guys. The pianist,

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Jonathan Powell is another one, a wonderful pianist who's played some of my music. They're

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kind of forces of nature because, I mean, Lowell is a bit like this. The way Lowell can learn

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things so quickly and get deeply into them. Peter's like that. Peter can have a discussion with you

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and his discussions are always incredibly lively and informative and they go around all sorts of

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different subjects. And before you know it, you've talked yourself into writing a piece

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because there's some inspiration point that you've grabbed onto. And so almost every time I hear

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Peter play or I meet Peter and we have a discussion, I think, oh, there's a piece coming. There's a

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piece of solo viola music or solo violin music coming out. And that's exactly what happened with

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the Versets. He'd given a concert. He gives concerts in the beautiful London churches,

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a series that's now been going on for many, many years. He gives quite a number of concerts

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yearly, every year. And he was playing on a particular viola, which if I remember correctly,

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and he will correct me if I get this wrong, it's the Jacob Rahman viola, which I think is,

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it's 1600 and something. It's a very, very old instrument and it has an absolutely beautiful

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sound. And we got into this whole idea of thinking about instruments as having individual

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characteristics. It sounds an obvious thing to say, but most of the time as a composer,

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when you write a piano piece or a violin piece, you've no idea what kind of piano or violin it's

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going to be played on. It could be anything. It could be a honky tonk or it could be a Steinway

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grand. You don't really know. It depends on the venue, depends on what's available. So I became

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interested in writing a piece, not just for an individual violinist or violist, but for an

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individual specific instrument. So that's how the Versets came about. I also wrote a set of pieces

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for a violin that Peter often uses for his Baroque recital work, which is a violin that on the belly,

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there's a stamp which says Charles II on it. So this was a violin, probably one of many violins

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that Charles II owned because he had a violin group. So there's an ordinary history, it's a

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beautiful instrument, it's quite a soft instrument. It's not like the modern violin, it's got a big

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sound. It's a gentle, soft, sweet tone. And I thought I'm going to write a piece just for this

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instrument. Hey TPP friends and listeners, The Piano Pod is in its third season. Thanks to all

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of you for watching or listening to every episode since its launch in 2020. I started this show with

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a simple question I had in mind for quite some time, which is, how can we as classical pianists

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and music educators present the beautiful classical music tradition to the 21st century audience in a

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fun, contemporary, and engaging way? It's been an incredible journey for the last three years. I love

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what I do through this podcast, providing a platform for pianists and educators to reflect

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and discuss freely how we can keep the classical music industry thriving and relevant in this

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rapidly changing world. Now more than ever, I need your support so that I can continue my work by

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Your support will go directly to all the costs of The Piano Pod, such as a yearly subscription to the

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donation or monthly pledge by clicking the PayPal link in the show notes or going to TPP's website

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at thepianopod.com. As a thank you, you will receive the Piano Pod's fun logo sticker in the mail.

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So please support my show today and don't forget to subscribe, continue listening, and tell your

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friends and colleagues about The Piano Pod. Let's continue with the episode. Now let's get into a

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little bit more philosophical questions. So, you know, I would like to know your vision for

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the classical music industry. So what is your thought on keeping classical music relevant

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and this classical music industry thriving in this really fast-paced society and especially in this

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post-pandemic era? I think a lot of that has got to do with schools. School music, I can't speak for

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any other country, but I know from my own experience as a teacher of music and also from colleagues,

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I know that classical music is under a little bit of pressure, partly because, of course, it's

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often an easier option to study other types of music, partly because there's a completely

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erroneous idea surrounding classical music to do with elitism, to do with having to have money or

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having to have glass breathing or whatever you're supposed to have to play classical music. And I

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think that's damaging. Both of those things are damaging because I think classical music should be

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available to all. It's not easy, but then we wouldn't expect to do easy physics if we wanted to

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get on in science, would we? So I think it's right to have those challenges, but at the same time,

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you shouldn't then have a hierarchy where you start to discriminate against other types of music,

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many of which, let's face it, don't have any notational aspect. So I think it's important to

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have a perspective and to have classical music as part of a general musical education, not instead

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of, and not within some kind of pyramid structure. I think with children, particularly young children,

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they don't know necessarily the differences between different types of music. It's adults that like

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to pigeonhole. So if you take a bunch of small children to a rock concert, I think, yeah, that's

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great. Then the next week, if you take them to a ballet, they think, well, that's great. They

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haven't necessarily had those non-musical aspects of reasoning that might be telling them, well,

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maybe it's not so cool to like this. Maybe I should not be like this. Maybe I should not be

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like this. Maybe I should not be liking this. There's also the other aspect that they simply

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might be bored. And that's okay. You shouldn't be, you can't force people to like things. But if

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you've decided from day one that classical music is difficult, it's elitist, it's for posh people,

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then you've already lost the argument. You're condemning it to a slow death. And we have actually

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seen in this country declining numbers of children, declining numbers in the uptake of music exams

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for secondary school children, for instance, which is a great shame. So I think it begins

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with the schools. I think also you mentioned something which I think is very interesting,

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the idea of the fast paced society. I think it's a good thing to step off the hamster wheel.

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I think classical music is one of those things that allows you to do that. Some people meditate,

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don't they? They might have terribly stressful jobs and they come in, well, you know, I'm just

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going to get into a nice position. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to let the thoughts come in

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and I'm going to process them. I'm not saying that music is just therapeutic, but it can have a role.

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If for instance, we catch ourselves, I think even musicians, we catch ourselves doing this.

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We think, oh, I'm going to listen to music, but I'm going to do loads of other things at the same

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time. I'm going to wash the dishes. I'm going to cook a meal. I'm going to put the baby to bed.

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I'm going to do a resume. I'm going to do this. Actually, why not just do nothing, but listen to

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music and see what it does to you. See what it does to your perception of time and energy and flow.

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Naturally you find, oh, oh no, I'm now a different person when I'm listening.

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Absolutely. Thank you.

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Fast isn't necessarily good.

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Right.

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Yes. I think if the pandemic has taught us anything, if we've been lucky enough to come

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through it unscathed, if it's taught us anything, it's space and time. I think I can't speak for,

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okay, I'll just speak for myself. For me, I became aware of space and time. What happens?

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You don't have anything to do now. You can't go out. You can't work. You can maybe do a bit

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of work on a computer at home, but you can't really go to work. You've suddenly got all this

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space that you fill with thoughts. Classical music allows you to do that, to create the space.

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Absolutely. Whether you are listening or learning a classical music instrument. Yes, absolutely.

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So in relation to that question, how can we as classical musicians reach out to the

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21st century audience in a more creative way?

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I've seen a lot of amazing work done in, again, it's back down to schools again, really,

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with professional companies now having really fantastic outreach departments, where instead of,

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as they might have done 30, 40 years ago, saying, well, we're just going to put on a series of

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concerts and that's it. You can buy the tickets and come or not. Now, a lot of companies are going

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out into schools, into universities, into workplaces. They're also involving themselves

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with the handicapped, with the learning difficulties children, also with, in practical

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ways, actually inviting people who have got nothing to do with the music profession to

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participate in actual music making. And I think that's really good because that does help to

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break down those barriers. This erroneous perception of classical music as something that's up there

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and you can't reach it. So English National Opera, for instance, which has been in the news,

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for all sorts of reasons, has an amazing set of initiatives and that started some of them

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in during COVID. One of the things was how singing can help your health. I think it's called Breathe.

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I think that was their initiative that singing is good for you because you get stuff in your lungs.

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And they've done a lot of things like that. Of course, one can't mention E&O without mentioning

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the fact that there was an enormous threat to their funding. There's a problem here because

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on the one hand, the government wants an expanding art sector that expands into areas where it

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traditionally wouldn't have gone into. But at the same time, it's strapped for cash, though

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it's giving with one hand and it's taking away with the other. So E&O is a tremendously successful

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company. It's our local opera company, if you like. We go there all the time, either to there

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or to Covent Garden. The amazing thing is you can get a seat for 15 pounds, which I guess is about

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$18, $19. Something like that. So what's elitist about that? You could save up your pocket money

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and go once a month. A school kid could go. You could sit there and listen to Berg's Wotsek

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for 15 pounds. It's unbelievable. It's for everybody. It really is for everybody. Yet,

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of course, it's heavily subsidised because opera can't make money. It's just too expensive.

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And when subsidy is pulled away, those opportunities, those areas where you want to expand into

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into youth or to people that wouldn't necessarily think of going to the opera, they offer free

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tickets to under 21s. Those schemes, those subsidised schemes are under threat. And it then

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reduces the company's ability to do that outreach, to do that vital work, because your future

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audience is always the young. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Now, then another question is, under the

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umbrella of classical music, how far can we push in terms of multidisciplinary works and performances,

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a multi-genre, let's say? Well, I think a lot of that stuff's been going on for some time.

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I remember, well, I don't remember. Yes, I do remember when I discovered something called

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fusion, where jazz musicians in the 60s were thinking, hang on a minute, these rock boys are

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getting won over on us. We're not we're not pulling in the sales. We're not getting the gigs

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anymore. I know, get an electric guitarist, an electric keyboard player in the band and we'll

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change our style of it. Now, for jazz purists, this was a horror show. But for people who

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were slightly more open minds, you could suddenly then go out and buy, you know, the latest Herbie

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Hancock album, for instance, where instead of just having your classic jazz quintet, your

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tenor sax and trumpet, piano, bass and drums, you've got a whole bank of keyboards and electric

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guitar players. Now, of course, the trick is you want to produce high quality music in whatever

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genre you're in. And the news out, of course, is there's a lot of stuff in all genres that

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is not very good, it's not very interesting, it doesn't doesn't last the test of time. But that's

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true also of traditional jazz as well as fusion. So it's not an argument against changing the style.

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If you refresh the style, it can potentially open up a new audience for the music who might

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in the end go back and buy Herbie Hancock's earlier albums, think, hey, that Herbie Hancock

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is really cool. He plays acoustic. A lot of that is going on. And I think, again, we've seen a lot of

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changes in concert programming, where now most orchestras in this country, instead of just having

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a wonderful, wonderful series of classical concerts, they'll go into a school, or they'll do a gig with

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a pop star, or they'll get together with some local musicians who are working with

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drum and bass or turntables or electronic music. And they say, okay, what happens if we put these

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two things together? Might be a bit of a mishmash, but let's see what happens. So you have a symphony

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orchestra and a reggae band or whatever it is. Now, again, there's every hope of success and

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every chance of failure. But that's the true, true of any venture.

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But you know, honestly, I think your piano pieces, particularly because I'm a pianist, so

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I want to promote, should be played more often. You know, I hope that your piano music, at least

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your piano music, will be available to a lot of people in the future. That's my hope.

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I'm going to write something down. I'm going to write that down. Look, note to self, publish.

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Publish my own music. There you go. Great. I hope you don't lose that note.

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Great. Wonderful. It's on your envelope. Yeah, I will remind you every time I see it. Wonderful.

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So what's your next phase or step in your career? Is there any fun project coming up? Well, I'm

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writing another opera as we speak. I've got another opera from Surrey Opera. Jonathan Butcher has very

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kindly asked me to do another piece. Again, I better not tell you too much about it.

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In case someone pinches it, because again, it's one of those ideas where you think, my goodness,

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why has nobody thought of that story before? So I'm half, I finished the first act a couple of

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weeks ago, so I'm having a bit of a rest and gearing myself up for the second act. So that

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will be finished by the end of the year and hopefully go into production next year. And

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that's it really, because that takes up all my brain space. I mean, I'm always writing short

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pieces, little pieces, just to keep the juices flowing. And I'm always writing short pieces,

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really. So there will be little pieces, but the main project is the next opera. Wonderful. So before

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we go, this is a tradition that I usually ask to each guest, any advice for young upcoming musicians,

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composers? Join an orchestra or a wind band or a choir or form a string quartet or form a band,

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form a jazz group, form a rock group, play together, find out what it's like to play with

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other people and then start writing things for those groups. See what happens. Thank you so much.

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So if you're interested in learning more about Mr. David Hackerbridge Johnson, please go to his

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blog site. It's called dhackj.blogspot.com. And also Mr. Hackerbridge Johnson has a YouTube channel.

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It's youtube.com slash at D H A C K J D hack J. So so that you can listen to his music,

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some piano music and an orchestral music and some chamber music on his YouTube channel.

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So before I let you go, it's been a really wonderful conversation. What a wealth of

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knowledge you have. And it's a very privilege to really speak with you today. However, we're

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not done yet. There's one more thing to do. It's called the piano pod rapid fire questions. And

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this is part of the show where I get to ask fun questions to each guest. Now here's a little warning

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as silly as these questions may sound, your answers may reveal who you truly are. So I hope

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you're ready. But is the audience ready? Ready or not? Here we come. Right. Okay, so please answer

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them with shortest shortest responses possible and no explanation is necessary. Question number

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one. What is your comfort food? Corn flakes. That is so cute. Question number two. How do you like

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your coffee? I don't like coffee. Cats or dogs? Cats. What is your word or words to live by? Be

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kind to each other. What is the most important quality you look for in other people? Follows on

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really kindness. Name three people who inspire you living or dead? Haydn, Haydn and Haydn.

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Who wrote like 105 symphonies? So hey, you have a long way to go. That's right.

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Name one piece in your current playlist. Oh, Arnold Bax's seventh symphony.

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Okay, I need to check it out. Yeah, right. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. So the last question,

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fill in the blank. Music is blank. Everything. Wow. Beautifully said. Also love. Love. Oh, music is

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love. Perfect. Great. Thank you so much. So this concludes the episode of the piano part. Thank you,

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David, for joining my show today and sharing your stories and insights and expertise. And you can

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learn more about Mr. Hackridge Johnson through his blog site at dhackj.blogspot.com. And you can also

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find his music on YouTube channel and other music streaming services if you are interested in his,

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you know, symphonies and also piano music. The links are listed in the show notes. And thank

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you to my wonderful audience and fans for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate

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the rate and review it on whatever podcasting platform you use. Remember to hit the thumbs up

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button and subscribe to my YouTube channel. If you are watching this episode on YouTube,

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follow the piano part on social media to get the latest piano news via Facebook, Twitter,

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Instagram and LinkedIn. I will see you for the next episode of the piano part. Thank you for

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watching and thank you so much, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Hackridge Johnson. Thank you everyone.