Thank you. That was the Montagues and Capulets
from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suite and it
was performed by Isetta Canamason. I'm Erica
Worth and welcome to this Pianist Podcast. Today
I am speaking with Isetta about her life in music
with a particular emphasis on her new Prokofiev
recording on the Decca label. Isetta, it's great
to have you on the Pianist Podcast today. It's
really exciting to be here. Oh, thank you. Anyway,
we're here to discuss your new album, released
on the 10th of April, which is called Prokofiev.
Now, that's a bit of a surprise to me, as I usually
think of you as a real romantic player in terms
of repertoire. So why Prokofiev? Yeah, it's interesting
you say that. I mean, I do love the Romantic
repertoire and the Romantic composers, of course,
but Prokofiev is one of the most special composers
for me and has been for most of my life, I would
say. And I think that's also why I felt it was
so important to release a Prokofiev album, because
as you were saying, you don't necessarily associate
with... associate me with Prokofiev, but I associate
myself with Prokofiev. And so I felt like I wanted
to kind of share it with the world. You know,
this is like another part of my identity that
I feel close to. Wow, that's interesting. Do
you grow up learning a lot of Prokofiev when
you were young? I grew up learning some. I would
say it's been a big thing for me from about age
18. And I would say especially the concerto as
well. It's one of my, in my top five favourite
piano concertos. And so obviously I wanted to
record it. Oh, it is. It's exhilarating, isn't
it? Yes. Yeah. And I mean, have you did you listen?
Have you listened to lots of others recording?
I know Martha Argerich is one who's who's played
it, recorded it. Yes. Or did you think, you know
what, I'm going to create my own interpretation?
Well, a mixture of. Both. I mean, of course,
you never want to be copying, but Marta Argoch
is one of my biggest inspirations. She holds
my favourite recording. But I was actually introduced
to the piece by a YouTube performance from Yuja
Wang. And that's what made me fall in love with
the piece. And also when I discovered her as
well, kind of all in one go. Oh, my goodness.
She is amazing as well, isn't she? Yes. Yeah.
Two amazing women pianists. So the album centrepiece
is his Concerto No. 3, which you performed at
the BBC Proms as your debut in 2023. How was
that experience? Yeah, that was an incredible
experience. I mean, it was definitely one of
the most nervous feelings I've had before a concert
because it just felt like such a big thing. But
then because of that, the adrenaline kind of
carried me through the performance. My goodness.
I don't know how you do it. So so when you're
in the performance, you it just lets you go,
basically. It's kind of like entering another
world or another zone. I can't say that in that
concert I stopped fully feeling nervous at any
point, but it's kind of nerves mixed with adrenaline
and excitement as well. And so you kind of enter
kind of a hyper state is the best way I can describe
it. Oh, my goodness. And who was the which orchestra
was it? It was BBC Now and it was with Brian
Bancroft, which was he's he's one of my favourite
conductors and he was on the recording. Oh, yes,
of course. Absolutely. Now on the recording,
the concerto is accompanied by solo works, Prokofiev
solo works. If you can tell listeners about the
pieces you've chosen. Yes. So there's. His third
piano sonata, that finishes the album, actually.
And the start of the album has the Prokofiev
Toccata. There's also a prelude in C major, nicknamed
the Heart Prelude, not very well known, but I
played that one when I was younger, actually,
so came back to it. And then some excerpts from
his ballets, so Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella
and The Love for Three Oranges as well. Oh, how
wonderful. I mean, the prelude, I don't think
I'd heard before. That's just magical, isn't
it? Yeah, yeah. It's for some reason not. I mean,
it's quite an early work and people just don't
tend to know it. But I think it's a very charming
piece and I think it shows a different side of
Prokofiev, which I wanted to do on the album
as well. OK, so that could be really good repertoire
for somebody who's maybe not too advanced, technically.
Yeah, I mean, I actually learnt that piece as
an 11 year old. So it was one of my childhood
pieces. So it's not a technically demanding piece.
It's a piece that... Yeah, it's just very charming,
very playful and has moments that sound like
a harp, which is why it's often called the harp
prelude. Oh, OK. And then, of course, you've
got the famous Romeo and Juliet suite, which
everybody loves. The Montagues and the Capulets.
Yes. Nice to have some famous stuff on there
as well. Absolutely. No, it sounds amazing. I've
listened to it. This being is your latest album,
but it reminds me very much of your recent Mendelssohn
album in that the main work is Felix's Concerto
No. 1 and then the solo works by him and his
sister Fanny. I mean, that's a lovely idea for
a programme, isn't it? Yeah, it was really nice
combining those two composers together on that
album. And then on this one, I enjoyed kind of
just exploring Prokofiev, but exploring different
moods of Prokofiev in one album. Absolutely.
I mean, Fanny Mendelssohn, she was great, wasn't
she? I mean, some of her compositions are beautiful,
aren't they? Yeah, definitely. I think especially
for me, her songs and her string quartet is my
favourite of her music. Yeah, the C minor. Okay,
interesting. And I'm just trying to think, you
appeared on the cover of Pianist magazine in
2019 when you'd made your debut album for Decca
with an album focusing on the Schumanns called
Romance. And that's a lovely programme idea as
well. And that was your first album. What made
you decide on that choice of repertoire? Well,
I first heard of Clara Schumann, I heard her
piano concerto first, which I thought was a very
impressive and beautiful piece. And also her
scherzo number two. I think those were the two
works that drew me into her music. And so the
thought of doing kind of a composer profile.
on her just felt very important I didn't know
that many recordings of her works and actually
that's the last time I did a whole album on one
composer so this for Coffee F is the second time
that I've done a whole album on just one composer
oh wait a minute but Robert and Clara they were
both on the album weren't they I thought it was
just Clara Schumer but maybe maybe it is I think
it's just Clara Schumer All right. Apologies
there. But Clara somehow had, she's kind of like
surfaced, hasn't she? People realise now what
a great composer she was. Yes, yes, exactly.
And I think she's really exploded and there's
more recordings of the piano concerto. And I
mean, there were, of course, recordings before.
I'm not saying mine was the first one or anything.
No. I do feel like there's been an even greater
boom in the last few years of her music. Yes.
And women composers in general, right? Yes, yes,
exactly, exactly. That's good. So now I'm going
back to your cover interview again that you did
with us. My goodness, that's seven years ago
now, Isata. And I remember you saying that you
were quite glad you didn't win BBC Young Musician
at the time, even if you got through to the finals.
You said you felt you needed more time to develop.
Was that true in the end? It was true in the
end, but it wasn't true at the time. It was true
in retrospect, I would say. At the time, it felt
like the biggest failure of my life. But I was
also a 16, 17 year old who had only thought of
one method of kind of building a career. And
then, of course, years went by and I realised
I was grateful for how things turned out. Oh,
and at that point, were you at the junior academy,
the Royal Academy? Were you in the junior department?
Junior department, still living at home. still
at school yeah yes going backwards and forwards
um how interesting so when did it all obviously
you didn't win and you were disappointed and
then you worked super hard when did it all come
together for you then you know you've secured
one of the world's top agents and you've got
this recording contract with deca how did that
all come about well that actually started with
the class human that we were discussing before
so that project um kind of solidified things.
And that's when I started working with DECO and
with my agency. And I was performing with my
brother Sheikhu for a few years before that.
So that was also the start of performing more
internationally. But I would say as a soloist,
it was with the Clara Schumann. Oh, yes. OK,
of course you were performing with Sheikhu, weren't
you? Yes. Oh, and I mean, you know, you've got
an amazing agent, Catherine Enticott. Yeah, she's
really, really wonderful. Yeah. And does she
helps you with your career choices, with your
repertoire choices? I think I get suggestions
from her and also from Jo, who's on the team.
But also it largely comes from me, I would say,
which is really lovely. I kind of say, oh, I'd
love to learn this. I'd love to learn that. And
we have a discussion, kind of a back and forth
discussion. Oh, interesting. And of course, do
your parents get involved with any of this? No,
not at all. I think, well, they might. they might
be i don't think they get involved in the sense
that they'll come to all of our concerts that
they can and whenever i'm learning something
new particularly my dad will get so invested
in the piece that i'm learning and kind of get
to know it back to front so that he can kind
of give me lessons on it which is so so helpful
but they definitely don't have a say in in the
repertoire choices that's amazing but you're
far mother he's not um he's not a musician though
is he or is he he's not a musician but he played
the piano to quite a high standard um into his
adult life and he's always been very musical
he's just never done it professionally but he
definitely has an ear that you know he can sit
and listen to a concerto I'm performing and pick
out very very detailed things that I'm missing
so it's very useful that's interesting and your
mother she was your first teacher Was she your
first pianist? Yes, she, I mean, I think my dad
helped me as well, but yeah, she really sat with
me in the early stages and kind of, yes, I remember
her really kind of listening to everything I
was doing and helping me because she played the
piano as well. Yeah, amazing, amazing. And I
have to ask you, and I'm sure you've been asked
this before, what's it like to be, you know,
one of seven siblings? Yeah. I got it right.
You got it right. One of seven siblings in a
very famous musical family. Do you learn from
each other? We do learn from each other. Yeah,
we support each other. We play to each other.
We give each other lessons. We go to each other's
concerts. And I think we also keep each other
grounded because our household was always just
very chaotic and noisy and full of games and
fun. And whenever we're back together, that energy.
comes back out and so yeah kind of grounds us
that's fantastic I mean you grew up in Nottingham
which is my hometown as well um yeah I know it's
great what were your studies like there I mean
back then I mean I was extremely lucky with my
schools I went to Walter Hall's primary school
and Trinity secondary school and they both had
head teachers that loved music so the music departments
were amazing and so I had a really great state
education there and yeah I always Love going
back to Nottingham. I love when I get to play
at the concert hall. I think it's one of the
best ones in the UK there. Really? I remember
that concert hall. Wow. Do you think the education
is the same there today? Have things changed?
Things have sadly changed. I mean, at Trinity,
my secondary school, the music teachers there
are working so hard to keep the music education
alive. They've lost so much funding. And so it's...
definitely not as easy as it was back in the
day but I think there are still very dedicated
and loyal people there who kind of keep things
going and so they still have concerts and music
groups but it's it's definitely got harder. I'm
sure and you have since moved to London you're
living in London full -time yes and your siblings
are they all over the place or mainly in London
or still in Nottingham? Actually, mainly in London.
There's five of us in London now, just two left
in Nottingham. And one of them is about to leave
home to come to London in September. So it's
dwindling in Nottingham. Oh, your parents are
still there, of course. Yeah, they have to still
be there. Well, they don't have to. Oh, it's
a great it's a great city. So from Nottingham,
you went to the junior department at the Royal
Academy in London. And you've had some wonderful
teachers there. I know you then did your. Were
you postgrad there as well? Your undergrad and
postgrad? Yeah, I did both. Yeah, yeah. And you
studied with the late Hamish Milne, who was a
wonderful pianist. He was so incredible. I had
an amazing three years. I was lucky to have the
last three years that he was teaching, actually.
So I'm so glad I got to study with him. Oh, how
wonderful. What do you think he taught you? The
unique things he taught you? He really taught
me to... I think he really opened me up. I think
when I came to the academy, I had quite a shyness
about my playing. And so I held back a lot of
my expressiveness and he would just help me to
see music in a different way. And he would kind
of say, you know, what's the point of this phrase?
Why? Why this? Why that? And really made me kind
of look at things in a much deeper way, which
is the young person I really needed. And you
say you had a shyness. Is that just in your personality?
Or maybe, yeah, it is your personality. Yeah,
which has got less with age. But I think particularly
as a teenager, I think I went into my shell kind
of throughout my teenage years. And then it kind
of took my 20s to kind of come out of that shell,
which I think is common for many people. But
that's definitely something that kind of how
you are personally can affect how you play, I
think. How interesting. And I guess your siblings,
that you're all different characters, some extroverts,
some introverts. Yes. Yeah, and it's interesting
because some of us, present as quite introverted
publicly, but at home would be considered extroverts.
That's quite normal. I think you're right. Yeah,
yeah, exactly. How interesting. Your mother,
she was raised in Sierra Leone and Wales, right?
And then your father, though, born in the UK,
is of Antiguan descent. So there's a real melting
pot of cultures there. I love that phrase. I
know. Really? Melting pot? Yes, melting pot of
cultures. Yeah, but that's so exciting. Obviously,
it's important to you, this heritage. Yeah, it's
really important because I think you feel like
you're fully all of those things. So I think
growing up, sometimes it's like, oh, am I split
between all of these heritages? And you're confused
about your identity. And now I feel like. it
creates a richness in my life and in the cultures
that I have and the way I can approach music
because I feel like I have kind of thought I
have, you know, Britishness and Antiguan, Sierra
Leone, Welsh, like all of that feels like it
feeds my identity, which feels like such a gift.
That's absolutely incredible. I mean, how did
you end up in Nottingham? How did your parents
end up in Nottingham? I think it was through
work. I mean, they met at Southampton University
and they lived in various places. And then my
dad had a job, you know, at East Midlands Airport
and they moved to Nottingham. And then they say
you never know where you're going to settle.
So they didn't know they were going to stay in
Nottingham, but they just have. Oh, that's amazing.
I remember also being in Antigua some years back
when you and your family were there. It was great
following you around, seeing you perform. being
part of the community. I believe you're involved
in a programme there? Yeah, it's the Antigua
and Barbuda Youth Symphony Orchestra. And it
started in kind of 2017. And because there wasn't
much classical music on the island. And in the
last nearly 10 years, they've built up this youth
orchestra and we go every year and help out.
And there's loads of young, talented musicians
in Antigua that kind of just waiting for this
opportunity, I think. Isn't that amazing? You
go every year. Every year. Yeah, it'll be the
10 year anniversary next year, I think. Fantastic.
Oh, that's wonderful. Gosh, so maybe there'll
be some great talent coming out of that or already
is coming out of that. Yeah, already is. And
I hope if they have, you know, enough long term
infrastructure, then it can continue. Yeah. Wow.
I mean, you seem to be really busy, Isata. I
mean, just that alone, you know, putting that
aside in your calendar, in your diary. Are you
busy? Do you have to structure your time? How
much time do you practice every day? Are you
quite organised? Yeah, I think I am. I think
I am organised. I think I see myself as chaotic,
but everyone around me, like my siblings and
friends say that I'm organised. So I've had to
accept that. But I think I have the help of...
people I mean you know Catherine and people in
the agency we sit down and have meetings and
really map out the schedule and so that's all
kind of mapped out and done very meticulously
and then I I just always have a day plan I suppose
I find it very difficult to not have a day plan
so I know when I'm practicing and when I'm relaxing
that's how I do it how many hours what's a good
practice day for you like how many hours good
is five intense is six um and then medium is
four And then chilling is too big. But it's fine.
That's a good number of hours. That sounds quite
good, actually. And do you prefer the morning
or the evening or it really doesn't matter? I
actually prefer the morning because I wake up
with kind of a fresh brain, it feels like, with
more clarity. And then throughout the day, distractions
come in and I become more drained. And I get
bursts of inspiration in the evening as well.
But morning, I always try to get as much done
before lunch so that it takes the pressure off
the rest of the day. Wow. OK. And do you where
you live, you don't bother the neighbours? Well,
I have a piano that it's an acoustic piano, but
I got a silent system fitted. I don't know if
you know one of those where you kind of move
a lever. And so I can I go back and forth a couple
of hours out loud, a couple of hours with headphones.
Oh, my goodness. That's clever. That's clever.
But when you play out loud, do you do you get
it? for example my neighbours love it when I
play I don't know why but do you get neighbours
saying oh that was wonderful or do you know your
neighbours yeah I do know my neighbours and the
only comment I've ever had is oh is there a piano
in your house please play more oh yes isn't that
lovely yeah which is so nice so really lucky
oh that's great so I mean this year where are
we now we're still in the 25 26 season didn't
know where we were I know oh my goodness what
are you up to anything exciting coming up or
you're just you've got loads of concerts or I
don't know fill us in yeah I mean a few things
coming up my next thing I'm going to Prague for
the first time doing rack three with the Czech
radio orchestra so I'm really excited about that
because it's like a first time going there and
one of my favorite concertos as well And then
just more solo recitals and chamber music going
into the summer, some with my siblings and some
by myself. Lovely. Oh, that sounds great. So
any new repertoire on the cards, recording wise?
Recording wise, I don't fully know yet. I know
that I am working on certain pieces for the next
couple of years. In terms of new pieces, I'm
going to... learn the Gershwin in F for next
year that will be the next that and Mozart 27
are the next new concertos to kind of add to
the bank so I'm excited about those lovely well
you sound very organized you do oh gosh you really
do um anyway what I'm going to do as we're nearing
the end of our lovely conversation is I'm going
to ask you some really light -hearted questions
and if you could just answer me out of the blue
What comes out, that would be great. Okay, the
first question. If you could play only one composer
from now on, who would it be? Beethoven. And
why might that be? I mean, my favourite composer
is Rachmaninoff, but I just think for the rest
of my life, I have all the Beethoven sonatas,
concertos, chamber music. I just think that would
be more satisfying if I could only play him lifelong.
Of course, and it's a hard question, isn't it?
Yeah. That's a good answer. Yes. One pianist,
dead or alive, you would travel long and far
to hear? Rachmaninoff. Oh, yeah. It's to hear
him live, because he's not alive. I mean, alive,
Marta Argerich, but dead, Rachmaninoff. Yes,
okay. I can understand that too. What makes you
love his playing so much? It's just so, it's
so alive. It's so spontaneous and crisp and clear.
And I just find that fascinating. Yes. And I
guess that's the same with Martha Argerich, isn't
it? She's also alive and crystal clear. Yeah.
So actually that's clearly what I like. Very
exciting. Yes. Yes. Oh, one person dead or alive
you would like to play for? Probably Chopin.
He was meant to be a fantastic teacher. He could
help me with any technical thing, I think. Really?
Excellent. Well, my next question was, do you
have any technical struggles? I would say everything
is a challenge if you don't have enough time.
That's a very good answer. But if you have enough
time, I think everything can be worked out. Really?
Yeah, that's my answer to that. Wow. Even double
thirds in prestissimo tempo. Yeah, if you've
got enough time to practice the passage. But
if you've got to cram it in a month, then it's
stressful. Very interesting. OK. And what would
be your advice to an amateur pianist about how
to improve? Record yourself and listen back.
So revealing. That's so true. Yeah. You're not
the first person that said that. Okay, and if
you weren't a pianist, what would you be? Ooh,
hip hop dancer. Assuming I can start my life
again or train for 10 years from now. I'm not
saying I can do it to a professional level. Oh,
can you not? No, I thought you meant in a parallel
universe. Well, no, no, you're right. If you
could, yeah, no, I think that sounds good. If
I can have the time to train, hip hop dancer.
But I bet you dance a little, don't you? A little.
You look quite balletic, you do. I was never
good at ballet, but I do like hip hop. Okay,
okay. And finally, the last question. One composer
you're not quite ready to tackle? Publicly? Bach.
Why? No, no, no. publicly i think just because
i don't know if i have my voice in bark yet okay
that's that's why i think i need to discover
that before performing him yes well you've got
a long time yes and anything is possible with
enough time therefore of course you can pace
it you're still very young you're still how old
are you now 29 okay yeah when are you 30 two
months time so i'm grasping on to my last two
months of my 20s oh i will make the most to make
the most but listen it's been a pleasure speaking
to you yes you too it really has thank you oh
time has flown by and thank you for joining me
today thank you thank you for having me you're
welcome bye -bye bye That was Prokofiev's Prelude,
Op. 12, No. 7, and it was performed by Isetta
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