After 20 years at the top, Swiss star cellist Sol Gabetta is still infused with energy. She is also thinking about the next generation.
Sol Gabetta has just finished a month during which she played 16 concerts, her child is waiting at home and a journalist has a raft of questions for her. It’s all in a day’s work for the 42-year-old cellist, 20 years into her international career. She seems to radiate energy and has plenty to say as she shares her view of things.
Playing the cello still gives her more than enough energy: “I was very tired when I came home last week, but at the same time I was also fit like an athlete because I’d been playing the cello every day,” she remarks. Gabetta has also reached a new stage in her artistic journey – and that has nothing to do with her son having turned six years old: “I’m not looking for quantity anymore; instead, I want more quality. All I want to do is improve my approach to the masterpieces. That’s not so much because of my age; it’s more due to my artistic experience. The tours have not become any less tiring but nonetheless I have a great family life.”
When she revisits Robert Schumann’s cello concert, for example, as she did when touring during the spring with Estonian Paavo Järvi, chief conductor of Zurich’s Tonhalle, she has to see some development: “The conductor and orchestra have to fit with me; they must also want to achieve something. Otherwise, I won’t play with them anymore. There are pieces that I haven’t played for years, because I feel I can’t give the work a voice of its own. I need to retain an inner joy so I can see each concert as its own experience.” That way she can enjoy her work – making music – even more: “I notice much more than before that every evening has a power of its own. And I have become aware of everything that goes into a concert. This is why I now want a concert to be unique. I also care about the details – down to the lighting, which we experiment with at the Lugano Whitsun festival. It is a luxury, a gift, and I’m grateful for it.”
Besides Paris, Basel and Olsberg have also been home to Gabetta. who became a naturalised Swiss citizen in 2018. Gabetta’s festival originated in Olsberg and has since spread to Rheinfelden and St. Peter in Germany. Still, that is no cause for alarm among the many friends of the otherworldly church in Olsberg: Olsberg will remain the centre of the festival. In fact, Gabetta opposes plans to expand the festival, which is something of a recurring issue in light of its enormous success.
What would interest her, on the other hand, would be an academy for young musicians, as Gabetta has noticed at her own festival how hard it is to sell tickets in the “Young Artists” category. There are no plans to stop showcasing young talent, but Gabetta remembers when things were different: “When I was discovered in Lucerne in 2001, there was always a big turnout for those concerts: people were more curious to see the young artists perform. I’m lucky to have come up as a classical musician at that time. It would be harder today; the curiosity isn’t there anymore. People have less faith in us, the festival organisers, actually bringing good people to play.” How could we fix that? It’s hard to say, but one way would be to find a format where people are more amenable to trying something new. “Or maybe the artists should advertise their own concerts more as they used to do 100 years ago. Young people have to be better at self-promotion.” And maybe the younger generation should also put their trust in the older and wiser Gabetta.
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