Our resident interviewer, Philip Rham, catches up with our trumpet soloist Jasmin Ghera, who will be playing the Arutiunian trumpet concerto with us in our summer concert on 30 June 2024.

 

Philip. Welcome Jasmin. Here we are at the Royal Academy of Music in London where you’ve just finished your Advanced Diploma, your second year. How long have you been at the RAM in total?

Jasmin. I did my Professional Diploma last year. After the advanced, I’ll move to Switzerland where I did my Masters before I came here.

Philip. I’m guessing here but were you in a fanfara, a town wind band? From my time in Italy every town had a local wind band - they play for feste and civic events, right?

Jasmin  Yes exactly. That’s where I started out!

Philip  So why the trumpet - your parents were brass players, perhaps?

Jasmin  No, no-one in my family is a musician, I’m the break out member, the black sheep of the family!!

Philip. So was there a particular reason - why the trumpet?

Jasmin Well actually when I was younger I tried everything - my mum let me try all the sports and instruments but when I saw the fanfara in Sassari, my home town which is the second city of Sardinia, I wanted to join. Actually, I started with the drums, and I just wanted to change and the smallest instrument was the trumpet so I took it.

Philip  Now there are various types of trumpet - a cornet, trumpet in B flat or C or flugel horn.

Jasmin We do have cornets in Italy but they’re not used that often. I play just B flat trumpet. It was actually a red one when I started!

Philip  It’s not easy to play a brass instrument at that young age.

Jasmin When I started in the fanfara I said I wanted to play trumpet and they said I would never be able to play it.

Philip  Were you the only girl playing the trumpet in the band?

Jasmin Yes, we were a bit behind the times in Sardinia. Having a girl play was something out of the ordinary.

Philip  So did you have lessons at school or did the fanfara give you coaching?

Jasmin No they thought I couldn’t play so I started a course at my primary school when I was seven.

Philip It must have been hard!

Jasmin Yes but you got used to it. I have a photo when I started on my red trumpet and it’s almost as big as I was then at that age.

Philip Wonderful. So moving forward , no musical family but I see you got a BA in music already at 16.

Jasmin  Yes, I did a language A level or what we call maturità in Italian. I attended a conservatoire in Sassari in the evening and there was a good teacher there. After the BA, I had to finish my ma-turità so two more years, but I carried on my lessons going all the way to Bolzano.

Philip That’s a very long way - Bolzano is way up north on the Austrian border, isn’t it?

Jasmin Yes but it was the only place but I had to finish my maturità because you can’t do a masters without it. It was a long way but I went there once a month or so.

Philip So you ended up in Switzerland after your maturità. Did you know at that point whether you wanted to be a soloist or an orchestral musician? Or perhaps jazz or big band?

Jasmin Well I always played classical music and always solo music. It was always my dream because actually Alison Balsom came to Sassari for a recital and I have a photo of me with her after the concert. And she signed my red trumpet. I saw her quite recently but she didn’t remember me!!

Philip It could not have been easy financially to go back and forth to Bolzano and then to Switzer-land.

Jasmin  I had scholarships which helped a lot.

Philip  Then you went to Switzerland just after COVID in 2020. Had you already played solo with orchestras or given recitals by then?

Jasmin. I’d played second trumpet with Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and others but I always want-ed to be a soloist. That’s why I came to the Royal Academy to do their Professional Diploma which is specifically designed for life as a soloist. In fact, I made my first recording in March. It was quite easy in a way because you can edit and do another take if you’re not happy. But there’s a certain energy when you play live - I prefer that, to be honest.

Philip  And what about repertoire? There’s not a vast amount out there, is there, apart from the ob-vious concertos by Handel, Haydn and Hummel. Or am I wrong? You tell me!

Jasmin  No actually there’s quite a lot. We are lucky as we can play transcriptions like the piece I played for my final diploma recital with piano - that was a transcription of the Mozart oboe con-certo, which I’d made myself. In fact the second piece was with an accordion and then another one with a trombone.

Philip  That sounds really different and imaginative - excellent. So lots of possibilites then. And you had the same professor of trumpet all the way through here at RAM?

Jasmin  Yes Mark David - a marvellous musician and teacher, who was principal trumpet at the Philharmonia for many years and now is principal trumpet for the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra. I also worked at RAM with some top-notch teachers, namely, Paul Beniston, John Hutchins, Jeroen Bertwaerts and James Fountain.

Philip  Now you are playing the trumpet concerto by the Armenian composer Arutiunian with us- a concerto I have to admit I’d never heard of. What would you say were the challenges of playing this piece?

Jasmin. It’s a piece I’ve loved ever since I was really young - I’ve played it with piano but never with an actual orchestra yet so it’s really exciting for me to be playing it with the KPO.

Philip Well, I can say that we’re honoured. There’s great rhythmic vitality and then a wonderful slow movement with incredibly long sustained lines.

Jasmin Yes absolutely. I was working on that today. My main goal is to be able to change the sound, to create that different atmosphere. There’s only 15 minutes of concerto but in a way we have a lot of changes within that short time. Sometimes I’m helped as Arutiunian asks for the mute for that slow long sustained passage so the technical, musical challenge is to change the character of the solo voice.

Philip  So, Jasmin, in effect you’ve been in London since 2022. What do you miss about Sardinia? The food, perhaps?

Jasmin  The sun!! And also the simple things like good pasta and the local cheese but also the won-derful fish and sea food we can get back home.

Philip. Of course - an island region like Sardinia! I must say I do love pecorino sardo.

Jasmin  I’ll bring some back for you.

Philip  That’s a deal Jasmin! Now do you have any hobbies outside of music - when you want to es-cape the world of trumpets and practising?

Jasmin  No hobbies really, but I like travelling a lot and always with my trumpet. In fact, I’ve just come back from Amsterdam for my birthday and then I’m touring Japan with an orchestra.

Philip  Yes of course your solo career has already started. Reading your CV you’ve performed in Switzerland, Prague and Salzburg. Do you have an agent to get the engagements or just by word of mouth?

Jasmin  At the moment I don’t have an agent. It’s actually a bit tricky. I was talking with my princi-pal here and he helped me get some concerts but for now I try and get a concert and invite every-one along, perhaps get a recording of it. And some auditions because my second string to my bow would be to play first trumpet in an orchestra but my choice would always be to be a soloist.

Philip  Oh yes I see you’ve played with the Mahler Jugend Orchester as principal trumpet?

Jasmin  Yes we played at the Salzburg festival. It was one month’s engagement - it was wonderful.

Philip And what other music do you listen to, just to chill?

Jasmin  Well actually I always listen to jazz to relax.

Philip Do you play jazz trumpet?

Jasmin  I would love to be able to - it’s on my to-do list but it’s a totally different style. After the con-cert, I’m flying out to Japan with an orchestra, we’re playing Mahler 5, the Firebird, Strauss’ Don Juan. The trumpet parts are nice and hugely challenging in those pieces.

Philip  That sounds so exciting. We wish you well for that. Now my last question is who would you invite to a dream dinner party? You can invite anybody from history or present day - it doesn’t have to be musician.

Jasmin  Well, I’d invite for sure all the people that supported me, my mum and my grandmother and my best friends. Plus my teacher here Mark David, who has helped me immensely.

Philip And what would you serve them, your best meal to have with them?

Jasmin I would do a huge assortment of Italian antipasti including my favourite fish dish, octopus in a puttanesca sauce - that’s delicious!!

Philip  Jasmin, thank you so much for your time and we look forward to being your partners in your first performance of the Arutiunian trumpet concerto with an orchestra.

Jasmin  My pleasure!