Meet the Musician: Miho Hashizume

Violinist Miho Hashizume has been playing with CityMusic Cleveland since 2011. Also a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, I caught up with her at home after the orchestra’s three-week European tour to talk about her career and her upcoming chamber program with CityMusic.

Rowan Draper: How did you first get into the violin?
Miho Hashizume: I started piano first, when I was five, but only because I was taken to my brother’s piano lessons and I asked, “Why can’t I do that too?” Then my father took me to hear the NHK Symphony, Tokyo’s big orchestra, and I saw there were no pianists in the concerts. I said, “I want to do that, I want to play with a lot of people.” So I asked to start violin when I was six.

RD: Were you serious about music as a kid, or did that come later?
MH: I wasn’t serious; although I loved the music and loved playing. When you’re young, the concept of practicing doesn’t resonate. My teacher complained to my mother that I wasn’t practicing, so I had to go to a practice teacher, like a tutor. Without her maybe I wouldn’t be where I am because I wasn’t practicing, and my mom didn’t really know. I’d say, “Yeah, I practiced,” but I was only pretending to practice, like holding the violin while sitting in front of the TV.

RD: What changed, and made you get serious about playing?
MH: When I was 10 and 11 there was an experimental program in my music conservatory, a children’s string ensemble. Playing with other people in that group is what really got me excited about violin. I was also getting good enough to play really fun pieces, and I thought, “Wow, this is pretty cool!”

RD: You play both modern and Baroque violin. Tell us about your journey studying both instruments, and choosing between them.
MH: While I was doing my Bachelor’s in Tokyo, I seriously thought about becoming a Baroque violinist, because I loved the music from the 17th and 18th century — especially French music like Rameau and Couperin, I found those pieces were so intoxicating and incredible. It was the late 1980s and there were no full-time Baroque orchestras at that time, so I did a lot of freelance jobs in Tokyo. I loved it, playing in the Collegium Japan and with other fantastic Baroque players who had just come back from the Netherlands, the center of Baroque study at the time. Those experiences were a huge influence for me.

But I wasn’t sure I could handle being a freelancer long-term. The best job always comes right after you say say yes to something else, so I was always thinking, “Why did I say yes to this but then I have to say no to this other amazing thing?” I decided freelancing wasn’t for me, and I should re-learn the modern violin so I could get a more conventional orchestra job. So I went to University of Wyoming to study modern violin.

RD: Have you ever thought about focusing on Baroque music now that Baroque orchestras are more established?
MH: Yes. My first job was with Toronto Sympyhony, and the first full-time Baroque orchestra was also in Toronto, so I did think about it when I lived there. But I decided that I like the variety you get in a modern orchestra, where you play music from so many centuries, and I also like the balance of having a full-time job as a modern player but still getting to do play some Baroque violin.

RD: So, you have two violins, one Baroque and one modern, and they are tuned at different pitches [a Baroque orchestra is tuned a half-step lower than modern orchestras]. Is it hard to keep your technique up on both instruments?
MH: Yes, I have to practice going back and forth. It’s harder to go from Baroque to modern, because the tension in the strings uses the muscles a little differently. The different pitch also used to really bother me, so every time I played at 415 [Baroque pitch] it sounded kind of flat. But now my ear has learned that when I’m playing Baroque music the pitch is at 415, and I can shift back and forth more easily.

RD: You’ve played with CityMusic for over 10 years now; what is your favorite thing about performing with this group?
MH: I just love playing in a more intimate setting, where you can really connect with the audience. Symphony halls are amazing, but you can feel far away from the audience. CityMusic feels more communicative; you are closer to the audience, so you can see people’s reactions while you play.

RD: Tell us about the chamber program you’ve put together for November 11.
MH: I built this concert around Krzysztof Penderecki’s Leaves of an Unwritten Diary. This piece is a series of short segments, like leaves of a diary, each capturing an image. He uses 20th-century techniques but it’s like he’s looking back at earlier music, putting older, familiar sounds into a musical photo album. By linking all those sounds and ideas together, he builds a story.

The tone of this piece reflects his upbringing — losing his uncle in WWII, and Poland’s experience with the Soviet Union and then Stalinism — the idea of doubting humanity is heard throughout the piece. It’s a powerful piece. And although some people get scared of 20th-century music, this piece is actually very accessible.

I compliment the Penderecki with Caroline Shaw’s recent work Entr’acte, which also uses a segmented compositional approach. She presents one idea, goes through it, then moves onto the next in a series of musical images, and in this way these two pieces are similar.

You know, everybody has a busy life. We have all these technologies, but everyone is still so busy. So I decided to program pieces that move through lots of different ideas, kind of reflecting how we’re always jumping between things in our lives. This is not a concert of timeless music that you could hang onto for hours, like Bruckner or Schubert. These pieces are not about the lengthy development of themes; instead, they give you short, contained ideas, and then the music moves on.

Finally, because we will be playing in such an intimate space, I decided to add contrast with two duos from the Classical era. This gives the concert variety in texture and mood.