Andrea Tarantino

What does music mean to you personally?

Music is my greatest passion, I started playing the piano since I was 5 years old. Even as a child, I liked to write some compositions, according to my personal tastes. Studying, I learned techniques and methods, but for me, my music must satisfy myself and the listeners too. That is the reason I try to write music that is enjoyable, but not trivial and that still has its own refinement.

Do you agree that music is all about fantasy?

I think imagination and creativity are necessary in music, but also rationality and construction are important for me. So the balance, between fantasy and rationality, are the characteristics of my compositional style.

If you were not a professional musician, what would you have been?

I never imagined myself outside the musical life, but maybe I would have worked in some other artistic areas.

The classical music audience is getting old, are you worried about the future?

I am rather a lot of worried, because today the young people appreciate poor musical genres, because this kind of music is lacking in melodic aspect and there are very limited and repetitive harmonies. Especially in my Country, Italy, the culture is poorly considered by governments, in fact many Italian musicians must go abroad, to survive and to be appreciated by the audience. Nowadays, the academic environments research only the musical interpretation of glorious past, while the experimental music by contemporary composers it results to be a genre very far from popular sensibility. In recent years, however, an intermediate culture has been growing, in which composers creates music that is not trivial, like commercial pop music, but also enjoyable to listeners. I would like to enter in this current, with the hope of being appreciated.

What do you envision the role of music to be in the 21st century? Do you see that there is a transformation of this role?

I think that new music must extended to different musical genres, without being overwhelmed or impoverished from that. We should try to write new quality music, re-educating the new generations to listen to these new musical genres.

Do you think that the musician today needs to be more creative? What is the role of creativity in the musical process for you?

I think that I have to tell something of my own, starting from something that evokes the past. I am against experimentalisms, based only on acoustic effects, but without meaning. Unfortunately, in many competitions these types of music are still appreciated. This is because I like this Music channel, which tries to spread more enjoyable contemporary music, for the common public.

Do you think we as musicians can do something to attract the younger generation to music concerts? How would you do this?

I think it is useful to start from musical education. As a piano teacher, I try to convey the passion for music and the piano to my students. I teach to them pieces of different musical genres, classic, blues, pop, new age, film music. In my own music, I sometimes use harmonies that could be find in jazz pieces, because I think it are interesting and sophisticated.

Tell us about your creative process. What is your favorite piece (written by you) and how did you start working on it?

Sometimes I start playing the piano and then I find harmonies I like and then I start to composing. On these harmonies I create melodies or thematic elements. Other times, I compose using my computer and the music continues according to my inspiration, always starting from the harmonies. My own favourite pieces, composed by myself, are the Celestial Nocturnes, 2 pieces that I wrote in different versions (accordion and piano, flute-violin and piano, piano only). These compositions have a very rational construction, nevertheless I think they create a wonderful atmosphere.

Can you give some advice for young people who want to discover classical music for themselves?

I think the youngs can find a lot of music on YouTube. Youtube is full of classical music, I would give some indications to them, about pieces to listen and from there, maybe, they could become passionate, about the musical genre.

Do you think about the audience when composing?

Not totally, but when I’m composing I imagine myself among the listeners of the piece. If the composition doesn't have appeal for me, as the same time I think that the public won't appreciate it. So I try not to write intellettualistic music, based only on effects or oddities, as so many contemporary composers do.

What projects are coming up? Do you experiment in your projects?

In this period I dedicate to writing new pieces and I participate in different competitions, in the same time I would like my music could have a greater diffusion. So I asked Anna Sutyagina, very popular on the web, to perform one of my compositions, and this is an honour for me.