Anne Akiko Meyers | Hyde Park Media

^{Anne Akiko Meyers}Photo by Stan Malinowski

This interview by Anthony DeBartolo
was published in the Jan/Feb 1991 issue of Exeter Chicago magazine

Barely 20 years old, having unequivocally stunning, exotic good looks, and being acclaimed internationally for the technical prowess of her high art, one might presume classical violinist Anne Akiko Meyers to be, shall we say, overly indulged.

The $1.3 million, 272-year-old Stradivarius bequeathed by a Japanese real estate baron aside, she is one of the most evenly and pleasantly balanced young women you'd ever hope to encounter. In a word, sweet. She is also very passionate. In how she plays. And how she lives - her bearing in the world...

"You need to be Italian about life," she proclaims. "You need to enjoy its full reign of emotions every single day."

Meyers' passionate performances - from the Boston Pops under John Williams to the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta to her recent recital and concert tours of Japan with Leonard Slatkin - have constantly amazed both critics and public. Grab a quick cup of coffee with the lady, and she can't help but share her passion about life.

How did you happen to begin playing at the age of four?

When you're four years old, you don't know what the hell to do with your life.

LOL

My parents just wanted me to have an appreciation of music. They read a book about the Suzuki Method which started out thousands of kids. It's a rote method, but I did start reading music from the time I was four. I guess my teachers noticed there was something "strange" about me, and I just got more and more serious as time went on, and decided to make a life of it from the age of eight.

You turned pro at the age of sixteen?

Yeah, that's when I was signed by a management firm.

So basically, you've been on the road for the past four years. How's that going?

I have 50 to 60 concerts a year now. Just about one a week. My whole life revolves around the violin. Everything that I see, that I hear, that I am, is drawn directly into my instrument. I try to release that while I'm on stage. The violin and I are like one unit. There are a lot of difficulties in traveling. It's very, very lonely. You have to become your own best friend. You have to constantly draw a lot out of yourself, as well as other people, because you're always looking for inspiration.

You told me your job was 99 percent frustration, 1 percent joy. Why so?

A lot of the frustration is due to dealing with so many types of people, and attempting to get to know them very quickly. You have one rehearsal, maybe play for the conductor, and then play a concert the next night, not knowing the orchestra members, not really becoming familiarized with anything. It's just too quick, everything is too fast. All the while, you're constantly being judged. The people out in the audience, they've likely never heard of you. You have to show them who you are. At every concert, I feel like a gymnast at the Olympic games going for the gold. Every single concert. It's really stressful.

Last night during your outdoor Grant Park Symphony performance here in Chicago, there was a helicopter, hovering only a few hundred feet above the audience. I noticed you took a few quick takes at it while playing. You appeared almost amused. What was going on?

It was during the slowest, softest part (of Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto No.5, where I'm playing all by myself. It was really funny because one of the guys in the orchestra played with me and the Oregon Symphony a while ago, and during our first night, a person in the audience had a heart attack right at the beginning of the piece. I kept on playing, the conductor kept on going. So we both looked up at the helicopter and started to laugh. Like, here we go again. But the guy that had the heart attack was okay, so it worked out.

There's a new wave of young classical vio- linists, like Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Nigel Kennedy and Anne-Sophie Mutter, who seem to be begrudgingly given credit for their technical abilities then lambasted because they're visually theatrical, glamorous performers. Perhaps their most outspoken critic is one of the world's greatest violinists, Pinchas Zukerman, who fits perfectly the traditional notion of what a classical artist looks and behaves like. What do you think?

It's really hard to say because of the different personalities involved. We're all striving for personal satisfaction, but that means different things to different people. Some may want fame, others fortune. I'm really working for personal satisfaction.

So, what satisfies you? What makes you happy?

Happy? Getting my laundry done when I get back to New York.

LOL

No, when you're happy, it's like air. You don't see it. When you're unhappy, you grow.

How are you now?

I've just come out of a bad stage. But I've grown

Without dwelling on it what do you mean "a bad stage"? What was going on?

I was just rethinking things about the violin. It seems like the violin never lets me down. Meeting a lot of people, it's really hard to carry on a relationship when you're on the road. People have let me down so many more times than the violin has. The violin has become my Dan Rather on the road. It's always there wanting to be replenished with life and with love, and it never speaks back. I really have been experiencing that lately. I can never live without the violin.

But it sounds like you can live without a boyfriend.

Yeah. And I'm not really looking at this stage, because I kind of know what I would like, if that's okay to say - it's going to take a man with a lot of patience, because I'm always practicing.

You've recorded a couple of records. On what label?

Pony Canyon, a division of Fuji. I just signed with RCA, BMG Classics. But I don't know what music or with whom I'll be recording yet. It's all still under construction.

Whom do you really love to play?

I really love 20th century composers - such as the Samuel Barber concerto. It's fantastic, but it's not played too often. That's what I recorded on my first disc. I also like the Prokofiev concertos. But it seems audiences demand more traditional, romantic works such as Tchaikovsky, Brahms. It's just very predictable music. I like playing the traditional masters, but I prefer to play more modern composers.

Can you relate to them more?

I relate to the passion of the traditional masters. But with the modern composers, the passions are more complex. The traditional masters tend to explain a story like a picture, going from one scene to the next. With the modern composers, there's more psychology involved. There's a lot of different shadings with which you can work.

You spoke about the loneliness of constantly being on tour. How do you keep replenishing yourself?

Being around the right people. Having a great family supporting me. I call them all the time, right after I finish playing. I have a sister who feeds me a lot of humor, who keeps making me laugh. I think you have to laugh at a lot of the BS that goes on in the business.

Tell me about it.

There's a lot of politics involved, even the politics of daily living. Meeting people on the run and traveling by yourself, you really have to have a good sense of who you are. You have to really believe in yourself.

What about the sexual politics? You're an attractive 20-year old woman traveling alone and conductors have a lot of power. They hit on you a lot?

Oh, yeah.

How do you deal with that?

I just slam the door in their faces. They may ask you out for lunch, or they might, you know. I can see right away what's going on. You just really have to be extremely firm. If they try anything more, then it's time to take the next flight out of town.

Ever take that next flight?

No. I haven't had that experience yet, and I hope I never do.

Salerno-Sonnenberg reportedly said, "Whoever invented the violin, probably went on to invent the rack, Chinese water torture and tooth decay". You get a sense of that attitude when she plays. She almost attacks the thing, keeps it from getting too close; from becoming a part of her body. You seem to have a more intimate relationship, you coddle the instrument more. As you said, you and the violin are like one unit. If we can call Sonnenberg" playing style "punkish", what can we call yours?

Oh gee -- elegant. Yet crazy. I'm a real goof, too. I just am who I am. I don't have a PR person working for me, though, she does.

Why do you do what you do? Do you have a mission?

My mission is to play, to play well and to enjoy myself ... You don't buy it?

Where does the money come in?

If you're looking for money in this business, I think you're in the wrong business. You might always be looking for money. You might always be looking to play for as many people as you can, but there's always more and more and more and you'll never be personally satisfied.

So, where does your personal satisfaction come from?

Having my colleagues respect me, and to be happy with my own playing, because I have very, very high standards for myself and I haven't even come close to perfection ... I just want people to enjoy my music. My music says everything about me. It really does.