In between rehearsals, Jack Liebeck artistic director of the Australian Festival of Chamber of Music spoke to Gillian Wills on the phone about storytelling, program design, the value of music, the importance of acoustically generous concert halls and future directions.
Superstar classical violinist Jack Liebeck has multiple strings to his bow. Praised for his ‘flawless technical mastery’ he’s a soloist with top flight European, American and Australian orchestras. His musical preferences range from Mozart, Brahms and Bruch to Nicole Murphy a Queensland composer.
His playing is engraved on the soundtracks of The Theory of Everything, Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina. With an impressive seventeen albums to his name, this British-German musician is a connoisseur of the festival. He should be, especially as he founded and now leads Oxford May Music and Alpine Classics in Grindelwald.
Before taking on the mantle of artistic director of North Queensland’s nine-day, Australian Festival of Chamber Music in 2022, Liebeck regularly performed at this celebrated gathering which draws national and international players to its tropical setting.
An experience which makes him committed to the AFCM’s traditional Queens Gardens, Ray Golding and Evening concerts as well as the annual whale-watching boat trip which cuts a splash to the Orpheus-Goolboddi Island where Liebeck and friends give informal airings of favourite repertoire.
Needless to say the violinist’s stamp is all over this year’s program and his additions include the entertaining ‘Guilty Pleasures’ where the artists perform a piece they love whether it’s rock, folk or classical. There’s an emphasis on feuding composers, a Long Table Lunch and selections of musical mind food led by ABC broadcaster and composer Andrew Ford.
How do you design a program?
I want to create compelling events which are often themed. Empathetically I try and work out what an audience will find emotionally rewarding. What I love is when the audience enjoys the repertoire I’ve chosen.
Are there principles, concepts, equity concerns you take into consideration?
Thirty-six musicians are involved this year and I need to use all of them and yet ensure a variety of contrasting sound sources. At times it’s like going down a rabbit warren to find what’s needed and it isn’t that oh yes here’s an underrated composer or I have to strike a balance between female and male composers.
The most deciding factor is I have to like the music. Having said that it’s always a learning curve and not every item works. I admired Nicole Murphy’s work which is her personal response to Covid. This is programmed in the melancholy Final Words on 28 July with Andrew Ford’s Reflections on a Piece by Seán Ó Riada and Mahler’s unfinished symphony.
How important is it for the AFCM to have a venue with bespoke acoustics for music performance?
The AFCM has been running for more than 30 years and will continue to grow regardless because now it’s classified as one of the best Festivals in the world. And yet in terms of having the ultimate music experience it’s pivotal to have excellent acoustics to promote optimal tone production which benefits our musicians and audience.
Having said that it’s also true I’ve had some of the most eventful performances on the Townsville Civic Centre’s stage. But yes to have a well-designed acoustic space would be a huge advantage.
If an acoustic isn’t the best, do the players have to work harder to produce a good sound?
Sadly, a stage like the Civic Theatre gives you absolutely no help in this regard because it was designed for amplification and not live classical performance. A violin is capable of the warmest and incredibly diverse range of sound but in the Civic the sound dies almost as soon as you produce it.
A concert hall with a bespoke acoustic for live music making becomes an extension of the instrument enabling the violin to fully vibrate with radiance. It’s like playing an instrument inside another instrument.
Do musicians have to have a storytelling capacity?
Playing the violin is storytelling, taking people on a journey. A musical work has a personality and I have to bring that person to life. I want each performance to be a story. I tell my students that instrumental music is non-verbal but their job is to enable their audience to find meaning through the sounds they make. Whether the music is happy, sad, about flying through the air or drowning you are describing this through your playing.
Steven Isserlis, the British cellist, once told me that sometimes if he plays in the middle of the night his cello takes over as if it is a living being. Does your violin have a soul? Is it your soul mate?
No, but it is my voice. I play because I can’t sing. In performance the violin is operating as my voice. When I place my bow on the string I feel my breath changing.
Why is music so important?
Music is massive because it is what’s remembered about a culture. Four hundred years later the paintings, the architecture and the musicians are what is remembered. You don’t recall the politics it’s the artists that create the narrative of a country.
Is music transformational? Does it have therapeutic power?
We are sentient beings. Music is absolutely transformational. There’s something innately human about listening to sound and feeling emotion about it, having an involuntary movement like tapping your feet and being connected to others in the audience.
Quite rarely do I go to hear a concert but bloody hell when I do what an experience. I feel unexpected emotion. We are complex beings and art of all kinds helps our mental health. Going to a concert unlike staring at a screen is eye and ear and mind opening.’
Do Festivals help to maintain a healthy focus on music in a climate in which music faculties are being dropped from universities and instrumental programs reduced in junior and high schools?
I love working with young talents at the Royal Academy of Music where I’m the first Emile Sauret Professor of Violin and this is a really fulfilling element in my career. Which is why I’m immensely grateful to The Ian Potter Foundation which has donated $525,000 for the purposes of boosting the AFCM’s educational and mentoring profile.
If you were suddenly given extra funding are there new directions you would pursue? Would you include jazz?
Yes. I’d like Professor Brian Cox to come and talk about the links between classical music and science. We’ve done many collaborations together and he’s a virtuoso speaker and TV presenter.
That’s why the AFCM board has implemented an Artistic Circle to generate sponsorships for innovative projects. I’d also like to bring comedy into the program. We’re already doing jazz with local bands on the Festival Garden stage.
The Australian Festival of Chamber Music Festival runs from 25 July – 2 August 2025. For more information, visit: www.afcm.com.au for details.
Image: Jack Liebeck, Artistic Director, Australian Festival of Chamber Music Festival (supplied) | Jack Liebeck on violin (supplied)
Words: Gillian Wills
Gillian Wills is a graduate and honorary associate of The Royal Academy of Music for distinguished services to the music profession. She is an author and arts journalist who writes for Australian Arts Review, InDailyQueensland and Limelight. Her debut novel Big Music, Hawkeye Publishing, was released 1 October, 2024.