These artists are the stars of tomorrow, but they can all still remember their first performances clearly – whether that was on a school stage, alone or with siblings, and feeling nervous or relaxed. Young artists on formative experiences and bold dreams, inspirational teachers, and the art of turning down free alcohol on flights.
Once again in the 2023/24 season, the Elbphilharmonie presents top musicians that are on the springboard to a global career in its popular FAST LANE series. Six evenings crossing all genres offer insights into the future of music.
Interview with the artists
Samara Joy :Vocals
What was your first real performance that you remember?
My first real performance memory would be when I was around 10 years old singing a song in front of my class called »One Step at a Time« by Jordin Sparks.
Who was your first musical love?
My first musical love would have to be my father. I not only admired his original music and bass skills, but all the music he introduced to my siblings and I.
When did you know that you would like to do this professionally?
I knew I wanted to be a professional singer when I was in middle school. I was participating in choir and musical theatre often. Although I loved other school subjects, I knew that singing was my passion.
What were your biggest dreams back then? What are they now?
When I was a kid, my biggest dream might’ve been to be a singing scientist. Now, dreams I didn’t even fully recognize are unfolding in real time so my dream as of late is to continue the unexpectedly beautiful musical path that I’m on and see where it takes me.
Is life as a musician today the way you imagined it back then?
I imagined the life of a musician being pretty cool as a kid. Now I get to see the behind-the-scenes that goes into this work, which is not all easy but it’s worth it.
Your tip for young musicians?
Practice & stay curios and creative!
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About Samara Joy
When Samara Joy walked away from this year’s Grammy Awards with two prizes (Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best New Artist), she became established as one of the greatest singing talents in the contemporary jazz world. Her voice and her musical expression are characterised by a naturalness, maturity and warmth that put her on a par with the great female jazz voices of the 20th century. In the legendary clubs of her home city New York, the young musician has long been an audience favourite, but even outside the USA she’s by no means an unknown.
Raised in the Bronx, she was always surrounded by music in the family home. Her father and her grandparents are professional gospel musicians, and their infectious passion for making music was a formative influence for Samara. In the neighbouring church, she joined in the classics of the gospel repertoire from an early age, before taking up the role of worship leader as a teenager.
While studying singing at the Jazz Department of New York’s Purchase College, Samara Joy discovered another musical cosmos beyond that of her family and fully immersed herself in the world of jazz. She soon earned herself the sought-after title of Ella Fitzgerald Scholar, and she won the prestigious Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2019.
Joy was already working on her debut album during her time at college, and she both graduated magna cum laude and released the album in 2021. Her records have garnered rave reviews, and JazzTimes immediately named Samara Joy their Best New Artist of 2021. She subsequently toured the USA and Europe, and has given guest performances at renowned jazz festivals such as Monterey and Newport. Her second album titled »Linger Awhile« followed earlier this year, winning two Grammys and further accelerating the American singer’s meteoric rise.
Randall Goosby :Violine
What was your first real performance that you remember?
I remember performing in a studio recital when I was 9 years old. It was for one of my first teachers Routa Kroumovitch-Gomez, at Stetson University in Daytona, FL. I only remember it because we arrived late, so I didn’t have time to warm up and I went straight from the car to the stage. It actually wasn’t too bad!
Who was your first musical love?
I don’t remember who came first — David Oistrakh or Bob Marley!
When did you know that you would like to do this professionally?
It was when I first attended the Perlman Music Program in 2011. I had never been surrounded by so many talented young musicians, and having the opportunity to hear them play, talk about music, and play together inspired me to pursue a career in music.
What were your biggest dreams back then? What are they now?
Back then, I still wanted to be a professional athlete! But my mother was very protective of my hands and I eventually gave up that dream. Now, it is my mission to create music education programs in areas that do not have regular access to classical music. I hope to share the joy that music has brought to my life with as many young people as possible!
Is life as a musician today the way you imagined it back then?
Honestly, when I was a kid I never thought much about what life would be like as an adult. It was so fun to be a kid! But I could never have imagined my life as it is now. I am so grateful to be able to travel the world playing beautiful music with wonderful people, eating delicious food, and playing golf everywhere I go!
Your tip for young musicians?
Make friends with those who share your passion, play music you love, and practice it slowly!
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About Randall Goosby
Being an artist who makes a difference – the young American Randall Goosby has dedicated his career to that aim. As a student at the legendary Juilliard School in New York, he was taught by such influential figures as Itzhak Perlman, who is also a career mentor to him. Goosby gave his debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of 13. Since then, the winner of the First Prize at the Sphinx Concerto Competition in 2010 and of the Avery Fisher Scholarship in 2022 has gone on to make his mark on the North American and European music world. The current season will see him making his debut with orchestras such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic under renowned conductors such as Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Andreas Nelsons, Manfred Honeck and Dalia Stasevska.
Activities in the field of education and outreach are an important priority for the young violinist. He has collaborated with voluntary organisations such as the Opportunity Music Project in New York and countless other charities across the United States. Together with his long-standing piano partner Zhu Wang, he released his debut album Roots in 2021 – a homage to Afro-American composers who paved the way into the classical music world for him and other people of colour.
In spring of this year, he released his recording of Florence B. Price’s violin concertos with Yannik Nezet-Seguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. »This playing isn’t dressed to impress but to express«: that was Gramophone Magazine’s verdict on the new recording, through which Goosby reaffirms his status as one of the leading artists of the young generation.
Julia Hagen :Cello
What was your first real performance that you can remember?
It was with my siblings at Schloss Mirabell in Salzburg in 2005. My dad and my grandad had both given concerts there so it was naturally a very special experience for me.
What was your first musical love?
I remember being absolutely fascinated by the DVD of Jacqueline Du Pré playing the Elgar Concerto.
When did you know that you wanted to be a musician?
When I was 12, when I started with my new teacher Enrico Bronzi. I was infected by his passion for music and for the cello in such a way that I knew at that point that I wanted to do this forever.
What were your biggest dreams back then? And what are they now?
To play the Schubert Quintet with the Hagen Quartet (done). At the moment I am perfectly happy!
Is the musician life you’re living now as you imagined it back then?
I tend to always slide into situations fairly naively and unwittingly, and I never had any kind of concrete idea of what awaited me.
Any tips for young musicians?
Trust your gut instincts and stay true to yourselves!
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About Julia Hagen
When a young girl chooses her father’s cello case as a place to hide when playing, you know for sure that this is a childhood in which music is a part of everyday life. Julia Hagen comes from a Salzburg family that has produced a number of great musicians: her father Clemens Hagen is a cellist with the Hagen Quartet, one of the most renowned chamber music formations of recent decades. In Julia Hagen’s childhood, music by no means dominated at the expense of other interests or subjects, but it was there from the very beginning. In her early teens, she decided to make the cello the focus of her career.
When she was twelve, she began to study at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, and switched four years later to the Austrian capital, where she was taught by legendary figures such as Heinrich Schiff. She was then drawn to move even further afield, and eventually left her native Austria to complete her studies from 2015 at the Berlin University of the Arts, where she attended Jens Peter Maintz’s class.
It goes without saying that the young cellist, with her pedigree, carries on the chamber music torch, and she has already worked with famous musicians such as Igor Levit, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Katia Buniatishvili and the Artemis Quartet. Since her debut as a soloist at the age of 14, she has also been comfortable in that role and has already given guest performances with orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin.
Naturalness, warmth and the courage to take risks – with these qualities, she impresses in various aspects of the repertoire and in all sorts of musical constellations. The recipient of the Beethoven Ring 2023 and winner of the 2016 Mazzacurati Cello Competition thereby distinguishes herself as one of the most exciting young cellists around.
Alexander Ullman :Klavier
What was your first real performance that you remember?
The first musical performance I remember was at the age of four as part of a steel drum ensemble. To this day I wonder if, by ultimately choosing the piano, I forwent a thriving career as a Caribbean percussion instrument virtuoso.
Who was your first musical love?
Bach. My love for music started with the Anna Magdalena notebook.
When did you know that you would like to do this professionally?
As soon as I became aware people need jobs to survive and people sometimes want to pay to listen to piano music! I was still harbouring thoughts of studying something academic until the ripe old age of twelve however.
What were your biggest dreams back then? what are they now?
I don’t think I could imagine playing on a stage like Elbphilharmonie back then but my dreams now are to continue to do so for as long as my mind and fingers will allow me.
Is life as a musician today the way you imagined it back then?
There’s more time spent avoiding, with varying degrees of success, free inflight alcohol but otherwise I’d say it pretty much matches up.
Your tip for young musicians?
Don’t start drinking on flights. And integrity.
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About Alexander Ullman
The relentless productivity of the British music scene in recent decades has repeatedly defined the avantgarde in genres such as pop and rock, but London’s rich classical scene is equal in every way. The London-born musician Alexander Ullman is a product of this first-class tradition in musical training and practice, and his career was elevated to an international level when he won the prestigious Liszt Competition in Budapest in 2011.
Ullman studied at the Curtis Institute and at the Royal College of Music in London, where he completed his Artist Diploma in 2017 with the added honour of being named the Benjamin Britten Piano Fellow. Over the course of his training, he has had a number of outstanding and influential teachers, including Leon Fleischer, one of the leading pianists of the 20th century. Ullman is now a regular presence at leading international concert halls as a soloist with orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as giving solo recitals and concerts as an accomplished chamber music partner.
Be that in live performances or on his CD recordings – Alexander Ullman impresses with a deep understanding of musical structures, which he fuses with technical finesse and elegant sound to create a captivating overall experience. On his 2022 recording of Franz Liszt’s piano concertos with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Litton he was able, in what are generally regarded as powerful virtuosic pieces, »to make the intimate and tender moments shine particularly brightly« (ORF).
