London Weekly, September 24, 1998 Lara St. John: Have Strad, Will Travel by Michelle Lynne Goodfellow ©London Weekly She was a child prodigy. She's posed half-naked on CD covers. She plays a 1702 Stradivarius violin. Lara St. John is a provocative 27-year-old London native and she is returning to the city this weekend for Orchestra London's season opener, where she'll perform Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. St. John recently spoke to Scene writer Michelle Lynne Goodfellow from Vacouver, where she was crashing before a performance after a 30-hour travel ordeal. Michelle Lynne Goodfellow: You'll probably never have another interviewer be able to say this, but I used to play the violin with you when I was little. I took Suzuki, and when I was about six or seven I was in group concerts with you and your brother (Scott St. John, also a well-known concert violinist). Lara St. John: Really? I've seen pictures of that, but I don't rememer it. I was, like, two and three or something. I was really young. Wow! Do you still play? Goodfellow: No! Are you kidding? Tell me a little bit about the violin that you're playing now. What was it like the first time you picked it up and put the bow to the strings? St. John: Well, we (St. John and the other winner of a Canadian Council Stradivarius, Judy Kang) actually had to play on national television without ever having played on these instruments before, so that was actually the first time I picked it up. Of course, it's always a funny feeling, when you first pick up any violin. But obviously when you go from something kind of modern to a Strad, there's a big difference. It's great. It's a terrific feeling. It makes some things easier, I guess you could say. I mean, the sound is much more effortless. One doesn't need as much weight, as much power with the right arm. It tends to just do it on its own. And it really comes out very well over an orchestra. Goodfellow: Didn't the violin come from Western? St. John: Actually, it has a little bit to do with the University of Western Ontario. It was an anonymous donor who bought it, I believe, from Western and returned it to Canada Council for a period of time, to have a competition. Which I, like, won. It's actually really great, because without that, even the insurance alone would be too much for me. It would be more than my rent in New York. So really, this kind of donor, and the partnership between him, whoever he is, and the Canada Council, is sort of the only way that somebody like me, and other young people from Canada, can have something like this. Goodfellow: Why is that? St. John: Because the amount that these things are valued at at this point is, I would say, ridiculous. It's really gone up in the past 50 years like crazy. Because of course no more are being made, so it just keeps going up, and the collectors put it up, and sometimes people buy them and put them in vaults, and that's what we really hate. Liberate all Strads! Goodfellow: When I first became interested in classical music, it was sort of via Glenn Gould's music, and his writings. Because he had a very unique perspective about music, and everything. Is there someone similar in your life that really turned you on to an aspect of music or a particular genre? St. John: Well, actually, it's funny you would mention Glenn Gould, because I would sort of consider him also my number one influence. Not necessarily so much his writing - which I find quite amusing - but just his recordings. I mean, I spent a couple of years trying to get as many as I could. I think I have got everything that's out there and some that ain't. Some stuff that I found in France, and in Russia of all places. Goodfellow: What is it about his stuff that appeals to you? St. John: Especially for the earlier stuff - earlier and much later, I think - I identify with him, in that the stuff I am the most comfortable with is Baroque/Classical, and then twentieth century. Romantic is not my absolute favorite period and think he's pretty similar in that way. Especially Bach. I just got so much out of listening to his Bach, and I think that I've learned a lot from many pianists; pianists have a more 'whole' attitude towards music, since they do the whole thing. Violinists - well, all violinists would kill me if they heard this, but - we're really only playing the top line all the time. And so sometimes I think we either don't bother, or we just don't hear the rest. And to take things in as a whole is very important for any musician, and I think that pianists are definitely the best at that. I also learn a lot from singers, about phrasing, et cetera. Because obviously the violin is only an imitation of that. Goodfellow: I was interested to read in an interview that you prefer solo performance, and you explained that it was because you're not that great a reader - you're better when you've memorized the music. I think that you explained that when you were little you were so near-sighted that you really couldn't read the music. St. John: Yeah. I don't think my parents figured out that I needed glasses for a long time, because I was really good at, well, recognizing people by the way they walked, and by the way they sounded, instead of their features. You know, the teacher always says what she means before she puts it on the blackboard. So I found out quite early that if you just listened, then you can sort of deal. 'Listen' and 'squint' were kind of the two ways of life for me when I was really young. Also, I am not very strong left-brained, so I am an okay sight-reader, but I am not terrific, considering all I've been through. And for me, the only way that I really feel I know something is if it's completely inside my head. Goodfellow: Do you still practice a lot every day? St. John: Actually, in the past year or two, it's gone down a lot. My repertoire is pretty big at this point, and if I have to learn something new quickly, then yeah. But I hardly ever make it above the three hour point anymore. Even if I am not travelling. But that's another thing. I mean, going from concert to concert, you just really don't have the time. Goodfellow: Do you think it's a real trade-off? Having a performance career, and having to do all the juggling? St. John: Well, especially weeks like this, I often think, damn, why can't I just have a desk job and be normal? But in the end, I know that if I had a desk job and were normal, I'd e maybe two weeks at it and then I'd be, like, oh my god, I have itchy feet! The grass is always greener. So as much as I complain, I think it is, like, a cool thing. Goodfellow: Do you have a new CD in the works? St. John: Not at the moment, no. The first two came out so close together - boom, bang- that I decided to take a little time. Actually, my schedule doesn't even permit until the spring. So we'll see. Goodfellow: Do you have some things you are throwing around in your head? St. John: Yeah, I have some things that we're throwing around. Nothing's definite yet. Don't really know. No comment (laughs). Goodfellow: I once interviewed your brother, and he seemed so full of wanting to take classical music to another level, or to get a new generation interested. Is that something that really motivates you? St. John: Definitely. Certainly musicians of my generation are trying to do that. It seems a little bit like the 'mentality on the street' is that it's, like, your grandpa's music or something. And that's kind of the image that not only I, but my brother, and all sorts of other people of about our age are really trying to change. And, I think, succeeding. Sometimes with unusual ploys, but... succeeding. Getting it out there. Which is all that really matters. Because once people hear one thing, there's so much more. And they figure that out. I figure that if we can just get one thing in people's heads, then maybe they'll go out and keep it up for the rest of their lives. And also teach their children and grandchildren, and whatever.