Let the players do the talking… Part 3: Emilia
In the third part of this series, we introduce Emilia Benjamin, who recently joined the group.
When and why did you start playing the viol?
When I was a student at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, I went to a concert of Dowland’s Lachrimae and was completely captivated by the sound.
In those days UEA not only had an active music department (long since axed), but a chest of viols, and a weekly consort which I promptly joined, led by a brilliant woman, Heather Edwards, who would come in and guide our faltering steps through all the classic consort repertoire.
I hadn’t planned on being a musician, I hadn’t planned on being anything in particular, but at some point it dawned on me that I’d need to choose a career, that career would take up most of my life, and therefore it had to be the thing I enjoyed most. This was playing consorts, so I asked Heather if she thought I was good enough to audition for the Guildhall on viol, and she reckoned I could. So I quickly learnt the bass viol over summer, since that’s where all the solo repertoire lies, and went and played rather rudimentarily and was kindly accepted. Then began the hard work!!
Any particularly good advice you received when you were studying/starting out?
Keep up the violin. I did and it was useful for income purposes, as well as being fun to play in all that amazing baroque repertoire.
Favourite piece or composer?
Usually the current one I’m playing… but if I had to choose it would be Bach of course.
Happiest Fretwork memory (so far)?
I only have a few memories to draw on as yet, so probably pride of place is our recent trip to Germany where we played Bach - our concert in Ohrdruf, where Bach spent some of his childhood years, felt pretty special and we had settled into the programme by that point so it wasn’t quite as hair raising as at its first outing near Bremen, where I felt I was hanging on by the skin of my teeth! Highlights of that trip include a delicious dinner cooked for us by Hille Perl at her farmhouse where all the food was from the local farm, or her own produce, followed by a beautiful walk and some consort playing for fun with her; spending a day off in a thermal baths where we floated in a saltpool and relaxed in the saunas; discovering the delights of Rosehip wine; and spending a few nights in the lovely Schloss Seehaus, a homely castle with a magnificent kitchen we cooked in, and a lovely garden.
Tell us about the instrument you play in Fretwork…
The lovely old treble viol I’m playing in Fretwork has very kindly been loaned to me by Jo’s husband, Mark Levy. It’s an old English viol - just the front and back are original, and it has suffered various mishaps in its life. So it is venerable and battle torn, but still retains the deep and sweet tone which makes it such a joy to play.
