Trinity Yiu sits down with Bjorn Bantock, the newly appointed UEA Director of Music, to talk about his journey from cellist to conductor and his vision for fostering musical life on campus and beyond.  

T: Can you tell us about your background? 

B: I was born in South Africa, and from about the age of four, I knew that I wanted to be a cellist. I grew up in a very musical, artistic household where music, books, art and literature saturated everything. 

I studied in Stellenbosch at the Conservatoire of Music there for five years and won a scholarship (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music International Scholarship) to come to one of the Royal Colleges in the U.K.

I chose [to go to] the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, because there’s a fantastic cello department there and I wanted to study with Ralph Kirshbaum and Emma Ferrand. Also, there was an international cello school festival there. It was amazing for [studying the] cello. 

Then I went to Amsterdam to study with Gregor Horsch (principal cellist of the Concertgebouw). I was in a piano trio and a string quartet and on the verge of launching a career as a professional cellist… and I then had a massive injury to my left arm. I fell through a big glass door and although I was able to still play, I couldn’t really practice for more than three or four hours a day once I’d recovered.  

That wasn’t sustainable in the long term as a professional – you need to be able to play 12 hours a day. So, I had a massive break, and I had to reassess my whole life. I tried various instruments, and nothing really spoke to me like the cello did, so I then got advice that maybe I should study conducting. 

T: How did that unfold? 

B: I was invited by Colin Metters to study with him at the Royal Academy of Music in London. For the last 25 years, I’ve been doing teaching and master classes [for cello and conducting], throughout the UK and internationally. I was also head of Strings for 11 years and ran a string department of teachers and so on. 

I [was] conducting and teaching at the same time and [getting] more into conducting, and now in a position where I’m hardly doing any teaching at all. 

T: How did you come to apply to UEA’s Director of Music post? 

B: The main reason I applied was because I had an interview with Catherine Richardson (Pro Vice-Chancellor of Arts and Humanities at UEA). I had a long conversation with her.

I really liked her – I thought she was highly intelligent and astute and we had a really good conversation. I thought [that] this is someone I can work with, so I applied for the job. 

The attraction of working in an academic institution like this is that the term’s quite short. I could work three days a week with the orchestras and the choir, which fit in nicely with my freelance conducting that I do.

I do a lot of work now with the opera and symphony orchestras in Cape Town. [I] also you have a huge swathe of time in the summer where I can work with the [Cape Town] opera, or in Ireland and Denmark where a lot of my summer teaching and masterclasses are.  

T: As you know, we don’t have an academic music department anymore, so a lot of musical life is extracurricular. Given this context, what do you think are the essential elements for fostering a vibrant musical community here?” 

B: Actually, I find the setup here very attractive, creatively. I like the fact that there’s not a formal course; there’s a freedom to it that I think it’s a complement to the formal structured learning that students do on the other courses. 

It’s a wonderful opportunity that there’s a space like [the UEA Music Centre]. Many intelligent, highly astute and refined minds who study other things like medicine or literature or other disciplines, are also good musicians, or also played the violin or sang or played the piano at school.

They don’t necessarily want to become a professional musician, but it’s incredibly important that they have the opportunity to come to a building like this (the UEA Music Centre) and play in an orchestra, a rock band or do musical drama. 

The fact that there isn’t a course is a wonderful thing because it means the pressure to meet academic and external standards is not there. You do it because you want to, and I think that puts a completely different emphasis on how you can create [music].  

My role is to facilitate that as best as possible: to try and set up groups and choose repertoire with the pool of students that we have. So, I think this extracurricular setup doesn’t, in any way, undermine the quality of what’s on offer. 

T: Why do you think it’s important that students continue to pursue music alongside their studies? 

B: I feel strongly that music is such an important intrinsic part of being human. The way the world is going at the moment, humanity seems to be running towards World War Three. I think one of the few things that can make us realize that, is music; it’s the only thing that really connects us as human beings. 

I’ve been fortunate enough in my life to travel extensively throughout the world. You can go anywhere in the world and play music with anyone of any nationality, race, or religion, and none of that matters because you can immediately communicate.

I think it’s really important that people have the outlet and the opportunity and are facilitated to be able to make music together.  

T: How would you like to see musical activities and opportunities develop and grow during your time here at UEA?  

B: I want to start a lunch hour concert series – we’ve already got six lined up. I went around the campus with Rob (Music Centre Assistant Administrator) recently to look at all the spaces [around campus]. There are so many great spaces that could be used creatively [and] musically.

For example, right outside the music department, there’s a little amphitheatre with nice little stairs and a mini stage.

It looks like it’s hasn’t been used in 20 years! If we bought some nice little cushions, sorted out the grass, jet washed the whole thing, put up a little trestle, that would make a beautiful space for a little lunch hour concert series in the summer.  

The Square is also [a] beautiful little amphitheatre. In the summer, we need bands there, we need the orchestra to play there, and we need the choir to sing there. All the groups should perform there at least once a year in that space outside for the students.  

Lastly, there’s the amazing Sainsbury Centre. I want to try and approach them and maybe work with Catherine and Amanda to see if we can creatively use that space as well. [In general], I’d like to see more music in and around campus. 

T: How do you see UEA engaging with the wider musical community at the local and national level? 

B: I think there’s a huge opportunity to get the university involved with other organizations like the PRS Foundation. I’ve got contacts with the Nicola Benedetti foundation and I want to maybe do a project with them. 

There’s also the local Norfolk and Suffolk music hubs, who provide music education for children all over Norfolk and Suffolk. I would love to set up a side-by-side project with them where we do a side-by-side project, like Star Wars Suite or something.

We can get maybe 50 [local] teenagers who’ve learned the music and arrange a big orchestra with university students. [The musicians would] sit next to each other and we could give a big concert in The Halls.  

I’ve also got contacts with a few internationally recognised literary figures and musicians, and I want to try and set up some kind of festival, concert series, or lecture series where [they can] come and gives lectures. I want to try and connect music and poetry at UEA as part of the International Literature Festival, maybe in two years. 

T: What challenges do you foresee with developing these programs? 

B: I think the biggest challenge is to convince people that it is good and right to do. That’s always the challenge in an institution. The building is here; the infrastructure is here.

We have the buildings, we have the spaces, we have the students, we have the people, we have the vision. Now, we just need the backing and the support to make it happen.  

We have to have open dialogue and discussions with people to convince them that these are doable, achievable, creative things that we can do for the students. 

T: What would be the highlights or events in this season in music? 

B: We have some amazing concerts coming up. We’ve got one called The New and Eternal on November 20^th, which is at The Cathedral of St John the Baptist. It’s with the UEA Choir, Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra, and we will be playing Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Mountain, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, and some more pieces. There’s also Elgar’s Serenade for Strings. We have three more concerts that are happening around Christmas.  

The one I’m really looking forward to is called Echoes of the Soul next March, where we will be playing Franck’s Symphony in D minor and the Duruflé Requiem. 

T: What message do you have for students who want to get involved with music at UEA? 

B: Don’t wait, don’t delay. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today – just get out of bed and come and play. You will never regret that you did. 

Details of upcoming concerts and events are available on the Music Centre’s “What’s On” page. Many thanks to Bjorn Bantock for his time, and to the UEA Music Centre for kindly arranging this interview. 

Image Credit: Trinity Yiu