As 2020 drew to a close, the British violinist stepped back from a highly successful performing career. But, as she tells Charlotte Smith, she is now busier than ever before
Tasmin Little has not retired. Despite announcing in 2019 to supporters that she would be stepping away from the concert platform - and not placing bow to string since her farewell Southbank Centre concert at the end of 2020 - the much-loved British violinist is busier than ever. Yet, she no longer owns a violin, having sent her cherished instrument to a new home following that final performance. So, no practice in the privacy of her house, nor playing with friends and family, and no practical demonstrations for students during masterclasses.
You might consider this a rather stark decision, particularly for someone whose life was intimately bound with the instrument since attending the Yehudi Menuhin School from the age of eight. But for Little, the decision makes perfect sense - and surprisingly, is one that she came to during her twenties. 'I think the long and short of it is that I'm a communicator,' she explains, and for the majority of my life I've used my violin for this purpose. But I'm just as comfortable using my voice and my vocabulary. And I never said I was going to retire - I'm a long way off retirement.
As the daughter of theatre and screen actor George Little, young Tasmin may have shown prodigious skill as a violinist, but, encouraged by her father, honing her skills as an orator and writer also formed a crucial aspect of her upbringing. Both parents were cultural enthusiasts, attending museums and galleries in addition to concerts, and 'watching people perform' in myriad ways 'other than musically' was a common family activity.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Christmas 2023-Ausgabe von BBC Music Magazine.
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Discovering Donizetti - Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day
Thanks to a two-year lockdown project, nearly 200 previously lost Donizetti songs will now see the light of day. For most people, undertaking a lockdown project meant learning to bake sourdough bread, getting fit with Joe Wicks, or taking up a language. But Professor Roger Parker, the eminent historian of Italian opera and emeritus professor at King's College London, had something far more ambitious in mind. He set about unearthing songs by Gaetano Donizetti - many of which had been lost since the composer's lifetime - and the enterprise turned into a two-year labour of love.
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It was a little bit of history repeating when Rishi Sunak announced the UK General Election to the heckling of his political opponents blasting out D:Ream's 'Things Can Only Get Better'.
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Federico Colli
\"At this moment in time we don't need more virtuosi. We need musicians to engage with the philosophy of music
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What happens when classical music-style levels of ambition, invention and sheer length are brought to pop? The answer, as Meurig Bowen explains, is Prog Rock
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Young musicians may be physically fit, but with age come the advantages of wisdom and experience
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