To say 1998 was a good year for Xavier de Maistre is an understatement. De Maistre’s 1998 would constitute a great career for most harpists. When we interviewed de Maistre for our September/October 1998 issue of Harp Column, the 25-year-old had just won the USA International Harp Competition (IHC) in Bloomington. Later that fall, de Maistre won the principal harp position with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Two crowning achievements for any harpist’s career, both accomplished in the span of just six months.
Performing then and now
A lot has changed in the last 20 years. From publishing to performing, the harp world looks markedly different than it did two decades ago. As we approach 2020, we’re checking back in with artists we featured on our cover prior to 2000 to find out how their corner of the harp world has changed—and stayed the same—since we first talked to them 20-plus years ago. You can read our first interview with Xavier de Maistre in the Sept./Oct. 1998 issue of Harp Column.
At this point in the story, de Maistre could have kicked back and just mailed it in. He had a major international competition title under his belt and a dream job with one of the world’s best orchestras. Put the cruise control on and enjoy the ride, right? Of course not, we all know musicians aren’t satisfied with auto-pilot. No one works their entire life to win and orchestra job so they can punch a time clock for the rest of their lives. So it’s no surprise that de Maistre dove head first into his new position with Vienna. In 2008 he signed an exclusive recording contract with Sony Classical and released his first album Nuit d’Etoiles, for which he won an Echo Klassik Award (Germany’s classical music awards) for best instrumentalist.
Then de Maistre’s story takes a turn that no one expected. In 2009, Xavier de Maistre did the unthinkable—he walked away from his job with the Vienna Philharmonic. De Maistre had been principal harpist of the orchestra for 12 years. He was the first French musician to win a position with the orchestra. Only in his mid-30s, de Maistre had the better part of his career ahead of him. Things were going well, except de Maistre felt he was missing something, and it turns out he had felt that way all along.
“When I won the job with Vienna, I was almost depressed because I thought, ‘Is there nothing more?’” he recalls. “I couldn’t accept the idea of doing the same thing for 40 years. Also, playing in an orchestra, you have to wait a lot for your cue, and I’m not a patient person. So I knew I wouldn’t be happy, even though this was, for me, the top orchestra; it’s where I wanted to be. I was playing opera, I was playing the great symphonies, I was touring. Everything you could hope for as an orchestral musician.”
De Maistre says he wrestled with his decision to leave the orchestra. You don’t want to be wrong about a decision like this. “A lot of people said, ‘Oh, you’re crazy. You don’t quit the Vienna Phil.’” But it was a conversation he had with another musician that convinced him that pursuing a solo career was the right decision. De Maistre was playing a concerto with the orchestra and confided in the conductor that he was thinking about quitting. The conductor had once been concertmaster—he understood the heart of a soloist. “I was talking to him and telling him that I thought I wanted to quit, but I was afraid I might regret it. He looked at me and said, ‘You won’t regret it for one second.’ I thought, ‘Wow, actually yes, I know it is what I want to do.’ So a week later I wrote my letter of resignation, and I’ve been happy ever since.”
But in a career change this dramatic, chances are you might feel a tinge of regret. You have to miss something about the job. “Nothing. What I liked about the orchestra was playing opera. But if I want to listen to opera, I can go listen to opera,” de Maistre laughs. “I wanted to do my own projects. And I’m really lucky now to be able to promote my own projects and promote the harp. It’s more suited to who I am.”
Who de Maistre is is a deeper question we won’t try to answer after one conversation with him, but it’s safe to say de Maistre is highly driven, fiercely independent, insatiably creative, and passionate about music and the harp. Only a handful of harpists have managed to carve out solo performing careers around the world today. De Maistre says to be successful you have to do it all.
“Of course you have to play really well. You have to come up with good ideas. You have to be good on TV and in interviews. You have to be convincing. You have to find new repertoire for projects and then convince managers and recording labels. You have to spend so much time doing all of these things away from the harp. Sometimes I wish I had more time to focus on my playing and just practice.”
Finding time to practice might be the biggest challenge in de Maistre’s life. He is based in Monaco, but travels twice a month to teach his class of eight students in Hamburg, Germany. Between trips to Germany he is flying around the world performing. This year he gave 85 concerts in 20 different countries. “I am very excited because it was the first time in 10 years that I was home for more than two weeks, and I found my next two projects. So now I know what I want to do, I just don’t know when I’m going to find the time to do them,” he says, laughing.
De Maistre says he is always on the lookout for new recording projects. “I get bored very quickly. This is the reason I always need to find new ideas.” Now, ten years into his solo career, he is confident that he can convince his label and his tour promoters of the merits of the music he wants to record.
His most recent recording, a 2018 album with Spanish castanet player Lucera Teno titled Serenata Española, is the seventh CD he has recorded since signing with the Sony Classical label. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind collaboration that has seen a remarkable level of success that, de Maistre says, no one saw coming. The two have played 50 concerts together all over the world, and the album has reached number three on the classical charts in Germany.
“It’s really exciting to be able to do these unique projects, and to keep extending the interest in the harp,” de Maistre says.
People don’t look at the harp the same way they did 20 years ago, says de Maistre. The harp has certainly earned some respect from orchestras in the last couple of decades. De Maistre says it used to be that orchestras would only book a harp soloist once in a great while, and always for some standard like the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp. But today, the harp is a regular part of most ensembles’ programming, and the repertoire is more diverse and daring. He’s even in a position to commission works by famous composers, knowing festivals and concert series will program them.
“One of my goals is to expand the concerto repertoire for harp with new commissions,” de Maistre says. “You cannot reach a wider audience at the big festivals and big orchestras with the standard harp repertoire.”
“When I talked to you 20 years ago, I never would have imagined the harp could come this far. Everyone told me a solo career was not possible. But here I am.” His touring schedule is packed, and he has a new album in the works with world-class tenor Rolando Villazón, with whom he will delve into South American folk songs for Deutsche Grammophon. De Maistre is in demand, and the demand shows no signs of slowing. “Everyday when I wake up, I think, ‘Wow! This is really beyond my expectations. It makes me really happy.’”
De Maistre has been on quite a journey since he won the USA IHC in 1998. But his view of competitions is not what you think it might be.
“These competitions we have for the harp are, of course, good for the student, but they don’t bring anything.” De Maistre says he was thrilled to receive a new harp for his gold medal win at the USA IHC in Bloomington, but it’s not as if the phone was ringing off the hook with performance opportunities following his win. “I’m always a little sad about how disconnected these harp competitions are from the music world.” While the process of preparing for a competition can teach you a lot, dreams of a competition win catapulting you onto the international music stage are simply that—dreams, not grounded in reality.
“I tell my students, [a competition] is a very good goal when you’re studying. You’ll improve your playing. But I tell them, you shouldn’t put too much pressure on yourself because, even if you win, it is not going to change anything in your life. They always laugh when I say that, but unfortunately, it’s the truth.
“I don’t like the word competition so much because I feel music is not about competing. For me it was more about expressing myself and making music. In a competition you feel that you have to impress, you have to play faster, you have to play louder,” he says.
In our 1998 interview with him, de Maistre attributed some of his success at the USA IHC to his focusing on the music, rather than the notes, when he played. So how does he do that in the midst of a stressful performance?
“You have to be really prepared,” he says. “The more you perform a piece, the freer you are to focus on the music. I’ve played a lot of performances—solo, opera, orchestra—and what I’ve learned is that what is most important is not the mistakes you’re going to make—of course you want to make as few as possible—but the emotions you create. That’s what you will remember.” De Maistre says that it’s this desire to create a connection that drives him. “What I really wish after someone hears me play is that they experienced something; that they were moved. Not that they heard perfection. You have to take your audience on a journey. You have to help them forget about their lives and they can just share this moment and this emotion. When I give concerts, my motivation is the silence you get when you play a triple pianissimo and no one is breathing and the whole audience is at the tip of your fingers. You’ve just got a thousand people enjoying the moment, enjoying the silence, and enjoying the emotion.” •
A unique sound
Xavier de Maistre has recorded seven albums since signing with Sony Classical in 2008.
2010 • Aranjuez: Concertos and Dances for Harp
2012 • Notte Veneziana (Venetian Night)
2013 • Mozart
2015 • Moldau: The Romantic Solo Album
