Zukerman and Forsyth make marital music
Johnny Cash and June Carter. Ike and Tina Turner. Daniel Barenboim and Jacqueline du Pre. Sonny and Cher. All musical marriages made in musical heaven, if less than perfect on the domestic front.
Which is where Israeli-born violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman and Canadian cellist Amanda Forsyth differ. Since Zukerman and Forsyth tied the knot on Anguilla in 2004, it seems to have been nothing but musical and domestic bliss.
Certainly, sitting across from them in a Perth hotel lobby, you can tell the two are still very much in love.
"If I'm conducting and she's the soloist, I always give her a very big kiss as soon as she finishes playing," 65-year-old Zuckerman says. "If we're both soloists, we give each other a big kiss."
"We have a kind of musical telepathy between us," 47-year-old Forsyth adds. "We can take greater risks when performing because we trust each other. You know that if you jump off that cliff, the other will always be there to catch you."
Zukerman is one of today's greatest violinists, having studied with the likes of Isaac Stern at New York's Juilliard School before going on to perform under famous conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and instrumentalists such as the aforementioned Daniel Barenboim and Jacqueline du Pre (their recording of the Beethoven Piano Trios is legendary).
An accomplished conductor and keen chamber musician - he and Forsyth form part of the Zukerman Chamber Players - Zukerman also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music and has released more than 110 recordings, many of which have been nominated or won Grammy Awards. He is music director of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, where he and Forsyth live.
Principal cellist of the NACO, Amanda Forsyth is the daughter of composer Malcolm Forsyth and began playing the cello aged three. Former teachers include William Pleeth (who also taught Jacqueline du Pre) in London, Harvey Shapiro at Juilliard and Lynn Harrell in Los Angeles.
Apart from performing with Zukerman and the NACO, Forsyth regularly performs with other musicians; past collaborators include cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Yefim Bronfman, who will be in Perth later this month with Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
This weekend the musical couple will be performing in what will surely be the highlight of the WA Symphony Orchestra's already impressive 2013 season: a beautifully crafted program comprising Vivaldi's Double Concerto for violin and cello, Bruch's Canzone and Adagio on Celtic Melodies - both for solo cello and orchestra - and Mozart's Violin Concerto No.5 and Beethoven's mighty Violin Concerto.
As with a perfect marriage, listening carefully to each other while allowing room for self-expression is the key to a perfect performance - something Zukerman and Forsyth have learnt not only from each other but from their shared love for chamber music.
"The first objective is to listen," says Zukerman, who will also conduct both concerts. "But it's not a question of just enjoying it and coming out singing a tune. There's an intellectual process that has to take place as well."
Asked whether there's a difference between orchestral and chamber music, Zukerman answers in the negative. "There's no difference," he says. "It's all chamber music."
"Communication is the best part of chamber music," Forsyth says. "As a soloist in a concerto, my back is to the orchestra, so I tend to try to turn around so there's some more communication. Because he plays the violin, it's much easier for Pinchas to do. I'm a bit jealous of that."
Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth perform with WASO at the Perth Concert Hall this Friday at 7.30pm and Sunday at 2pm. Book at Ticketek.
