Karin Schaupp, Guitar soloist for 'Other Lands'

Rodrigo's Concierto has been with me for a very long time, since my début as a teenager in fact. It is like a tapestry woven throughout my life as a guitarist. Yet every time I return to it I deeply enjoy it, and I find new layers of meaning which keep it fresh and emotionally charged. It’s honestly a privilege to play this incredible work and I have many images and personal associations with its romantic, tragic and playful elements as it really does run the full gamut of emotions across the three movements. I have used acting techniques for many years to enhance my musical performances, and to make them more personal and authentic. Using acting techniques makes me explore what I “say” on stage in a very raw and personal way. Hopefully this results in a performance which invites the audience to find their own emotional connections with the music. I see it as my role to be an enabler for every member of the audience to see more of themselves through the music. The biggest compliment anyone can pay me is that they were moved by my performance. If someone was just “impressed” I always wonder if something was missing.

After so many years of returning to it, despite being incredibly difficult, I am happy that the piece has a naturalness for me technically, which means I can be totally free with it emotionally.

I am really excited about meeting and working with Ingrid - and it’s only my second time EVER working with a female orchestral conductor!

I really try to make every performance memorable and meaningful in its own way. I hope that the audience will allow themselves to go on a journey with me from joy to romance, to tragedy and finally ending with lighthearted cheekiness.

Playing with an orchestra is for me like chamber music, just in a larger group. I want to engage with every one of my colleagues’ music-making on stage so that what is heard on the day is very much a collaborative team effort. I hope that the orchestra can “bounce off” what I bring to the piece just I “bounce off” the many beautiful textures and lines coming from my colleagues.