A new approach to

Historically Inspired performance

By Eugene Tzigane

What would Classical or Romantic era music sound like if we used all the historical performance practices we know of and combined them with the flexibility, emotionality, and subjective mindset of the Enlightenment or Romanticism? It is still largely an unanswered question, despite the mountains of musicological evidence and the wealth of early historical recordings available.

Though the Period Instrument movement has made great advances in historical practices, many performances of the Classical and especially the Romantic repertoire are still not free of Modernist aesthetics ideals like perfectionism and fidelity to the text. Shedding these ideas is a difficult task. Consequently, only a select group of historical practices have been cherry-picked to match our current tastes. The next step is to let go of the known and take the leap into the beautiful unknown.

Through research, intuition, and imagination, I build a living picture of the era from which a piece was born. Intellectual and emotional immersion are the keys to performing the music as if from another time. Understanding that the range of styles, techniques and tastes of an epoch opens the door to the evolution of a personal style. This would have been expected at any moment in time prior to the rise of Modernism in the 1920s. I attempt to put myself in the shoes of a composer and his or her most famous champions.

I ask myself, how did Beethoven or Liszt play? Or, how did Wagner revolutionize conducting? What were the ideals and philosophies that guided their activities as composers and performers? It's the musical equivalent of an actor on stage who embodies a character in a realistic and believable way. It is at its essence a Holistic Approach to Historically Inspired Performance Practices.

Born in Japan, raised on both sides of the Pacific and now based in Europe, Eugene Tzigane grew up in an artistic family surrounded by all kinds of literature, cinema, dance, and of course, music. From an early age, he was exposed to music of vastly different origins from Classical and Jazz (his first love), to Eastern European folk music and dance.
This eclectic mix of cultures and musical interests formed Eugene into a musician that cannot but help think beyond the usual categories, boundaries, and traditions. His insatiable curiosity drives him to constantly discover new and fresh ways of performing the old War Horses. This is informed by his endless search for improvement. The Japanese call, ‘Kaizen’, which translates roughly to ‘eternal improvement.
Orchestre national d'Île-de-France
Gävle Symphony Orchestra
Haifa Symphony Orchestra
Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava
Norrlands Operan
Bydgoszcz Music Festival
Kuopio Symphony Orchestra
Joensuu Symphony Orchestra
Positions
Chief Conductor & Artistic Director| Kuopio Symphony Orchestra
Chefdirigent | Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie 2010 - 2014
Principal Guest | Filharmonia Pomorska, Bydgoszcz 2009-2013
Prizes
Grand Prize | 8th Grzegorsz Fitelberg Competition, Katowice
2nd Prize | 4th Georg Solti Competition, Frankfurt-am-Main
2nd Prize | 4th Lovro von Matačić Competition, Zagreb
Degrees
The Juilliard School | M.M. in Orchestral Conducting | James DePreist
Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Stockholm | Post Graduate Diploma | Jorma Panula
Awards
Bruno Walter Memorial Award (The Juilliard School)
Franz Berwald Memorial Prize (Royal College of Music, Stockholm)
Bruckner Orchester Linz
Bayerische Staatsoper
Oper Frankfurt
Hamburgerische Staatsoper
Tonkünstler Orchester
Royal Swedish Opera
London Philharmonic Orchestra
BBC Scottish SO
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Opera North
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Prague Symphony Orchestra
Philharmonia Prague
Helsingborg Symfoniorkester
Copenhagen Philharmonic
Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia
Netherlands Philharmonic
Sinfonia Lahti
MDR Symphonie-Orchester
Tokyo Metropolitan SO
Frankfurt Radio SO
Norwegian Radio SO
Adelaide SO
West Australian SO
Sinfonieorchester Basel
Aarhus Symfoniorkester
Tampere Filharmonia
among others