London Grilling: Alda Dizdari, Founder of Southwark International Music Festival, supported by Delancey Real Estate
In this Wednesday’s London Grilling, we talk to the multi-talented concert violinist, author, educator and founder, Alda Dizdari, about her life, career, passions and what she loves most about living in the diverse and vibrant borough of Southwark.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Alda Dizdari and I am a concert violinist. I was born in Albania in a difficult political time, during the end of the most brutal and isolating communist regime.
Can you remember the moment you decided you wanted to play the violin?
I come from a family of musicians. My father is one of Albania’s best loved composers and my mother is a pianist. My love for music was natural thanks to them, but my love for the violin started as a very early coincidence. I was five years old when my father brought back home a cassette with a recording of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto performed by a wonderful French violinist. When I heard that music I fell completely in love with the instrument. Everybody in my family played the piano so I had not had a chance to hear a violin playing. But after that moment I had decided my fate. I had to play that instrument. And the rest is history.
What has been the most outstanding moment of your career?
There have been many but performing as a soloist with the Albanian National Orchestra making their debut in the UK in Canterbury Cathedral performing the very piece that made me start playing the violin in the first place, Sibelius Violin Concerto, is definitely a very special one and of course, my journey with Elgar Violin Concerto. It took me over seven years performing this piece around the world and premiering it in places where it had never been performed before, including my country of birth, Albania.
It was a life changing experience that I reflected on my memoir “Kiss Me Again; A Memoir of Elgar in Unusual Places” and then we recorded the concerto with a fabulous ensemble and only now are able to launch the recording following a long concert pause due to COVID 19 pandemic.
When and where can our readers next see you perform on stage?
I will be performing Elgar in St James’ Piccadilly Church on the 3rd of November and soon after, on the 13th of November I will be launching my new CD “ The Words of the Candle”
What makes The Words Of The Candle concert at the Southwark Playhouse so special?
This is the most personal album I have ever recorded. It sparked off a very personal experience but it also reflects what many have been going through in the past few years. In May my father was fighting for his life in the ICU of the Sanatorium hospital in Albania with lung and heart failure following the covid infection. We were expecting the worst. I spent many hours in the ICU unit of the hospital and when the doctors heard that I was a concert violinist they asked me to start bringing the violin and play some tunes for my father as they knew who he was and were all doing their best to save the life of their beloved composer. So I used to bring my violin and play beautiful tunes I knew he loved.
When he came out of coma I tried to make him engage with me by playing one of his famous tunes, a song titled “The Words of the Candle” that to Albanians is like a second hymn, and started toying with the idea of making my own arrangement of the song. I thought hard about the instrumentation and decided that a harp would be a suitable instrument for this song and for many of the other tunes. I had no idea that in those hours playing in the hospital, I was actually already planning my next album. I had been thinking for a while about recording some short and stunningly beautiful pieces that audiences love to hear me perform in my concerts and the timing was just right.
It felt even more appropriate with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. There is a great need for reflection and introspection and I hope that all the tracks in the album, solo violin and with the harp, will offer an opportunity for quiet contemplation and bring calm and positivity.
Why did you choose to settle in Southwark and what do you love most about the neighbourhood?
Oh I love Southwark with all my heart. I fell in love with this Borough from the first year I moved to London in 2003. I used to live in the students’ accommodation in the City of London while studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and on weekends I used to take long walks along the river. As soon as I discovered Borough Market and all the cobble streets by the river I was mesmerised, my imagination was on fire. I imagined this city in the 16th Century with the boats along the Thames, Shakespeare writing his plays, the thriving commerce, there is drama in every corner. Nothing brings history to life like this part of London.
Of course since moving here I have discovered so many other places. I truly believe Southwark is the most diverse, exciting, eclectic, accommodating, community driven place. I have felt part of it all from the first day I bought my first coffee in Monmouth Coffee in Borough Market. I have been lucky to have met inspirational people that have done and do so much for the community here and I have tried to get closer and become part of that community and give back something to this place and the wonderful people that create the diverse fabric of Southwark.
How did the DEA Music Academy come about? Tell us a bit about the work that you do there.
What started as a rather traumatic story, has turned into a wonderful passion for me. Back in 2012, just a few weeks before my Southbank debut, I had a car accident, which left me with a debilitating whiplash. What followed was a difficult year when I couldn’t perform. I was left with many hours to fill, hours I used to spend practising. I was an emotional wreck. I decided to do something about it. I had conversations with various colleagues who shared their frustrations regarding the music programmes at schools and I decided to do something based on a programme that my sister had developed very successfully in the US.
She used to be a concert pianist. The philosophy of the school is ‘Conservatoire Tradition with Community Feeling’, offering children of all ages the best tuition, based everything on performances and ABRSM grade exam results, so needed for secondary school applications. I started and immediately noticed there was a huge demand and a big gap in the market for this type of tuition. DEA is a not for profit organisation and many of the struggling families get a discount for the tuition. It is a balancing act. There is nothing greater than seeing children perform and grow into confident and accomplished human beings. I try to find very good venues where they can perform and get their experience. Our next performance with DEA will be in Southwark Cathedral, on the 18th of November. Our events are always free and inclusive.
Do you have a favourite violin piece that you like to perform?
I have to say Elgar, his music is so life affirming and of course, Bach, the greatest musician of all times.
If you could duet with anyone in the world who would it be?
That is a difficult question because there are so many inspirational musicians out there but if I could pick one group it would be an orchestra like LSO or LPO.
What words of advice would you give an inspiring musician trying to make it in the music industry?
Follow your own path, focus on your own truth and explore as many opportunities as possible. Stay open to the world and all the wonderful experiences and don’t be scared to fail, we learn so much more from that.
What would your perfect day out in Southwark be like?
A walk by the river, and I mean a very long one that starts maybe in Royal Festival Hall, along the river, through Borough Market, tasting some food and having a great coffee there before moving on to the walk along the river to the City Hall and further on beyond the Tower Bridge, a bit inland, to the stalls in Maltby Street Market, continuing all the way to the Mayflower Pub in Rotherhithe and ending with a beautiful meal there. That would be my perfect London day.
The Words Of The Candle Concert
Date: Sunday 13 November, 7pm
Location: 77-85 Newington Causeway SE1 6BD
Contact: 020 7407 0234
Tickets: https://southwarkmusic.org.uk/event/the-words-of-the-candle/
