Moving a grand piano is a logistical nightmare few pianists like to think about – until they’re forced to. 

Prior to speaking to Limelight, pianist Kathryn Selby’s morning has been consumed by the problem of bringing a new grand piano into her house. She is contemplating defeat.

“According to the piano movers, it’s too long to come up the stairs and we can’t crane it in either, or start knocking holes in the walls,” Selby says. “I’m so disappointed, and I literally don’t know what to do next.”

Selby had a lot invested in that new piano. Her old one – which she’s had since the age of seven – needs a complete restoration and she has a lot of practising to do before airing one of the most challenging pieces she’s played in a Selby & Friends program – This Mirror Has Three Faces by the Soviet-born, now United States-based Lera Auerbach.

Highly regarded in Europe (and somewhat notorious in the US for her 2013 a cappella opera The Blind, during which the audience wore blindfolds for the duration), Auerbach’s works are seldom performed in Australia.

Including it in the Selby & Friends touring program in May was suggested by cellist Clancy Newman, a long-time collaborator and composer in his own right. “Clancy is someone whose musical instincts I trust,” Selby explains. “When he suggests something, I take it seriously.”

“From what I can see, this will be the Australian premiere of This Mirror Has Three Faces,” says Selby, adding that it will serves as a launch pad to a program of more familiar music in Robert Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 3 and Bedřich Smetana’s Piano Trio in G minor Op. 15.

Innovation and Expectation

While she relishes the challenge, programming contemporary music has always been a balancing act, says Selby – not just for her but for all ensembles.

“The audience for chamber music in Australia isn’t always receptive to new music,” she says. “You have to sneak one in occasionally. I’d love to do more, but at the end of the day, people pay to hear what they want to hear and you have to respect that.”

Finding the right balance between artistic integrity and audience appeal is an ongoing challenge but Selby finds it enjoyable. “You don’t want to alienate people, but at the same time, it’s important to introduce audiences to new things. To me it’s important that you explain why you’re playing something, to give the audience some context. Otherwise, it can feel like you’re imposing something on them.”

“That’s why, in a Selby & Friends concert, we always talk to the audience before playing a piece,” she adds. “A lot of musicians are a bit terrified by the idea, they prefer the music to do the talking. But Clancy is one of those musicians who is fantastic at it. Like all the best storytellers, he makes it personal. And when there’s a connection, people listen differently.”

The Ever-Changing Nature of Collaboration

Selby has collaborated with Australia’s leading musicians throughout her career. Each new partnership brings fresh insights, she says. “Every time you play a work with someone new, it’s like discovering the piece again,” she says. “Even with the standard repertoire, it never feels repetitive because every musician brings a different perspective.”

Whether performing classics or contemporary works, Selby believes that programming should have a sense of connectedness. “Our planning always starts with someone saying, ‘I’d love to do this piece,’” she explains. “Then we discuss it, and somehow, a cohesive program emerges. And when we start rehearsing, we suddenly see all these connections between the works that we hadn’t even planned.”

This organic approach is what makes chamber music so dynamic. “It’s a conversation between musicians, and when you bring that to an audience, they feel it too,” she says.

The Mirror Has Three Faces, which has its opening performance at Turramurra Uniting Church in NSW before dates in Melbourne, Canberra, Bowral, Adelaide and Sydney. Selby is excited to be working with violinist Kristian Winther on the program. “It’s incredible to me that we haven’t worked together before, but I’m really looking forward to it,” she says. “And Clancy, whom I’ve known for years, is always phenomenal – he brings such energy to everything we do.”

Prior to The Mirror Has Three Faces, Selby will be touring Joyeaux Anniversaire, a program celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Maurice Ravel and featuring a works by Mozart and by the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky, another lesser-known name in the chamber music world. 

“I was introduced to his clarinet trio by some students at the Conservatorium High School, where I teach chamber music,” Selby says. “I remember listening to it and thinking, ‘This sounds just like something from that Star Trek movie Chris Hemsworth was in [Star Trek, 2009]. That’s what’s fascinating about music. You never know where these connections lead and you never stop discovering new things – whether it’s a contemporary work or a piece you’ve played a hundred times before.”

Before all that, however, there’s a piano problem to fix. “I played cello at school,” Selby chuckles. “Maybe I should have stuck to it. At least you can get a cello through a door.”

Selby & Friends performs Joyeaux Anniversaire at Elder Hall, Adelaide (6 April); Melbourne Recital Centre (8 April); City Recital Hall, Sydney (10 April); The Chapel, Charles Sturt University, Canberra (11 April); Bowral Memorial Hall (12 April) and Turramurra Uniting Church on 13 April. Information and tickets here.

This Mirror Has Three Faces at Turramurra Uniting Church (10 May); Melbourne Recital Centre (13 May); The Chapel, Charles Sturt University, Canberra (16 May); Bowral Memorial Hall (17 May); Elder Hall, Adelaide (18 May) and City Recital Hall, Sydney on 19 May. Information and tickets here.