Page 129 - FINAL_Guildhall Media Highlights 2019-2020 Coverage Book

Alison Balsom
“Balsom is interesting” Vaughan says. “She is someone who exemplifies by the fact that she has
had to go and create and find and adapt new music for her instrument, and challenge
associations about gender, even creating her own festivals… And she loves coming here.”
Visiting performers like Tognetti and his ACO and Balsom happily give masterclasses and
workshops for the students as part of their residencies. “What we're trying to do” Vaughan says
“is take the best trained musicians in the world and empower them with the skills to determine
their own careers, and having role models like Richard and Alison means beginning to look at
their own careers. They don’t have to be waiting for someone to impose a series of concerts on
them, they can get up and do that for themselves.
“The way the music industry is going to head is critical to us” he adds. “With artists in residence
like these we're looking at artistic citizenship, to be responsible, either politically or artistically.
These are exactly the artists to represent that.”
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/classical-music
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/event/alison-balsom-plays-sketches-of-spain