Alexander Freund: Never Stop Learning
As doctoral trumpet student Alexander Freund (D.Mus, year 3) puts it, an essential part of being an artist is the 鈥渘ever-ending search for growth.鈥� In Freund鈥檚 case, this search led him to a long association with the and a teaching position for 11 years at the Conservatorio de las Rosas in Morelia, Michoac谩n. In the past few years however, he moved to Montreal to study at Schulich under Prof. Richard Stoelzel, and most recently, he鈥檚 acquired a new position as professor of trumpet at Atlanta鈥檚 Georgia State University. We spoke to Freund in a recent email exchange about all of the steps in his musical journey, studying at Schulich, and more.
What motivated you to come to do your doctoral degree at Schulich聽after holding your聽teaching position聽in聽Morelia for quite some time?
There were several factors, which were in such synergy that they all magically appeared at the right moment to lead me聽to Montreal, Prof.聽Richard Stoelzel and Schulich.
First, although a tenured teaching position brings a certain amount of security,聽I had never lost my eagerness to develop my abilities and to broaden聽my horizon. At the time, 聽I was also聽looking for聽ways to be more聽efficient in my own performing, inspired by the wise words of my聽good friend Martin Hackleman (the stellar聽Canadian聽horn player who performed with the Canadian and the Empire Brass):聽"If聽you can聽do the same thing聽with less effort, then it's聽already better.鈥�
Second, during 12 years of extensive touring and hundreds of聽outreach activities聽in North America聽with the M5 Mexican Brass, I was asked quite frequently why I don't teach at a university聽in the U.S. or Canada. I started asking myself the same question.
In聽2013, I first visited Schulich with the M5聽Mexican Brass to record the album M5 on Tour at the famous聽MMR studio.聽A few years later, I invited Prof. Stoelzel (who I had met 8 years before in Berlin)聽to the 2015 Merida International Brass Festival in Mexico, and he had just started his position as trumpet professor and Brass Area Chair at Schulich.聽It was then that he invited me to study the D.Mus degree聽with him at 海角社区, a degree that鈥檚 nowadays a requirement to be able to apply聽for top-notch teaching jobs.聽Coincidence? I don鈥檛 think so.
When I decided to start my Doctoral Degree at 海角社区, everything came together聽and聽suddenly fell into place!
In what ways have you changed聽or developed as a musician in your past two years at Schulich?
All my early training and career was focused on orchestral playing. During聽the聽last聽14 years, I鈥檝e played more聽than 1000 chamber music concerts with M5 Mexican Brass. However,聽I could count聽the number of solo recitals or solo performances with orchestra that聽I did during that time on four hands.聽
Getting involved as a student聽into a聽university environment 15 years after finishing my master's degree was frankly quite strange at the beginning. Not only because most of my student colleagues are 20 years younger than me, but聽also because I frequently traveled back and forth between Montreal and Mexico to visit my family and newborn son.
However, at Schulich and in Prof. Stoelzel's studio, I had聽plenty of opportunities to train my "soloist muscle" through weekly聽studio recitals, regular聽masterclasses, the Soir茅es Musicales series and the annual 海角社区 Concerto Competition 鈥� I went for it all.聽 Consequently, I鈥檝e played more times as a soloist with orchestra in the past two years than during聽many years before! Also, Prof. Stoelzel introduced me to some fresh approaches of聽instrumental technique and gave me a new understanding of my body while performing. This certainly is changing my playing to be closer to what I was looking for 鈥� more efficiency, more elegance, more musical and technical聽possibilities...one never stops learning!
How does the research you do聽here as part of your doctoral studies inform your career as a performer and聽teacher?
There鈥檚 an endless list. During the first half of my degree, I focused on the impact of meditation and meditative exercises on both performing and studying music. As a meditation practitioner and teacher myself, this subject is very dear to me. Interacting with students today and being part of the聽daily聽university life (which is quite different than in the 90鈥檚),聽gave me the certainty聽that high stress levels are a very聽hot topic and that meditation is an effective coping strategy to deal with it. Special thanks to聽Dr. Isabelle Cossette, who聽introduced me to research methodology and prepared聽me聽to conduct further research聽on this subject聽in my future position at Georgia State University. I鈥檝e been working on a聽聽about meditation, music and science, which聽I elaborated under her guidance.聽It goes without saying that using this tool in my own聽teaching is an uncommon but very聽beneficial聽addition to the tradition of western education.
As a performer, I started聽a research聽project about聽an East German trumpet concerto, and my research will culminate in the concerto鈥檚 American聽premiere 35 years after Konradin Groth (my teacher at the聽College of Fine Arts in Berlin) played the world premiere with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Since being at Schulich,聽I'm聽engaging in聽projects that I had no idea would interest me two years ago!
Alex Freund will be performing as a soloist with the 海角社区 Wind Orchestra on February 2, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in Pollack Hall. Read more about the performance and get your tickets here.
