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Jacqueline Shave

Jacqueline Shave leader
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Although Jacqueline received her formal training at the Royal Academy of Music in London it was at the Britten-Pears School at Snape in Suffolk where she developed her love of chamber music and performance inspiration. Over the years in beautiful surroundings she worked closely with many great artists including the Beaux Arts Trio, Prague , La Salle and Vermeer Quartets, and led the orchestra under Rostropovich, Lutoslawski and Murray Perhia.
Since then Jacqueline has dedicated most of her time to chamber music, leading the Brindisi Quartet for fifteen years and the Schubert Ensemble from 1989-94. With these groups she performed the core repertoire and many new commissions worldwide as well as producing CDs and broadcasting frequently on Radio 3.
Jacqueline was appointed Leader of Britten Sinfonia in September 2005 and has appeared as guest leader of the Fibonacci Sequence, Nash Ensemble and London Sinfonietta. She plays an Italian Dalla Costa violin dated 1752 and lives in Godalming with her husband and three sons.

In conversation with Jacqueline Shave

What do you enjoy about playing with Britten Sinfonia?
I took up the leader position in September 2005. Right from the outset it was obvious to me that the greatest quality the orchestra has is its members, both players and administration. There is a genuine enthusiasm and intimacy amongst the players which translates directly to the audience. I must admit that I was quite apprehensive about taking a job in an orchestra having been in the intense environment of a string quartet for fifteen years... but Britten Sinfonia really play like a group of chamber musicians... everyone is incredibly aware of what everyone else is doing.
 
How were you introduced to music? 
I was introduced to music before I was born. My mother would play music to me throughout her pregnancy and soon after I was born 'Das lied von den erde' was played through headphones to me... I was certainly born into a very musical environment. At home my father was always listening to Britten and Bartok and he was passionately interested in contemporary music. It would not be unusual for him to call me and play Lutoslawski down the phone. My mum nurtured any musical interest I displayed and taught me the piano until I was five.
It was the piano that I really took to as a child and I would often be summoned to the headteacher's study to play him Debussy. I found this really embarrassing and did my best to keep it quiet. I learned the violin in a group in school with a rather eccentric teacher. He was a great character but my overwhelming memory is of him spitting all over me during his enthusiastic demonstrations. I was lucky to find that playing the violin came to me quite easily and I was soon leading the school orchestra... it wasn't to be until much later that I would put in hours of practice.
 
What were your early orchestral experiences?
One of my highlights musically as a teenager was playing in the Forest Philharmonic in Walthamstow at the age of fifteen. We rehearsed Strauss' Alpine Symphony for weeks and I was in heaven. I learned my second violin part from memory. I had never experienced such colours and emotions before and to be part of it all was overwhelming.
At eighteen I found myself applying for the Royal College of Music and getting a place there at a time in my life when I was actually quite unmotivated. I left after two terms, gave up the violin and went into selling double glazing instead. Fortunately an ex-student friend of mine persuaded me to join in a play-through of the Schubert Quintet. The beauty of the music flooded over me and I realized for the first time that I really wanted to play the violin. I applied for the Royal Academy of Music and spent three years studying there.
There I was introduced to the Britten-Pears School at Snape which became my musical home. I was lucky to work with international chamber artists and to lead the orchestra under people who have had a lasting influence on me: Murray Perahia, Lutoslawski, Tamas Vasery, to name a few. Where else but Snape could one find oneself on stage playing the Mendelssohn Octet with Rostropovich dressed in drag?
 
What has been the most memorable experience in your career so far?
I have had many memorable experiences but I would say that the one that stands out the most would be performing Beethoven’s String Quartet Op 131 for the first time twelve years ago. Words cannot come close to describing the depth of the music, and the physical, mental and spiritual journey undertaken was shocking and moving and unforgettable. It was a rite of passage for me.
 
…and the funniest?
Turning up to a music club in Ireland to play a piano quartet programme and finding four pianos on the stage… Going on stage in Cornwall with the Brindisi Quartet to be greeted by an enthusiastic local who delivered a ten minute speech to me in Italian which I gratefully acknowledged… and in the interval surprising her with our fluent English (she had thought that with the name ‘Brindisi’ we were actually Italian)… Driving at breakneck speed across Europe with the Quartet to catch a plane home from Zurich… unfortunately I had been given the task of map-reading and after entering one of those long, winding tunnels, we emerged to a sign saying ‘Welcome to Italy’ (wrong country!!).
 
What other work do you do outside BS?
I work quite regularly in the London studios recording music for film and television, which is a very different kind of work with different challenges. I also have my piano trio, the Brindisi Trio, with whom I am visiting Iceland for the fourth time this summer. I have a few private pupils, who are very special to me. I think the one-to-one relationship with a developing young person can be of great value to both parties and a big responsibility.
 
How do you relax?
I am pretty good at going off on my own to wild and remote areas to remember who I am and generally recharge. I have such a full life with my husband and three sons that solitary time is very precious. The west coast of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides is my soul’s ‘home’, where I relax by walking and just generally being quiet.
My husband Gavyn and I have had a huge amount of fun recently designing and building a house in Essaouria , Morocco . It’s an ancient walled medina and a great place to go to get away from the craziness of life here (advertising, consumerism, supermarkets, cars) as there are none of these things within the city walls. We are lucky enough to have a lovely wooden ketch, so we dream of sailing from the Hebrides to Essaouria sometime in the not too distant future.