Emma Dias goes to Queen Margaret college in Wellington. Her family originally come from Goa in India, and are all very musical. She’s been learning the violin since she was five years old.
"I actually got this toy violin when I was younger, it was a little electronic one from my grandfather and I’d played it so much that my mom got really annoyed by it because it made such an annoying little electronic sound. She actually took the batteries out… but that's how it all began."
Emma Dias (left), NZSO violinist Gregory Squire Photo: Latitude Creative / Noelle McCarthy
Dias was introduced to the Passacaglia by NZSO violinist Gregory Squire who is also a conductor and music teacher about a year ago, after she passed her Grade 8 music exam.
"It had taken quite a long, long time to get to that point because of COVID, and the examiner not coming over from the UK [for the exam]," said Squire, "All of these challenges to get through and then of course, she got a great result. And I thought, well, there is a piece that I've been thinking about, which I thought she might enjoy, she might enjoy the story about it. So I sent her the link."
The piece was by Augustin Hadelich, who toured New Zealand in 2018. Now a world famous virtuoso, Hadelich was once told he’d never play again. Dias tells the story: "When he was younger he got into an accident on his farm in Italy and was injured really badly and actually couldn't play the violin for over a year, which was a big struggle for him, obviously. But then he got back up, got back to doing it again. Watching his recording of playing this piece really inspired me. He was so engaging.”
The passacaglia can be a challenge to learn.
“One of my greatest struggles is definitely sight reading, which I have to work on a lot," said Dias, "But as I get older, the music gets more difficult.”
But for Squire, the idea behind offering Dias the passacaglia to learn, was enjoyment more than anything.
“The main thing was, we've done the hard yards, let's have some fun. And we'll play some music together. And it gives me an opportunity to get my viola out, which doesn't happen that often. And it's a sort of guilty secret that we violinists have, about actually really loving to play the viola.”
NZSO violinist Gregory Squire. Photo: Latitude Creative
It's also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts or any good podcast app.
Crescendo is voiced by RNZ Concert’s Clarissa Dunn with sound mix by Marc Chesterman. It was written and produced by Noelle McCarthy from an original concept by Bird of Paradise.
Photo: Bird Of Paradise Productions
