Interview: Violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft to Perform at Carnegie Hall

By Laurie Niles: French violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft has an interesting American connection - he is the great-great grandson of the 27th U.S. president, William Howard Taft. I learned of this about 10 years ago, when Virgil performed a recital at the Taft Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, where my mother Pat Noonan was a docent at the time. She attended the recital - then raved for months afterwards about his playing! So when I heard that Virgil had recently come back from an injury and that he will perform a recital at Carnegie Hall next week, I wanted to talk with him about all of those things. His concert is at 7:30 on Wednesday June 12 (Click here for more information.) and will include Saint-Saëns’ "Danse macabre," Bloch’s "Nigun," Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Minor, Janácek’s Violin Sonata plus works from his 2020 recording, Incantation. Among other things, I learned that Virgil fell in love with the violin when he found one under a bed during a game of hide-and-seek! Please enjoy this lovely conversation with him. Laurie: You were born in Limoges and grew up in Paris, but you have a connection to the U.S. – your great-great-grandfather, who was the 27th U.S. president, William Howard Taft. Is this a connection that still holds significance for you? In what way? Virgil: I was born in Limoges and grew up in the Loire Valley until the age of twelve. I have incredible memories of a childhood in the great outdoors. Later, I moved to Paris to attend classes at the conservatory. Indeed, I have a very special family connection to the United States. Many Taft descendants have distinguished themselves through their dedication and courage, including my older brother, who played the cello in his youth and has become a brilliant diplomat — one of the leading experts on peace operations. I also think of David Sinton Ingalls, the first ace in American aviation history and a hero of World War I. This legacy definitely instills humility and, at the same time, demands a certain level of rigor and excellence. Laurie: How old were you when you started the violin, and what made you want to play it?Virgil: I started playing the violin at the age of seven. All my brothers played an instrument, each a different one. I hadn't yet found mine, until one day, during a game of hide-and-seek, I discovered a violin under a bed, inside a very old case. When I opened the case, I immediately loved the violin inside, its complex yet gentle shape, the warmth of the wood, the possibility of taking it with you... and I asked my parents to have a small violin. At the time it was a musical, intellectual and sentimental encounter. I quickly realized that this instrument offered infinite possibilities of expression; a whole world opened up to me. This meeting with the violin under a bed happened shortly after the moving experience of hearing "Erbarme dich" from the St. Matthew Passion played by Menuhin.Laurie: Tell me about your recent shoulder injury — I think a lot of violinists will relate to this. What happened? What has your recovery been like? Virgil: I had to stop playing the violin for a total of two years, due to a Krav Maga accident during a lesson. I was training with a friend, and I suddenly received a hard blow that caused me to fall on my hand and shoulder. This accident happened just before a concert at Salle Gaveau, which I neither could nor wanted to cancel. I insisted on performing the concert at all costs, with the heavy use of painkillers. But I had to completely stop playing the violin immediately afterward for about six months. I resumed rather quickly — perhaps too quickly — because I had to stop again for a much longer period and undergo two shoulder surgeries. I recovered after a long break, thanks to good rehabilitation and an excellent physiotherapist! Swimming also helped me a lot. I then gradually resumed playing the violin, before joyfully returning to the stage this spring of 2024, particularly at the opportunities to play with the Berlin Philharmonie and at Carnegie Hall.Laurie: It looks like many of the works you will play for your upcoming Carnegie recital are from your 2020 album, Incantation. That album, if I am remembering correctly, came out just weeks before all the pandemic lockdowns, and of course before your injury. How has your perspective on this music shifted during these years?Virgil: This album, which was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, includes pieces that have always been dear to me. I love these pieces more each time I play them, much like certain books that accompany us over time, revealing a bit more about ourselves with each reading - for example, "Wind, Sand and Stars," by Saint Exupéry, or certain poems by René Char written during the Resistance. Chausson's Poème has this effect on me. There is a whole landscape of emotions and sensations that evolve in this work, inspired by Turgenev's novella "The Song of Triumphant Love." BELOW: Violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft performs Bruch's "Kol Nidrei" with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. These concerts include some pieces from the album, as well as Schumann's Sonata No. 1 and Janácek's Sonata. The former transcends musical conventions to highlight raw, unadorned emotion with a poignant sincerity. Janácek's sonata pushes extreme emotions even further than in Romanticism, confronting the harsh realities of the time. It appeals to emotions that can only be expressed through harsher, rougher sounds to do justice to its message. I often compare this sonata to Pierre Soulages' outrenoir paintings, which extract light from the darkest black. This very instinctive, sensory approach to music resonates deeply with me. In this way, we can attempt to express the inexpressible in a language that has universal and immediate impact. A purely aesthetic approach to art does not always allow this, as too much ornamentation can sometimes obscure access to the feeling, like a smokescreen.Laurie: Tell me about your violin, the 1742 Domenico Montagnana "ex Régis Pasquier" — how long have you been playing it? How did it come into your hands? What do you feel is special about it? Virgil: I have been playing this violin for almost 10 years. It has been entrusted to me by a couple of private sponsors who, after listening to me several times in concert, offered to lend me a violin. For a few months I tried many violins, and when I met this one, I knew after playing it for just a few minutes that this was the one I was looking for. At first glance, it cannot be said to be easy to play; it needs to be tamed like a wild horse. But once tamed, its possibilities are almost limitless. Its lower tones, in particular, are wonderfully deep, making it I think an ideal violin for playing Kol Nidrei, which was originally written for the cello.Laurie: Have you played with JuYoung Park before? Tell me about your partnership.Virgil: We have been playing together for several years; he is a wonderful pianist, very talented, and personally very endearing. What is amusing and very helpful musically is that he learned the violin at the same time as the piano when I was a child, and I myself played the piano until I was 18, alongside the violin. We understand each other perfectly! I am very happy to return to the stage with him at the Berlin Philharmonie, and Carnegie Hall on June 12! * * * Click here for more information about Virgil Boutellis-Taft's recital with pianist Juyoung Park at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday June 12 at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall.You might also like:

• For the Record, Op. 111: Virgil Boutellis-Taft's 'Incantation'
• Picking up the Pieces: Relearning the Violin after a Major Injury

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