Music for a While

A #360ofOpera interview with Menglin Gao, written by Yutong Yang.

The early music space is full of paradoxes. We have young musicians forming new ensembles that are bent on “reviving” music composed centuries ago. And sometimes, the antiquity of these works offers us more liberty interpreting them.

One such musician, Menglin Gao, founded China’s first early music ensemble Shanghai Camerata, but has traveled all over the globe to study and perform. Throughout the years, his whims and practicality have learned to coexist in harmony.

1. What was your first musical instrument?

My musical training began on the clarinet, an instrument I wasn’t overly fond of; then came singing, and eventually I discovered I had a strong enough falsetto range to sing as a countertenor. It was during this time when I had a dental operation that severed the sensory nerves on my chin, thus preventing me from having a good embouchure on the clarinet. It was a blessing in disguise, because having to give up the clarinet led to my first contact with the recorder.

2. When and why did you decide to have a career in music?

Choir was the place I found peace and a sense of belonging during my high school years. At some point near the end of high school, I decided I wasn’t going to be happy unless I regularly performed on stage … How vain of me. In a way, I threw myself into the world of music without knowing much about the industry at all.

3. Why early music?

I developed a fondness for baroque music in my teens. Then, I wasn’t aware of the early music movement, nor was I able to discern between baroque and modern instruments. The turning point for me was a CD my high school choir director played for us during one of the rehearsals. There was a certain crispness to the choir, a sweetness in the sounds of instruments, and a confidence in the delivery that reminded me of hearing a native speaker of a language. The gestures in the music, big and small, all fell into place neatly and the whole presentation, on top of being sincere and musical, felt very sound in its structure and I was able to sense a certain logic behind it. It was a recording of Vivaldi’s Gloria and Bach’s Magnificat by none other than John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir. That was my first encounter with early music before I found out all about it at Oberlin.

4. What were your career plans when you began studying Historical Performance at Oberlin?

To be completely honest with you, I was a foolish young man (still foolish, no longer so young) and had no concrete plan. I knew so little about the music industry, especially that in China; it was impossible to plan anything concrete without adequate knowledge as a foundation. I was more focused on learning as much as possible and seeing where it would take me. Oberlin was a wonderful place, and I believe many graduates would agree with me—there’s the word “Homeberlin” floating among Oberlin grads. I often like to make the analogy with Hogwarts—“help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it” pretty accurately defines my experience at Oberlin as well. 

Photo Credit: Wang Chun

5. Have you always known you’d come back to China to organize performances?

As a performer, I don’t really care where I perform. It’s a jolly feeling showing up to a strange town, playing good music with my colleagues. When it comes to organizing performances, I tend to be much more selective. China ended up being the most logical place for such endeavors.

6. Tell us about the biggest challenge you or Shanghai Camerata have faced.

The biggest challenge is that there aren't enough of us, at least not enough Chinese musicians, and this problem became more pronounced when COVID hit and China closed its borders to all foreign nationals who didn’t have a pressing reason to get there. For those of us who do live in China, we are scattered all over the country, and organizing each performance would involve extensive travel for most of the musicians. The nice thing about this is that since we don’t have to limit ourselves to the locale, I can invite the best players and singers within China.

7. What makes the historical performance experience unique? What do rehearsals look like?

The cool thing about early music/ historical performance is that it encourages us to do our own digging in the source material, and strictly following a particular style of teaching isn’t necessarily something to pride oneself with. Some of us studied in the US while others in Europe; even within Europe people can sound very, very different on the same instrument. That’s why our rehearsals are always long, and filled with discussion, as are most early music rehearsals. (On top of stylistic differences, many things are left blank by the composers of the baroque, thus leaving us tons of decisions to make.)

Photo Credit: Wang Chun

8. What is the Chinese audience of early music like?

The Chinese audience tends to be really young—they don’t necessarily know a lot about music (some do, and have insane CD collections) but always respect the experience and seem to be open to new (or very old) styles.

8. Please tell us a bit about the program for your Anniversary Concert.

Some may say “terrible taste,” but I’ve always been a sucker for chaconnes, so much that I named my ensemble after it (for various reasons, the Shanghai Camerata could not be directly translated to Chinese, thus in Chinese contexts we are referred to as “Chaconne”). For our 5th anniversary concert, I wanted to bring an entire program of chaconnes and ground basses, and see if anybody in the audience would notice. Many of these pieces did not bear the name “chaconne” in their titles, and they didn’t always have the recognizable four-note bass line. I thought the audience thoroughly enjoyed the concert, which was really a party filled with party pieces.

9. Pick a favorite recent performance.

One of the performances where we had the most fun was at the Beijing Music Festival in October, 2021. It was quite an honor to be invited to a music festival of this caliber, and it was the first time we performed at an important venue outside of Shanghai. For some of us, the performances in Beijing were like a field trip where they could forget their mundane responsibilities and be immersed in music making for a few days. To me, who acted like a chaperon, it was both fun and exhausting.

Photo Credit: Beijing Music Festival

Sauntering into their sixth year with prudent optimism, Shanghai Camerata is making ambitious plans for so much more, from mounting a full baroque opera and releasing their next record, to nurturing a new generation of baroque instrumentalists and bringing their music to a broader audience in more cities.

When asked what he would say if the whole world were listening, Menglin leaves us with this hopeful message: “In a world where cultural barriers are being erected by the day, I want to do my small part in tearing it down. Come make music with us!”

Photo Credit: Wang Chun

-written by Yutong Yang