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Jonas Iten and the moving charm of Baroque music

 
Have you ever felt how powerful, impetuous and enthralling music can be and at the same time tender and intimate, soulful and blissful like a lover’s touch? Music is capable of taking you on spiritual journeys and creating incredibly vivid portraits of your inner worlds if the performer knows how. But this is not only about knowledge as much as about talent and passion, tireless practice and unconditional devotion. This is what I’ve learned from my first encounter with Jonas Iten, a solo cellist, born in Zug, who has been playing Baroque music for more than 30 years.  Jonas is in his late 30s, but he has already had huge success with his two solo albums and plenty of stage performances with orchestras like the Camerata Zurich and the Festival Strings Lucerne. Jonas is also a member of the Schweizer Oktett, which is enjoying increasing popularity thanks to its adaptations of original Swiss folk music.

He was invited to perform as well at this year’s ZUG4YOU summer event at the Straub family Landhaus am See, where Jonas played suites by Johann Sebastian Bach, Flamenco by R. Huguet y Tagell and Swan by Camille Saint-Saens.
 
Tsitaliya: Your style is mostly connected to Baroque music. What do you like about that type of music?
J. Iten:I’ve been interested in various music styles and my repertoire contains not only baroque but contemporary music as well: jazz, pop and interpretations of Swiss folk.  Baroque music, though, is the oldest music of the classical cello repertoire and it fascinates me a lot. I particularly like the Bach suites for their purifying effect on me. They guide me back into “who I am” after not playing for a long time.
 
Tsitaliya: Your first solo album is called “Bach and Barriere”. Why Barriere?
J. Iten:Jean-Baptiste Barriere was a French cellist and composer who lived and worked at the beginning of the18th century. He is less known than Bach, but I think he deserves more attention for his sensitivity and fine tonality. From the first moment his music grabs you and enslaves you and then never leaves you. His music is not banal as it has so many unexpected turns. He is called “the visionary” for his unmistakable radiant inner view. Barriere sonatas give me great freedom and enormous possibilities to experiment and variegate this music. (Author’s note: Jean-Baptiste Barriere is also known for some quite demanding in terms of technical performance works, especially about hand coordination, complicated fingerings and frequent complex bowing techniques. Much subtlety is required to achieve virtuosity in the performance of several of his pieces)
 
Tsitaliya: How did you become a cellist? When did it all start?
J. Iten:I was born into a family of musicians. My mother has been a violinist and concert master for many years in Zug. My father used to conduct, he is also a composer and excellent theory teacher. My sister plays the violin as well, so for a String Quartet they were missing a cello. They never pushed me about this, but I had a deep relation to music, even though I had no idea yet what instrument I would be playing. Then, when I was 7 years old, I received my first cello tuition from my uncle Luciano Pezzani, who was solocellist cellist at the Zurich Opera.
 
Tsitaliya: Have you ever considered another way of living and working? Have you been through times when you wanted to give up on music?
J. Iten: The way of music is not smooth and of course there have been times when I’ve had doubts. At school I like physics very much, but somehow deep inside I knew which way to go. One year after school I was so motivated and eager to learn that I overworked my hands. I was training a lot, using special methods of playing and my fingers just gave up. I had to take a 6-month break and meanwhile went to the army. That was a difficult time for me. But my passion never disappeared and thanks to my family I had the privilege of learning to perform in a natural, relaxed and supportive environment.
 
Tsitaliya: When was your first public concert?
J.Iten:  When I was 11 my family performed in the Cham church and I played as part of the quartet, but later as a solo cellist my first public performance with an orchestra was in 1992 in Winterthur.
 
Tsitaliya: Do you still experience stage fever?
J. Iten:Yes, a performance needs a lot of focus and I always want to gather my whole being into one powerful tool. This is why I like to spend some time alone before any performance. I am tense, but this is what causes the explosion afterwards, the downpour of the musical emotion.
 
Tsitaliya: Who do you admire today as a performer?
J. Iten:Yo-Yo Ma, a French-born American, cellist and orchestral composer of Chinese descent, who is one of the greatest modern cellists. I admire his versatility and his brave experimenting.
 
Tsitaliya: Do you experiment as well with your music?
J. Iten:Well, I played Apocalyptica “Another one bites the dust” on my cello at the Zugersee festival. And I sang. I have been now taking singing lessons for a year, which is not that simple if you play the cello simultaneously, because of the breathing technique.     
 
Tsitaliya: You travel a lot having many concerts around the world. Have you thought of moving away from Zug and living somewhere else?
J. Iten:No, my life is here, I grew and evolved as a musician here, in Zug. Besides there is a lot going on in this area. Beside playing at the Camerata Zurich and the Festival Lucerne Strings I am currently teaching at the Music School of Zug as a cello and ensemble teacher. I have at the moment 3-4 CD projects I am working on, I have several duo recitals coming and a planned tour to Asia in October. I like travelling, but I also love coming back to where I started.
 
 
Tsitaliya: You are very busy, but how do you relax?
J. Iten:I play football in two different teams in Zug, when I find the time, and I play tennis as well. I love being out in nature. My favourite place is Göscheneralpsee, where there are a lot of rocks and stones, not that appealing to tourists, but I like it for its raw and wild beauty. Recently I have been trying to learn how to do nothing.  This is what I am going to practice the most this summer.
 
The others about Jonas:
 
Jonas Iten plays with an impressive repertoire of tonal and creative nuances and an enviable sense of style.
Musik und Theater, 15 March 2009, Reinmar Wagner
 
A natural talent for Baroque; Jonas Iten plays music by Jean-Baptiste Barriere – sensationally, with a sure sense of style and unrivalled passion.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 16^th of April 2009, Alfred Zimmerlin
 
How wonderful to experience a real “wow-moment”! Jonas Iten plays music as though his life depends on it.
Crescendo, 8^th of July 2009, Harald Reiter
 
Jonas Iten’s interpretation is absolutely convincing in its emotional density and vivid portrayal of inner worlds. His playing is characterised by a wealth of different timbres and dynamic subtleties. 
Musica, 2009
 
Tsitaliya Mircheva

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