Susanna Eastburn: A Classical Music Change Maker

Q What was your first experience of new music?

Growing up in Cornwall there wasn’t a lot of professional music available then, or indeed now, as it’s so remote. But I loved music and played the violin in the Cornwall Youth Orchestra. We had an inspiring and visionary conductor, Graham Treacher, who programmed Peter Maxwell Davies’ Five Klee Pictures in my first year. I was 12 and had never played or come across anything by a living composer before. I was absolutely transfixed. I loved the piece, it was so quirky and different to anything I’d heard before.

Q Did that inspire you to think about a career in music?

I was a geeky and shy young person but I was studious about music which was my creative outlet. Not long after that experience, I had a sense that music was going to be my thing. I went through a phase of thinking I might be a professional performer, but I was never good, or committed, enough. Although I started on the violin through free music education at primary school, I switched to viola at the age of 15 with relief – no more high, squeaky notes. I was drawn to the lower notes of the viola and fell in love with its sound.

Q So what was your first encounter with a living composer?

When I was still at school my mother took me to the Proms to hear the world premiere of Music for Strings by Elizabeth Maconchy. I was 14 and remember it vividly. She was there and took a bow and I was astonished that women could compose too. It was thrilling to experience brand new music brought to life for the first time and I remember thinking, goodness it’s a living person who creates those sounds.

Q Did it make you think about becoming a composer?

We weren’t taught composing at school so it wasn’t something I thought I could do, even after seeing Elizabeth Maconchy. I didn’t make the connection and wouldn’t have known where to start. At Sound and Music we recently published the report, Can Compose, which brought home to me that composing, if taught well, is a way of thinking that encourages great flexibility, creativity, problem solving and resilience. I didn’t learn that and I regret it now. I can be an inflexible thinker and I’ve worked hard to overcome that in my career. Had I been taught to create my own music from a young age, I genuinely think my brain would work differently. Working with others, and encouraging a multidimensional way of thinking is something composing does brilliantly.

Q What has been the highlight of your career to date?

When I was in my 20s I worked in music publishing and looked after a number of prominent composers including Kaija Saariaho in the years up to and including the premiere of her first opera L’Amour de Loin. To work that closely and intensely with her for so long was an extraordinary experience. She’s a complex person, so to witness this significant work come into being was one of the defining things of my life so far, a real privilege.

Q What did you take away from that experience?

I’ve learned how to listen well to composers so that I can give them the space to articulate the things they want to say. To have creative conversations with artists is a really important thing for me and something I really enjoy and it’s been an important part of my life ever since.

Q What advice would you give to young people thinking about a career in music?

Don’t assume that you’re not the type of person to do things like be a composer or run a music organisation. Ask for help. My impression is that in lots of ways young people today are freer and able to access more information independently. There’s a huge rise in self-taught bedroom DJs, I just wish they were better supported outside their bedrooms. I do feel that music can go a long way to help overcome entrenched perspectives in society about who wants to be a composer and who gets to be a composer.