Interview with Andrew Seymour
Andrew Seymour
Principal Clarinet of the TSO
Hi Andrew, and welcome to the Notus Winds Interview Series! Thank you very much for your time today. I just have a few questions for our audience to get to know you a little. You've been principal clarinet with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for just over 10 years now. How has that experience been?
Well firstly, it really is a dream job! And I consider myself incredibly lucky to be where I am. I think with these WW jobs there's a bit of right place, right time that comes into play and I'm lucky that I was in the right place at the right time to get this job. Ten years has really gone by very quickly and it's interesting to look back and reflect on my own development as a player during that time. This was my first full time appointment so there was still plenty to learn in my first few years and probably the biggest advice or encouragement I kept getting was to take more risks, play out more and be bold in searching for the most expression in my playing. Ten years on and I'm one of the longer serving members of the WW section, yet the challenge in many ways is still the same, keep taking risks and searching for as much beauty and expression in the music as possible.
You originally hail from Victoria, how do you find life in Hobart compared to the life of a big city?
Yes, I moved from suburban Melbourne and it's definitely a different pace of life down here. People really strive to create a good work/life balance and that's partly made possible by the smaller size and close proximity to nature here, we don't usually have to sit in traffic for several hours each day! I'm lucky to live only 10 minutes drive from work in the CBD, yet the end of my street becomes a trail leading into the bush up Mt Wellington, there's not many places in the world you can get that.
You choose to play on Backun clarinets. What in particular helped guide your choice?
I'd been thinking about it for a number of years, and so every opportunity I had I would try the new clarinets from all the manufacturers, but every time I'd come back to my pair of Leblanc Opus II's and feel really happy with them. That was until Backun sent me some demo clarinets to try out, these included the Carbon CG model and of course the Lumiere. The CG really blew my socks off as a powerful instrument capable of anything but it was the Lumiere that grabbed me from the instant I played it, there was just such a beauty to the sound that I knew it was the instrument for me.
And of course, why did you decide to start learning clarinet all those years ago?
My Mum and I disagree about this one! She says I asked for a clarinet for my 10th birthday. I recall it being a saxophone that I wanted!! Anyway, it was a clarinet I ended up with and I enjoyed it right from the start.
Before we finish up today I have one last question for you. Apart from educating and performing, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to ride my bike! Luckily I like to ride my bike up hills because there are a lot of hills around Hobart! Home is on the lower slopes of Mt Wellington, 400m above sea level, so when I commute to work it's all fast down hill on the way in, and all uphill on the way home. But I like having that time to myself to think and unwind from the day.