The age-old adage of music transcending all man-made borders might sound clichéd to most but in ways more than one, holds true for cellist Gabriel Prynn and violinist Julie-Anne Derome, who will be performing in the city for the first time.

Speaking about his tryst with the cello, Prynn says, “One of the most important things while learning to play any musical instrument is discipline; another important factor is the right exposure. Thankfully, in my case, I was exposed to both of them at a young age. As a result, when I began playing solo, my own experiences of performing with members of the Emerson and Tokyo String Quartets, and the depth of this particular genre of chamber music enabled me to become a better performer with each performance. The cello is an instrument that is often referred to one whose sonority closely resembles that of the human voice and as I like to term it, it is one of the few instruments that can portray a human emotion through its clear tones. As an artiste, that is what we all try to communicate.”

Elaborating, Derome says, “In many ways, Gabriel is right that the perfect exposure is important. Instruments like the violin and the cello require not only a lot of discipline, but also an element of subtlety, the kind that is not understood by many. As a violinist, these things were the driving factors for me, when I chose to make a career out of music. I still believe in these things and even when I am performing somewhere on stage, I constantly keep studying the subtleties of other musicians. They may be great or average, but they put their heart into their compositions. As a musician and an artist, I believe these are things that one should always be able to do.”

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