Silvia Careddu is an internationally successful flutist and, starting this fall semester, a main subject lecturer at the ZHdK. In this portrait, the Sardinian tells how she found her passion for music and what she wants to pass on to her students.
Like a “conditioner for the soul”. When Silvia Careddu talks about the instrument she plays, she speaks in images. The deep notes that she particularly likes sound “like butter” to her. But what makes playing the flute so special is the direct contact between her breath – “my innermost being, my soul” – and the instrument. “It is truly a magic flute, as Mozart said.” Starting this autumn semester, Careddu will be teaching as a main subject lecturer at the ZHdK.
“Sorry, my life is very complicated right now!” she writes when she has to cancel our first meeting at short notice. Someone tried to break into her apartment. Paris, 16th arrondissement, a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower and close to her work in the Orchestre National de France in the broadcasting house. On the way there she walks along the magnificent Rue Jean de La Fontaine. She loves the Musée d’Orsay and likes to be surrounded by beautiful things. “After all, I’m from Italy!” The Sardinian speaks German with a long, drawn-out vowel sound that immediately captivates you. But now she is waiting for the police. We postpone our interview and will hear from each other a few days later. She is packing for Japan. A life out of a suitcase, but no regrets. Everything as she always wanted it to be. The next time she calls, she looks over the Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo, where she wants to go for a walk: “I always go at 100 km/h, but with breaks, otherwise I would explode.”
“I’m always driving at 100 km/h, but with breaks, otherwise I would explode.”
“I wanted that too!”
Her appointment to Zurich is a dream come true, she says. Bürli and baguette, Limmat and Seine. Careddu will commute between Paris and Zurich. “For me, the ZHdK is like a laboratory in which a lot is tried out, discovered and brought into the world. For me, Zurich is a place to arrive.” Careddu is one of the most influential flutists of her generation today. She plays as a soloist at major festivals, is a much sought-after chamber music partner and juror at numerous competitions, and gives master classes in Europe and Asia. As a teenager, she actually wanted to learn to play the piano. When she thinks back, she sees herself sitting on her mother’s lap at the grand piano. She grew up with operas and symphonies and with the certainty that music is “the best medicine.” Her father plays the guitar enthusiastically in his free time, and her mother teaches music at a primary school. Her parents are not really happy about Careddu wanting to play the piano. “They always said: ‘If you play the piano, we can’t go on holiday. There’s no piano there and it’s impossible not to practice for that long. The flute would be perfect for you!’ I was anything but enthusiastic.”
The fact that she finally managed to learn the flute is thanks to her mother, who took her reluctant daughter to a classical concert. Variations on “Trockne Blumen” for flute and piano by Franz Schubert. The promise of being allowed to go to the disco at the weekend made her go along. “But as soon as the flutist started playing, I was enchanted. I wanted that too!” The flutist was Riccardo Ghiani, and she spoke to him after the concert. “Because of his way of making music, I wanted nothing more than to study the flute.” She took lessons from him, practicing three or four hours a day. She went to study in Rome and Paris. She wanted to learn, was focused, and did a lot of sport. In the interview, she kept talking about her mentors. “I was able to learn something from all of them, whether in terms of technique, virtuosity, or dynamics.” She mentions names like Aurèle Nicolet (“a tsunami in my life!”), Florence Souchard-Delépine, Emmanuel Pahud: “You can’t see any effort in his playing. I learned from him how to control my body as an instrument.”
“I want to strengthen students’ love of music so that it lasts a lifetime.”
“I was born twice”
The kick-start for Careddu’s career was winning the Premier Grand Prix à l’unanimité and the Audience Prize at the 56th Concours International de Musique de Genève. This year she is the president of the competition. It all started with that, concert requests and first trips to Japan and Korea. She then became principal flutist of the Orchestra Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. She played with the Vienna Philharmonic for two years, but was not given a permanent position there. Careddu breathes a sigh of relief: “Sometimes things don’t go as you hoped, but life almost never makes mistakes. Looking back, I am sure that it was meant to be that way.” The setback was a damper for her. She needs time to digest it. Today she says that she was born twice. The first time in Cagliari, Sardinia. Sun, wind, salt in the air. For the second time, she passed the audition for the Orchestre National de France. “I was back in the game. Ready to win or lose. I got up again.”
This is also something she wants to pass on to her students: not to be discouraged when you fail. “I want to give the students a path, prepare them for what they will face in life. Beyond my class, I want to convey a positive group feeling, also in collaboration with the great colleagues at ZHdK.” But music also requires a lot of discipline and precision. “I want to strengthen the students’ love of music so that it lasts a lifetime.” As a lecturer, she wants to convey autonomy and the desire to experiment. “At ZHdK, you can immerse yourself in different areas, work with young composers, electronic music, designers or dancers. Even if you don’t like something, you have to experience it. Open doors and see what’s behind them. That’s the key to freedom.”