Monia Rizkallah is the founder of El Akademia: project dedicated to young musical talents of Morocco. Monia Rizhallah, active musician at the Berliner musical scene, talks about her journey and ambitions. 

Can you present yourself and your musical journey? How did you pick violin as your instrument? 

Everything started in Bordeaux, my home town, when I was 7 years old. My father was a self-made man, a Moroccan immigrant in France, he came from a very modest environment, and he unconditionally loved classical music. He listened to all the concerts that aired on the radio. He told to both me and my sister to choose an instrument, since it was very important to him that we learn how to play music already at a very young age. So I started in my neighbourhood’s musical school and I would say that my passion for violin started at that moment. My professor, Mrs Vallée, with whom we are still very close, saw my assiduity and prepared me for the audition to get into the Bordeaux Music Conservatory. Then started my higher music education path. My parents’ condition for me to choose my profession, was to graduate from High school. I won the golden medal from the Bordeaux music conservatory and then, a well-known professor of the Paris National Conservatory, Pierre Doukan, was passing through and decided to audition me. After that, he immediately took me under his wings to prepare me for the auditions to the Paris National Conservatory. When came the moment to discuss fees of the classes, as he knew the modest resources of my parents, he just said: “You owe me to play really well.”

And then you got into the Paris National Conservatory?

Yes, I passed the audition and 3 months later I got the unanimous admission. Then, after three years of studying, I graduated with a first prize for the violin and the chamber music, and I entered the Ecole Normale de Paris to continue my solo violin education in the class of Pierre Doukan. Then came the period of music competitions that helped me to improve and also to finance my studies through scholarships (the Marcel Bleunstein-Blanchet scholarship, the scholarship of the foreign affairs, and the FNAPEC in Paris). 

How did you discover the orchestra playing?

 Parallel with my studies, I was the replacement player at the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio-France. Marek Janowski was the musical director and he also conducted the summer sessions of the French Youth Orchestra (OFJ). He told me to audition for him and he offered me the position of solo violin. He also advised me to go to Berlin to follow the master class of famous violin professor Thomas Brandis (who occupied the position of solo violin at the Berlin Philharmonics under Herbert Von Karajan). At that time I joined the Mozart Academy in Warsaw where I met among others the great violin professor Grigori Thislin, who then prepared me to get into the Berlin University.

So that was your first contact with Berlin, the city you currently live in?

Berlin was predestined to me because my father told me since I was little, that Belin is the capital of classical music and that my future of violin playing is definitely there. I was preparing myself with the support of professor Thomas Brandis, for the audition to the Berlin Opera, conducted by Christian Thielemann. I entered the orchestra in 2000, at the position of tutti-violin and two years later after another audition, I obtained the position of leader of the second violon at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Then you got the chance to play by the side of big names of the classical music…

Thanks to this position of first chef d’attaque, I was lucky to live some great experiences. I played at the Berliner Philharmonie, at the orchestra of the famous Bayreuth festival, at operas and symphony orchestras of Hamburg, Munich and Berlin; then Le Palau des Arts Reina Sofia in Valence under Zubin Mehta, or Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Italy. I was invited to play at the most prestigious festivals in Lucerne, Salzburg, London, Buenos Aires, New York and naturally Berlin, under the conductors like Sir Simon Rattle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Lorin Maazel, Andris Nelsons and Daniele Gati. One of the most important meetings of my carrier was the one with the great conductor Daniel Barenboim who asked me to play and lead the second violins at the West-Eastern-Divan-Orchestra and also at the Berlin Staatskapelle.With hindsight, my journey full of auditions was marked by some beautiful acquaintances with important figures of classical music who shared their knowledge and kept my passion for violin alive. I feel grateful every day for the chances I got. Since 2002, it is my turn to coach at the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Opera.

How did you come up with the idea of El Akademia?  Could you present its concept? 

As I explained, in my musical journey, every stage that I achieved was supported and launched by people that shared their knowledge with me. It seemed only fair to give back some of what was given to me. During a tour in Morocco, few years ago, an idea came to my mind and that is when this project was born. I had an opportunity to give violin lessons at music conservatories at some Moroccan cities and I exchanged a lot with young local musicians and realized that in some of them was a lot of potential and talent.Isn’t it difficult to follow a dream to become a professional musician in a part of the world that is quite far from the epicentre of classical music?That is indeed the question that I asked myself very often and a question that was also in a way the leitmotiv of discussions that I had at the social-medias with musicians coming from countries where the classical music was a limited field. I therefore came up with El Akademia. It is a tutorial concept that adapts itself to needs of country he has been launched in, with intensives sessions of master classes and workshops designated for musicians of already existing local orchestras. These masterclasses are given by musicians of internationally renowned orchestras and the objective is to pass on their knowledge and experience that allow participating musicians to develop autonomy and team playing as well as a permanent improvement. The final goal is to evolve efficiently and constantly the participating orchestras. By the end of the program, coached orchestras alongside the members of El Akademia, perform a concert to conclude this experience with a universal feeling that music offers.  

How did you persuade the authorities of Morocco to support this project? Is it difficult to find financial support there? 

At this phase of our project we can see a clear show of interest at many places. What is left is a little piece of the way to see the final results of our efforts. Morocco is a very culturally opened country, to all kinds of music and initiatives taking that direction are only encouraged. As a proof of that, you can see numerous internationally renowned festivals. That is why El Akademia also takes this direction.

What are the next steps and projects of El Akademia?

 I am currently discussing a cooperation with many different cultural delegates of Arabian countries where this project incite a lot of interest thanks to its innovative approach of a direct contact and total immersion within already existing structures. I will be soon able to tell you dates and places of our next sessions.     You are a the leader of second violins at the Deutsche Oper Orchestra in Berlin, the coach at the Orchestra Academy of Deutsche Oper and of course you are the founder of the El Akademia project. 

Why do you find important this transmission of knowledge and experience?

It is only a way of giving back. My journey was initiated and marked by fabulous acquaintances that allowed me to grow and involved in violin playing. Now it is my turn, so I coach already for 14 years at the Orchestra Academy of our opera, so that our students become professional orchestra players. It gives me joy to be able to communicate art that is not only passed on through musical scores and technics, but that is also nourished by experience and emotions that we bring. The transmission is a real moment of intimate and powerful sharing. It is a kind of heritage that I feel obligated to help last, in my own way. And let’s not forget that passing on is also a lot of receiving back… 

During the General Assembly of the British orchestras’ association, the English minister of culture insisted on more diversity in all British orchestral institutions. What do you think about that?

The question of diversity is universal and concern a lot of fields, not only the musical one. Sometimes it is necessary to change the stereotypes, or simply the reflexes that are imprinted into people’s minds for generations. In France, the law imposed the equality of men and women in politics, in the US, the Oscars 2016 started the famous polemics of “only white Oscars” and the question of inequality of pay for same positions are still, at many professions and countries, a non-resolved issue. There are numerous examples that we can give, speaking of diversity. It would be only a positive thing to give a little push to the meritocracy. 

El Akademia on Facebook :  https://m.facebook.com/El-Akademia-1672753529605793/

Pierre-Jean Tribot-CR Pictures : Monia Rizkallah