Our next guest is just ten years old. She turned ten in February. She composes music for piano, violin viola, string quintet and she's just-, strong quartet even. Probably a string quintet too to be honest. This little girl composes in her sleep. I mean that literally. She's also just finished her first full-length opera based on the story of Cinderella. She's been described as 'the new Mozart' and you're about to hear why She's thoroughly charmed audiences around the world, including the likes of Ellen DeGeneres on her TV show. We are so excited to be able to welcome her to Zeitgeist. Alma Deustcher. Alma, in a minute people are going to hear us talking and we're going to talk more about your music and what inspires you, and why you write music. First of all I would just like you to play for this audience. What would you like to play I'm going to play The Bee and you have to-, and it's all about the buzzing of the bees. The bee buzzes forward and backward and he gets softer. Perfect musical evocation Why don't you go to the front of the stage? See what I mean? Now, Alma that wasn't a piece that you actually composed yourself. No it wasn't. But you do spend an awful lot of your time composing How old were you when you realised you had this frankly miraculous musical gift. Well as much as I can remember myself, I was always overwhelmed by music. I must have been 3 when I heard this beautiful lullaby by Richard Strauss (sings) and after I heard it I went to my parents and asked them, 'How can music be so beautiful?' Then when I was 4, then I didn't know it was called composing I just had these ideas and melodies running in my head and then I would sit at the piano and try and play them. Then when I was 5, then I wrote them down in my notebook, and I remember one of the first things I ever composed was an opera of a story that my mummy told me about a pirate called Don Alonzo but it was very simple. I'm sure it was deeply complex probably, compared to what the rest of us could manage. Earlier Nile Rodgers, who's another musical legend, was talking about how Darwin, the great evolutionary thinker, wondered if humans had had a proto language that was musical before we could speak. I was asking your dad, Guy yesterday when we were making the pasta together, and by the way Alma was also the champion pasta maker as if the musical talents weren't enough, and he said that actually you were singing before you could speak So clearly it was in your blood and in your DNA Do you come from a musical family Yes, well my parents are amateurs (laughter) but they- , No offence, guys. My father is an amateur, plays the flute and my-, but they love music My father is an amateur and plays the flute, and my mother is an amateur, also plays the piano. You told us about how music comes into your head and sometimes you're not necessarily aware of why it's coming in, and you don't necessarily even want it at that time. Can you tell us more about that process, about how the melodies arrive Well when I try to get a melody it never comes to me. It usually comes to me either when I'm resting, or when I'm just sitting at the piano improvising or when I'm skipping with my skipping rope. We've seen the skipping rope here. Oh, even when I'm trying to do-, even when I'm trying to do something else and somebody's talking to me or when I'm trying to do something then I hear this beautiful melody. I hear a melody inside my head. It can be played by any instrument One time it's a human voice singing, and a different time it's a violin Another time it's horns. Even horns, sometimes. I just hear this melody It plays inside my mind What do you then do with that melody What's your process? How do you turn it into a violin concerto or a piano sonata or indeed an opera? Well, lots of people think that the difficult bit of-, the difficult part of composing is actually to get the idea, but actually that just comes to me. The difficult bit is to then sit down and with that idea to develop it, and to combine it with other ideas in a coherent way. It's very easy just to throw a soup of lots of ideas which don't make any sense together, but to sit down and to develop it and to combine it, and then afterwards to tweak it and polish it, that takes ages sometimes even years. I remember when I was 6 and I wrote my piano sonata-, As you do. Yes. I remember when I was 6 and I wrote my first piano sonata, I already had all the ideas for it but I couldn't imagine how long it would take me to write that piano sonata, and that was just a small piano sonata Now I'm 10 and I'm writing now a whole opera. You've written a whole opera! Yes. We'll talk a bit more about that opera in a moment We've been thinking this morning about evolution about how time progresses about how everything connects to everything Nile Rodgers again was talking about the evolution of music and how that just never, ever stops. Can you tell us about your inspirations? Who most inspires you from the history of music? Well of course the composers I like best with the beautiful melodies and beautiful harmonies like Mozart and Schubert and Tchaikovsky. Also I am inspired by the girls in the past who wanted to become musicians like Fanny Mendelsohn and Nannerl, Mozart's sister but they weren't allowed because in those days girls weren't allowed to become musicians, though they were extremely talented So I'm very glad that I'm not living in the olden days and that I'm allowed to become a composer and a musician, and I don't have to stay at home and knit and cook. We're all very glad about that too yes. I can see Miriam in the front row laughing cheering on that one. There will be many females in this room who heartily agree with that, Alma. Also, well I know that Larry Page and Sergey Brin, they changed the world and I want to change the world too I'm a little bit inspired by them It's funny that you should mention that because, actually, I was looking at your YouTube page and I'm just going to pull out some of the comments that are on there. 'The word 'genius' is pathetically inadequate. Today I hear this and I've run out of adjectives run out of superlatives My whole life is changed My entire view of the universe.' I'm sure Stephen Hawking would have something to say about that, but that's just one of the comments 'In this piece I hear faint echoes of Tchaikovsky, Sibelius Smetana and Johann Strauss but most of all the wonderful voice of Alma Deutscher loud and clear. It's exciting to think one day we will speak of her only by her one name like the grand masters of musical history.' Then my personal favourite, 'Dear Alma you are going to change the world.' So clearly for some people you already are changing the world. Now can you tell us about how you do this? What is your ordinary day? What's your average day and how much of it is spent making music? Well, all morning I do music. So, well after breakfast, then I practice I sometimes practice. I practice the piano and I practice the violin. Then especially now I'm composing Cinderella, I compose music and, so, it's quite a lot of effort, you know, to spend all on music. I'm sure it is. Then after lunch then I skip in the garden, I play with my younger sister and a lot of time is spent reading. I love reading and that's also how I learn. Then I skip with my skipping rope And all those melodies pour in. One of which is your piano variations in E flat major, is that right? Yes Tell us about this piece. We're going to hear you play a little variation from it. Okay so I'm going to tell you how I got this melody. So it was two years ago and we were staying in Berlin. So just to remind everyone, you were eight Yes, and I was staying in Berlin. It was the middle of the night and I was dreaming. I had this beautiful melody when I was dreaming, and because I thought it was so beautiful and I woke up, I must have woken up, and in the dead of night I sneaked out of bed. Because I didn't want to forget it, I wrote it down in my notebook, and it took me quite a long time, actually. About three hours, almost. Then in the morning I didn't want to get up, and my parents wondered why I was so tired Then of course afterwards, then the real work came, because once I had the idea then I had to turn it into-, develop it and turn it into the variations Can we hear them? Of course. Thank you. I think, if only all nocturnal adventures in Berlin could yield such wonders. Alma, thank you very much indeed. I feel like I had the best view in the house there. Now, you mention scribbling in your notebook presumably onto manuscript paper, one of the most timeless ways. This is how composers have written down their thoughts and ideas for as long as they've been composing. Do you use any technology, though, and how does technology have an impact on your life as a musician? Well, I compose usually sometimes in my head and sometimes I write things down, and sometimes my father, he tells me, 'This is not interesting enough This is too boring,' or, 'This is nice.' Then I have a teacher in Switzerland and we have lessons on Skype. We have lessons on Skype and our keyboards are connected. So I play on his keyboard, and he plays on mine. So that's technology too Also there's this very kind professor who lives in Chicago. I sometimes send my music to him and he sends back rude comments I suspect there are lots of people around the world who will be sending back comments that are very praiseworthy and not rude at all. Now tell us about Cinderella, because this is a full length opera that you've written here I know you're very inspired by Mozart opera in particular. What made you want to write an opera about Cinderella and how did you approach that story? Well, Cinderella is one of my favourite stories, because I like stories in which the beautiful girls triumph in the end, despite being girls and are taken seriously And irrespective of their beauty as well. Because, well, I'm a little girl and I want my music to be taken seriously. Sometimes it's a little bit difficult for people to take me seriously because I'm just a little girl. So for instance my previous opera, The Sweeper of Dreams there's this girl Alex who committed two terrible crimes First of all she's a girl, she's a child and secondly, even worse, she's a female. Despite that, she manages to triumph in the end. So I like stories like that, which are similar. For Cinderella, I didn't want Cinderella just to be pretty. I wanted her to have her own mind and her own spirit, and to be a little bit like me. So I decided that she would be a composer So the whole story is based in an opera company which is run by the evil stepmother and the stepsisters are two Prima Donnas who think themselves great singers when actually they're completely talentless and pointless. The prince is a poet so part of the drama in the story is that Cinderella finds a poem which is written by the prince but without knowing that the prince wrote it. She loves the lyrics and is inspired to put it to music. Then in the ball she sings the music to the prince with the prince's words, without knowing that he wrote the words and without him knowing that she composed the music. So it's all a lot of suspense but in the end they find each other like lyrics find words We are so lucky, because we are going to have a world premier now. Alma is going to play us and sing us a little moment from Cinderella. Before she does, I just would like to say that a production of Cinderella is going to be mounted in Israel this summer but as yet no production in Europe or indeed Africa. Middle East, sorted. So if anyone in this room would like to help with that, then, you know, we'll be talking to you afterwards. There's Guy over there. In fact, you can find him Alma, thank you so much. So I just wanted to say a few words about this. So what I'm going to play now the opening aria, that's the opening song of the whole opera and it starts when Cinderella has been awake all night working extremely hard, copying the parts of all the orchestra for the rehearsal the next day because the stepmother is slave-working her as a copyist as well as lots of other things, of course. So it's now early in the morning and she can hardly stay awake and she can hardly concentrate anymore, and now she's copying the most boring part a double bass. Oom-pah-pah, oom-pah-pah. And above this, suddenly a beautiful melody springs into her head. She tries to banish it and says, 'Stop it, Cinderella Take your silly melodies out of your head, they do not interest anybody and start concentrating. The double bass needs its part for the rehearsal tomorrow morning or your stepmother will be very angry with you.' So she resolutely starts to copy again, but the melody comes back louder, and louder and louder, and louder, until she can't resist it and breaks into the song. Up in the sky, merrily fly, flocks of wild geese on their way to warmer lands. Flapping their wings, rolling in swings, over sand and seas, gliding on the breeze, they're heading for the sun. Look how they rise, carefree and blithe. Oh, if I could join them. Spreading my wings, I'd soar in the air, leaving all care behind. Though with them I never can fly
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music still can reach to the sky. Reach to the sky. On wings of my sun I'll soar through the air, and leave all my cares behind Up in the sky, merrily fly, flocks of wild geese on their way to warmer lands. Flapping their wings, rolling win swings, over sand and seas, gliding on the breeze, they're heading for the sun. Look how they rise, carefree and blithe. Oh, if I could join them. Spreading my wings, I'd soar
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in the air, leaving all care behind. And apparently classical music has no future, and young people just aren't interested. Thank you so much Alma, for busting that stereotype and don't you think it's time that we had Cinderella mounted in Europe Let's make that happen, people Alma, before we go, I just have to ask a huge favour because we've been talking today about the human at things, and about how we need to connect and how we need to empathise with others, and listen to other people and communicate, so I have a big, special favour to ask It's a little bit indulgent, but I hope you'll agree and we'll do it very quickly For me, the ultimate piece of music that encapsulates all of those things, humanity, empathy compassion, is a piece of Bach. We were hearing earlier from Nile about how music evolves and everything's connected, and this for me is the blueprint of it all Can we play some Bach together? Of course Thank you. I'm going to go on this side shall we go a bit forward? This is like a dream come true for me, so- Thank you.
