Meet the Sussex Young Musician of the Year winner 2023
Winning the Sussex Young Musician of the Year title came at the perfect moment for violinist Eliette Harris as she starts to make her way in the music industry as a free-lancer.
Eliette, aged 26, was crowned the winner of the contest, which is organised by Coro Nuovo, earlier this summer after she performed Bartok Rhapsody No 1 with her accompanist Soo-Hong Park (piano).
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Greenparks Editor for Sussex Newspapers and it's a huge
00:06 pleasure to speak to Iliad Harris, who is, as of very recently, the Sussex Musician of
00:11 the Year, which is a fabulous achievement. You must be so proud of yourself. How did
00:17 you do it?
00:18 Yeah, it was amazing. I was very, very happy to be awarded with that. I worked for a while
00:27 in the weeks leading up to it with my duo partner, Soo Hong Park, and we were preparing
00:33 the Bartok first Rhapsody. And we really just tried to delve into the music as much as we
00:42 could and figure out what we wanted to say with it. And by the end of our rehearsal time
00:47 together, it felt like we had a really cohesive and strong idea of what we wanted to be putting
00:55 across.
00:56 And you're saying that when you're performing for a competition, you mustn't be thinking
00:59 about the competition, you've got to remain focused and grounded in the music, clearly.
01:04 Yes. I mean, when you leave music college, but also within music college, you're kind
01:11 of constantly auditioning and doing competitions and it's very easy to get lost in the pressure
01:18 of that. And so always returning to what you want to say as a musician feels very grounding
01:25 and very important.
01:26 Yeah. And as you're saying, it's such an important win for so many different reasons, not least
01:31 the fact that Cora and Nuovo, who are organising the competition, will support you, won't they?
01:38 Yes, yes. That was a really amazing part of it. I'm at quite a critical point in my career,
01:47 crucial point. And having just left six years of study at Conservatoire and having any support
01:55 in this time financially is so helpful. I mean, just finding your place in the industry
02:02 can be very difficult.
02:04 But the point is you're out there on your own freelancing now, after all those years
02:10 of supported study.
02:12 Yeah. I thought it was going to be scarier than it has been. It's been more exciting,
02:19 which has been lovely. I work across a number of different orchestras and ensembles and
02:26 chamber groups and it definitely keeps things interesting. It's very changeable in the best
02:33 way though. You never know what each week will kind of bring, which is great.
02:39 Presumably you will always be learning, but was it relief to finish the formal study?
02:45 Yes. In a way, I think I was ready to finish by the time that I did. Six years is a long
02:52 time, but I mean, I still have lessons now. I think with all the musicians that I know
03:00 and actually all the professors that I know from my study, you never stop inquiring into
03:07 what you're doing. I think that's kind of what makes you a musician. So it was a relief
03:13 to have a bit of time to kind of figure out what I wanted to say with my playing and have
03:17 the control, but I won't ever kind of stop that route, I don't think.
03:22 And you were saying you owe a lot of gratitude to the musical opportunities you had back
03:26 in your hometown of Brighton.
03:29 Yeah, definitely. Yeah, Brighton's great for its music service. I was doing orchestras
03:36 and ensembles from seven all the way up to 18 when I played with Brighton Youth Orchestra,
03:44 and it was conducted by Andy Sherwood then. And I had an amazing teacher in Brighton as
03:50 well, Helen Brown, who taught me right from when I was maybe nine or eight all the way
03:55 to 19. He supported me so much, but I feel very indebted to that upbringing I had in
04:03 Brighton. I know that I'm very lucky to have had it.
04:06 And that was a perfect foundation for your formal study later on, clearly.
04:11 Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think it set me up very well. I mean, aside from the technique,
04:20 I just felt like I had a real enjoyment of playing in big ensembles, but also playing
04:25 for myself, and that's really supported me throughout the rest of my study.
04:30 Fantastic. So with all those years of intense study, and now the award, now at Sussex Musician
04:36 of the Year, you are ready, aren't you, to go out there?
04:40 Yeah, I think so. It's been great. I think every year that I'm working will bring new
04:48 challenges and every audition that I do is never easy, and I don't know if it should
04:53 be, but I feel more confident and assured in my playing now, and I feel like I can share
05:02 that with people confidently as well, which is a lovely thing to be able to do, yeah.
05:07 Fantastic. Well, congratulations again on the win. Fabulous achievement, and really
05:12 lovely to speak to you. And good luck with the future. Thank you.
05:15 Thanks.