By Florian J. Haamann, Emmering
It’s running at Tassilo Probst. There is no better way of expressing the development of this exceptional young talent on the violin. The Emmeringer, who released his first CD as a soloist in August 2022, is just 20 years old, accompanied by the New York pianist Maxim Lando, who is the same age, and produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk. The reviews from the specialist magazines were impressive.
And as if all that wasn’t honor enough for such a young musician, the album entitled “Into Madness” has now also won the prestigious “International Classical Music Award” in the chamber music category. A prize that usually goes to musicians who have been established for years – or decades. Probst and Lando are the youngest to have won this award. Tassilo Probst has now been nominated for the Süddeutsche Zeitung’s Tassilo Prize for his musical work.
The 20-year-old prefers to talk about passion than success
It’s not the numerous prizes and top rankings that make the 20-year-old a special musician. If, like him, you have the goal of becoming a well-known soloist in the highly competitive classical music market, they are a must. What makes Probst stand out from the competition is that despite all the praise, the high tones in which many speak of him and his undoubtedly unique talent, he remains down-to-earth in the most positive sense and is a basically likeable guy.
In conversation, he only talks about his latest successes or upcoming concerts in passing or only when asked. He much prefers to talk about his passion for music, about how important he thinks it is not necessarily to play 100% technically perfect, but to elicit feelings from the notes that one can hopefully transfer to the audience. “You only have to listen to old recordings of the great master violinists of the early 20th century. There are a lot of notes wrong, but there is an emotion that still touches you today,” he says.
Tassilo Probst, here at a concert in Dachau in aid of the Ukraine, also wants to attract younger listeners with his unconventional style.
(Photo: Toni Heigl)
That’s why he decided for himself not to take part in competitions anymore. Because there it comes down to exactly what he doesn’t want: shutting down the emotions just to play 150 percent technically perfect so that you can convince a jury of ten professors. “It takes a lot of time to work on your own style and expand your repertoire.”
He has proven that he has mastered the technical side with the many top placements in competitions in recent years, and has practically earned this title for good. That’s why he now wants to concentrate on developing his own musical identity, with which he not only wants to convince the ten judges, but also the general public.
Probst is still at a stage where many things are happening “for the first time”. After the first CD in 2022, the first tour of Germany is coming up, with twelve concerts in ten days, from Munich to Hamburg. Before that, however, there is another first time. The MS Europa hired him for a cruise from Australia to Manila. Concerts are also planned in New York, Bucharest, Sydney, Budapest and the second album, this time with one of the major symphony orchestras. Of course, he cannot yet say what that will be.
Probst is slowly entering the decisive phase between talent and professional
In view of these plans for 2023, it’s almost a little funny when he says that it’s his big dream to one day be so in demand that he’ll be constantly moving around the world and always wanting to play in different places. And yet you understand what he means.
Because it is difficult to classify how one should classify the status of his career. Because he is no longer “just” a hopeful talent, of course he is not yet established or even a star. Rather, he is currently exactly in the phase in between, perhaps the decisive one. If everything continues to develop as rapidly as it has in recent years, the chances of an international career are good. If there is a setback, an injury for example, the dream can still burst from one moment to the next.
Tassilo Probst in 2014 after one of his countless successes at the young talent competition “Jugend musiziert”
(Photo: Johannes Simon)
To be on the safe side, Probst has just started his master’s degree in Augsburg, he completed his bachelor’s degree at the Munich Music Academy at the age of 19, where he had been enrolled as a young student since he was 13. Balancing concerts, university and rehearsals is just one of the challenges a young musician like Probst faces.
He also has to make concessions in his private life. For example, he doesn’t have a girlfriend. “I tried it, but it didn’t work that way. Maybe because I’m a bit old-fashioned. I think if I can’t give someone the time they deserve, then it’s better not to.” says the 20-year-old. It is not just this statement that shows that it is much more than a “music machine”.
You can talk to him about politics just as reflectively as you can about his favorite football club, FC Bayern, his passion for fitness training that he discovered during the pandemic, or the psychology associated with the right rehearsals. The music business and its mechanisms are also things that he deals with and which he questions.
Since 2017, Tassilo Probst has been playing a master violin made by Giovanni Grancino in 1690, on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. In addition, in January he bought a replica of the famous “Abergavenny” by Antonio Stradivari from Florian Leonhard’s well-known workshop.
(Photo: Carmen Voxbrunner)
That’s why he wants to take away a little of the elitist reputation of classical music with his performances. This includes not simply playing down his program, preferring to wear a t-shirt rather than a shirt under the jacket, but also moderating the evening himself, classifying the works and taking people with him. The traditional processes of classical concerts can also be broken with him.
“Why should I be upset if someone clap where it’s ‘not supposed to’? For me as an artist, there’s nothing quite like touching someone just enough to make them clap right now.” He also takes ringing smartphones with humor. “I’m happy to interrupt and say he or she can answer it, we’ll all clap for the caller.”
With this unconventional style, the 20-year-old also wants to inspire a new audience for classical music. He would especially like to pass on his passion to more young people. “After all, I’d like to still have an audience in 20 years,” he says and laughs.