After our Voice-themed show we spoken to London-based Lithuanian singer Asta Bria. Enjoy her piece ‘One Moment’ below:
When did you start singing and why?
My first attempts to sing were more than 20 years ago. I was studying violin at the Music Academy in Lithuania and the operatic singing was the trendiest subject amongst the students, so I was very fascinated by it and I’ve always had a desire to be a part of that trend :-). Singers always looked to me so elegant and so special, and so very talented. Though my first tryings to sing were rather pathetic, I never gave up on my love to that world of human voice and its abilities.
What is your favourite piece of music for the violin?
It’s like to answer which color of the rainbow do you like the most? All colours. It’s too many to answer. I simply adore concertos of Sibelius, Beethoven, Bruch, Tschaikowski, Schostakowitsch, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Paganini… It’s a hard question, because there are just too many! I love Beethoven’s Spring Sonata. But I also adore all the sonatas and partitas by J.S. Bach. The classical music compositions for violin are a real treasure, there is too much beauty in it to pick just one piece.
Describe your own music in 3 words.
Gentle, passionate, hopeful.
Tell us your first memory of London.
I loved everything about London and in London! The red buses and black cabs, and even tube would make me very exited… The variation of people and their looks, and all that freedom!.. The whole energetic vibe and the mesmerising architecture – St. Paul’s Cathedral made such an impression on me!
I still remember my first pub lunch In London :-). Jacked potato with cheese! Maltesers, which I tried when I arrived to London and still love them… And little bottles of milk left outside the house…
The first place I stayed in London was in Muswell Hill in north London (I loved it!).
I also remember my first trip to Soho… I loved to watch people ordering their gin tonic in pubs. Everything was very new for me, but deep inside of me I also knew – I arrived home. I was soaking up every moment, gasping every second of being in London… It was euphoric!
What is one piece of classical music you couldn’t live without?
It doesn’t exist…
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