Virtuoso violinist Vladimir Jablokov is the brains behind 4 Seasons Explained, a series of concerts set to take place in Dublin's Bord Gáis Energy Theatre this May. RTÉ.ie’s Audrey Donohue met the talented musician to find out more.
The life of violinist Vladimir Jablokov is worthy of a biopic - from growing up as part of a classical music dynasty in Slovakia, where he toured the country with his five siblings and parents under strict classical tuition, to rebelling against it all and escaping to Ireland where he busked on the streets of Dublin 20 years ago – and never left.
The Bratislavan violinist has built a career here on our shores, performing at venues all over the country, as well as his yearly Viennese Christmas gala concert. Featuring hundreds of musicians and singers taking to the stage each December, it has sold out the 3Arena in recent years.
He’s taking on perhaps his most ambitious work yet with a large-scale and contemporary interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in May with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, titled 4 Seasons Explained.
Set to be a family affair, the concert will be conducted by Vladimir’s youngest brother Viktor, who also arranged and orchestrated this work.
The latter half of the concert will feature Vladimir with his brother Anton performing popular classics including Hava Nagila, Bella Ciao, music from The Godfather and Bohemian Rhapsody.
He says particularly the second part of the evening, when he will perform a variety of classic tunes, won't be "stiff" – saying he encourages the audience "to really join in, clap along, sing along."
This attitude could not be further from the strict classical training which he and his siblings were born into in Bratislava, and from which he rebelled aged 19.
His father Alexander was a renowned violinist and his mother was the leader of the National Operetta Theatre in Bratislava.
He acknowledges that there was strong familial encouragement – some would say pressure – to commit to going into the family business of classical music, even from a young age.
"I was asked once what I would like to be a classical musician full-time when I was five. I said yes. I was never asked that question again." And that was that.
It was in his latter teenage years that he began to question if the rigorous life of classical music was really for him.
"When I was 14, I went to the conservatory of music. And when I was 18, I started to struggle - like, did I really want this?"
He felt somewhat stuck as having committed to a music conservatory at a young age, he had little grounding in other subjects, including maths and science.
He started at music university where his father taught, but decided to run away to Ireland, buying a return ticket for two-and-a-half months. His family were against it.
He spoke no English and had idealized visions of rural Ireland and its green fields. The then 19-year-old got quite a shock when he arrived in Dublin, but ended up busking on Grafton Street and enjoying the distance from his former regime.
In the 20 years since, he has recorded nine albums, and in 2013 he began collaborating with his brother Anton (now called The Violin Brothers) on a regular basis. The pair toured the UK as special guests to soprano Katherine Jenkins, as well as playing support to Il Divo at the 3Arena.
His personal life also flourished here and he has four children, two of whom he shares with wife Nicola, who works in radiography in Naas Hospital, who occasionally sings on stage at his shows.
Recalling his time travelling as part of his family's classical ensemble as a child – it's hard not to make comparisons to the Von Trapp family here as he talks about it – he said it was strict.
"Everything has to be exactly to the dot," he says, explaining that that was what was expected of classical music performance at the time.
"Our youngest brother Victor was only three-and-a-half or four years old when he started with us - he did a bit of triangle and tambourine. It had to be quite precise – often times, he messed it up!" he says, laughing.
"Every concert there will be at least one or two places where this would happen... and Dad always gave him really bad looks and people in the audience always started to laugh.
"My dad never realized that they were actually coming to see those shows for the show, not for the strict classical," he says, laughing.
"But when Victor got it [right], everyone went..." he says, mimicing celebratory sounds from the audience.
But back to the present - the Four Seasons. Celebrating its 300th anniversary this year, I ask the Slovakian musician what is it about the work that makes it so seminal and enduring.
"It's probably the most iconic composition of all time, I think no doubt," he says passionately.
"It is definitely one of the most ever recorded and performed pieces of music… you see dozens of new recordings of it coming every single year."
The Four Seasons comprises four violin concerti depicting the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, believed to be based on a series of sonnets. It is considered to be the most extravagant examples of music that tells a story (programme music) from the baroque period.
These upcoming concerts will use on-screen visuals and contemporary instruments to capture the natural elements of each season, including wind machines and thunder sheets to depict the storms of the summer concerto.
Jablokov has a deep connection to the work, going back to his childhood, as his father loved Four Seasons very much, and would often play it at home – an interesting choice of lullaby for his young son, as Vladimir recalls, laughing. "As a child, I fell asleep after the first movement in the spring, then I woke up with a storm, and then I was back to sleep again!"
When Vladimir was around ten, he recalls his father performing and touring the work as soloist. "He was always very excited about the story behind it and was explaining to me," but it was only many years later that he himself felt the connection to it.
"I started practicing it while my dad was still alive. He passed away in August 2021, and I was only able to play for him through Zoom, but I had proper mics because I used to do online concerts during Covid."
"He was still giving out to me, saying, 'You are not getting the story right!’"
Several months after the death of his father, he picked it up again. "It was October 2021. I was like, 'I like it.’ I'm starting to hear these things, and I want to bring it closer to people - and then I just got on the mission."
Describing the "long journey" of getting his vision for this show to this point, he said he "tested" the format of "music plus visuals" first with his quartet of two violins, cello and piano. They took the show on the road: "We went around Irish arts centres - 15 concerts, and it was very successful."
However, he wanted to make it bigger, with a full orchestra and original visuals, saying he "started from zero", investing huge amounts into the development of visuals and lighting, only to throw them out and start yet again as he wasn’t happy: "We went too far… they were too literal". He acknowledges that getting a show like this ready "takes months and months and sometimes years."
He believes that they are building a show that "will go worldwide".
"I think people in Ireland are going to experience the beginning of something that people will know in every country of the world."
In terms of arrangement, he confirmed that he and his brothers are "keeping it as close to what Vivaldi wrote himself because I don't think we can make that any better!"
"I'm just excited to see everyone playing together. It's a new experience for the musicians as well, because every string player has played Four Seasons before in some form of ensemble, whether it was in school or in professional life. They have certain ways of playing it, and some habits are good, some are not as good - mainly when it comes to playing with the winds.
"I believe in this orchestra and I believe in all the players in Ireland," he says.
4 Seasons Explained will take place in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on 24 and 25 May and tickets are available now via Ticketmaster.
To read more about the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, click here.
