Five Minutes With Susanna Dowling Of Intimate Letters

How did the collaboration between the ACO and Bell Shakespeare come about?

In 2012 the ACO and Bell Shakespeare staged a pop-up concert in Pier 2/3 featuring the Janáčekpieceand the letters. It was originally an idea of principal cellist Timo-Veikko Valve. The collaboration worked really well so it was decided this year to extend the concert to include music and letters from Smetana and Mozart, and to tour it nationally.

For those who aren’t familiar with the background, how does Janáček’s music relate to the letters of the title?

In his 60s, Janáčekmet a young woman, Kamila StЪsslovЗ, on holiday. He became completely obsessed with her, and over the next 11 years until his death, he wrote her more than 700 letters. The relationship was extremely passionate, but it was unlikely it was ever consummated as they were both married and lived in different towns. As people started to criticise this obsession, Janáčekdecided to write the piece Intimate Letters – to tell the world how much she meant to him, and how she inspired him to write his most passionate music.

From a production point of view, it must be exciting to be able to have the added dimension of music behind the actors’ words?

Yes, it’s always incredible to hear live musicians. The letters are really just a way of enhancing the music – the music is still the most important part of the performance.

How much scope do the actors have to interpret the letters through performance?

We’re keeping it simple, so as not to distract from the music. We see it a little like an oratorio – the actors are another set of instruments adding to the piece, as it were. They will characterise the letter writers to some extent, and tell the story behind the music so that when you listen to the music, you have a sense of what was going on in the composer’s life at the time.