<<  -- 4 --  Tess Crebbin    CELLO AND SUSHI

TC: Tell us a bit about the Pergamenschikow cello that you now play and how it came to be loaned to you. This particular copy, of his Montagnana, is said to be very good.

DI: I was fascinated by it, really, because this cello has a lot of the character of the original. The violin maker who constructed it, Wolfgang Schnabel of Bubenreuth, succeeded in capturing some of that very unique character of the Montagnana and that is something quite special. It has to do with tone, the way it reacts, the way it speaks to you and to the music. That is all very close to the original.

TC: And how did it end up with you?

DI: I was looking for a cello and Tania Pergamenschikow, who owns it, said: 'Why don't you try it?' So I did, and liked it very much. One thing led to another and now it has been with me for a few months.

TC: Looking ahead a bit, what are your plans for 2005?

DI: I will be playing in Japan quite a lot. Then there will be concerts all across Germany and, of course, I will be making my Wigmore Hall début on 1, 2 and 3 October 2005.

TC: At least you won't have language problems there -- you speak pretty good English. Where did you learn that?

DI: I spent two months studying music in Bloomington, Indiana, which is where I picked it up initially. Not that it was easy to get used to at first. When I came to Indiana, I could speak hardly any English at all. In German for instance, when you say 'thank you', the response is 'please'. In English, it is 'you are welcome'. So when I got there, I kept wondering why everyone was constantly welcoming me, at the most unlikely occasions, although I'd already been in the States for a while and might have just asked someone in the dormitory to pass me the soap ...

TC: That was, of course, during the time when your family trio was still active. Now that it has been dissolved, what became of the other two? Are your siblings still active in music?

DI: My brother is, but my sister less so. She decided that she didn't really like the hectic life that comes with being a musician: all that travel and living out of a suitcase most of the time.

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