INTERVIEW
When and where was your first concert with the MCO? Uhmm, that was a while ago. If I’m not wrong, it was a tour in Cremona with Daniel Harding in 2007.
What do you do before a performance? For me it's important to go through the whole programme in detail in my head before each concert. Directly before the performance I always step onto the stage with my right foot, and I try to jump on this foot three times (very discreetly, of course). Now, I don’t do this for good luck (or at least I don’t see it that way). I do it just as a way of saying to myself, or reminding myself, that I have done everything I can to create a beautiful concert and from this moment on everything will go according to plan.
If you could play another instrument what would it be? Horn!
The most inspiring composer: Mozart… and then immediately Mahler!
What CDs would you want with you on a desert island? OK, if there is electricity to power a stereo system on this desert island, then I would like to take a few discs: Simón Diaz, Mercedes Sosa, Hector la Voe, Camarón, Paco de Lucia (so that I don’t forget who I am, or where I come from) and then also Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, conducted by Abbado.
BIOGRAPHY
Johane Gonzalez was born in Venezuela and received his musical education in the Sistema de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela in Caracas from Prof. Felix Petit. He continued his studies with Prof. Ludwig Streicher and Rainer Zepperitz at the Reina Sofia Music Academy in Madrid.
From 2003 till 2011 he was principal double bass player of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, and from 2002-2006 of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. He also played as co-principal double bass in the Orchestra Mozart under the direction of Claudio Abbado and has played in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2007.
Johane has been invited to perform with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, the Munich Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam.
Since 2009 he has been a member of the chamber music ensemble, Bolivar Soloists, and since 2015, a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In addition, Johane regularly teaches master classes across Venezuela, Mexico, Spain, Italy and Japan.
