Three months ago, when Joachim Bischof played his cello with a piano quintet at Christ-by-the-Sea Methodist Church, the music seemed to come from another world. And it did: the group included two Puerto Ricans and a Venezuelan. The world Bischof drew from, though, was the Old World.
Bischof, now a full-time resident of Vero Beach, was principal cellist for 25 years with a number of European orchestras including Germany’s Staatskapelle Dresden, 60 miles from where Bischof was born in 1945. One of the oldest orchestras in the world, it is the resident orchestra of the Saxon State Opera, Semperoper and performs in the magnificent opera house in Dresden. In his career, Bischof was involved in the production of more than 100 CDs.
In 2000, in his mid-50s, he was ready to take on a new project. Invited by a Vero music teacher with a grand idea to start an international music school, he moved here with his wife Rita. But the project fell apart, and the music teacher left town. That left Bischof to face moving back to Germany. But it was too late. Vero had worked its magic with its seaside small-town charm. Bischof decided to stay.
“I was in all the big cities – Tokyo, London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona. For 25 years, I was many, many times in hotels, always with the baggage. Now I like a little silence,” he says, in his heavily accented English.
Faced with financial challenges, Bischof stayed for six months at the beachside home of Dr. Michael and Nancy Mattice, whose graciousness deeply moves him still. Bischof gave their children music lessons, and word of his presence here spread. Soon, he had a roster of some two dozen students from here to Stuart, ranging in age from 4 to 86.
“I look always for the good students,” he says.
Two days a week, he teaches at the Bach Academy of Music in Stuart; his Vero lessons are at his home in a south county neighborhood. His studio evokes another era, lined with black-and-white photos of various famed European conductors along with some of himself, the exposed wood sofas covered in brown velvet. His various instruments lean against walls and tables. Until recently he played a century-old French-made cello with a bright tone. It was his instrument of choice for many years, and he performed on it at his February concert.
A month ago, a delivery truck pulled into his driveway with a cello flown in from Germany, made in Venice, Italy, in 1725 by Carlo Tononi. It was a gift of his brother, Siegfried, a violinist who played with the Dresden Philharmonic, who bought it at auction and shipped it air freight to Bischof.
Bischof’s pleasure is evident as he handles the instrument, tracing the grain of the wood through its dark amber shellac. This violin has a softer, darker tone, he says.
Vero may have a chance to hear his cello when he plays again at Christ-by-the-Sea next February. Other occasions may arise, though for the moment, none are scheduled.
Bischof enjoys playing chamber concerts. But after his illustrious career, he has no interest in playing with lesser orchestras than those he played with in Europe, conducted by the likes of Claudio Abbado, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, and many more.
Teaching is another matter, and with Bischof, the younger and less experienced the student, the better. “It’s better they learn from me than come to me with bad technique from bad teachers that I have to correct,” he says. At the same time, he keeps an eye out for raw talent. “I always look for the good students,” he says.
Bischof grew up in a musical family. His father played piano professionally and together with his brother, ten years his senior, they played at evening gatherings in their home. Often they were joined by a friend who played cello. “Always, when they play in the living room, I’m looking over at the cello,” he says.
Bischof spent his early childhood learning the piano. Then for his 9th birthday, his parents bought him a child-size cello. At 14, he was admitted to the University of Music in Dresden, the youngest person ever admitted there, he says. He studied under Karl Grosch, an acclaimed professor of cello.
Within eight years, Bischof had earned a master’s degree with honors. Along with music studies, he took courses in psychology, and today credits that knowledge with his being able to respond well to his young students: You can’t teach all kids the same way.
“I have the psychology, and this you must have. In all the students, the psychology is different. A good teacher must see that,” he says.
Parents, too, play a pivotal role. As he puts it, “She has taught this kid all the days and I have not. I have only one day a week.” Parents are the ones who keep track of what children are learning, and how much they practice, he says.
“The teacher with the parents must be the best connection,” he says. In Europe, he says, parents carefully select their children’s music teacher, conducting personal interviews with them and looking closely at their resumes as well as the students they have taught.
For ten years, he taught cello and chamber music at the F. Liszt University in Budapest and gave master classes in Russia, Germany and Japan.
Today, he includes the title of “professor” in his name.
Thus far, 20 of his students have gone on to study music in universities, he says, including at schools in China and Russia.
Through his students, Bischof has come to know many in the Vero music community. He met Christ-by-the-Sea music director Marcos Flores, an accomplished pianist, when one of his students needed a pianist for a concert. Flores played the church’s grand piano in the February concert that included Bischof.
“He’s a very good musician with a great history,” says Flores. Bischof is slated to play again in the Christ-by-the-Sea 2015 concert series.
Meanwhile, Bischof is diligent about his practice. “Music is like a sport,” he says. “You’re no more good if you practice not. I have so many practices in my life, and I have so many notes in my life – in the billions. But this is no good. You must practice more.”
Once, a favorite professor made an analogy of music to money. “Now you have a big account, and you have much money. You want the money to just stay and not go more down. If you take the money from the account – you practice no more – later, you have no more. That’s a good example: the music and the money in the bank.”
And while he keeps up his old passion, he is developing a new one: fishing, thanks to his friend Dr. Mattice. “I had never been fishing before,” he says, delighted with his discovery.
Mattice gave him a rod, showed him how to find bait – sand fleas buried at the water’s edge, and taught him to cast his weighted line into the surf. Now he and his wife Rita go surf-fishing as often as twice a week, timing their trips to the incoming tide. They typically set up near South Beach Park.
“Pompano on the barbecue,” he says hungrily.
Now all he has to do is retire a little more fully. “When I have time, the weather is no good. When the weather is good, I have no time.”
He shrugs off any risk of damaging his cello arm, casting the heavy rod. “Tennis is more bad,” he says.
