Company: Marcel Fässler at the Director's Cut
An encounter of this kind will not happen again so quickly. Marcel Fässler as a guest at the premiere of the Zurich Director's Cut. Daniel Hope, violinist and music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, founded this format in which he discusses current topics with guests from the worlds of sport, business and culture. It was a premiere in two senses: the [...]
A premiere of a special kind.
It was a premiere in two senses: for the newly founded talk format and for Marcel Fässler, who had never experienced a classical concert before. But he was a world champion, and at the end he had words of praise for the string sextet: "It's unbelievable how much feeling the musicians play with!". Daniel Hope first put the Audi driver in the mood with a classic question as to whether he would occasionally floor the gas pedal on public roads. Successful evasive maneuver by the experienced driver: "I only have to prove myself on the race track, not on normal roads."
Daniel Hope also had plenty of speed to offer from the world of music: After David Garrett was the fastest violinist in the world until 2010, this record has since been held unbroken by the Brit Ben Lee, who fiddles down the measure of all things, the Rimsky-Korsakov piece "Flight of the Bumblebee", in 58.515 seconds (for comparison: the 113 bars are normally played in three minutes 20 seconds, but the composer intended 12 notes per second...).
There are astonishing parallels in both worlds
High performance therefore plays a role in both professions, and even more parallels become clear in conversation: teamwork is just as essential in an orchestra as it is in a racing team. "We are three drivers," explains Marcel Fässler, father of four, who had traveled directly from Audi's headquarters in Neckarsulm to discuss the Audi R18 e-tron quattro and its future. Marcel Fässler: "But behind us are 350 people who design the car, do the work on site, without whom we cannot win." Daniel Hope also proved that he has up-to-date racing knowledge and asked Marcel Fässler what he thought about Nico Rosberg's retirement. "He certainly had good reasons," said his colleague, who is nine years older at 40. "His goal was to become F1 world champion, and he achieved that. It looks so easy on TV, but the media pressure he was under was certainly enormous. I think that wears on you. Maybe he's just had enough. Nico gave up a lot of money. That has character."
When asked about his own goals, the happily married man, who came to Zurich Seefeld for this one-off talk with his wife Isabel, replied: "I'm still very motivated. I still need to win the 24 Hours of Nürburgring." Maybe he can do it with a celebrity spectator. Daniel Hope has never been to a car race and the two virtuosos have promised each other return visits in the future.
Next Director's Cut: February 1, 2017 with special guests Sir James Galway and mandolinist Avi Avital.
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Photos: Dörte Welti
