by Richard Bruinsma

Montville-born cellist Sam Lucas has endured setbacks and politicised pressure to achieve his life-long goal to perform at the world’s most prestigious cello competition – the Tchaikovsky International Cello Competition – in Russia.

Lucas, based in Germany, was one of just 25 cellists out of 741 entrants from around the world to qualify.

His entry was somewhat hamstrung from the start – he was unable to bring his beautiful 270-year-old cello, which he has played exclusively for the past two-and-a-half years, forcing him to revert to his backup student’s cello just days before competition began.

Lucas also endured pressure and criticism for his decision to compete – even from colleagues - due to Russia’s global political position and its war with Ukraine.

“I’ve learned to disassociate the competition from what’s happening at the moment in the world, whether it’s war or politics or sport, anything that’s going on,” Lucas said from St Petersburg, after his first-round performance.

“It’s a competition that has a legacy for many decades now, since the 50s, and hopefully it’s going to continue going on for the next 100 years as well, and maybe 200 years more if all goes well.

“In order to help the classical music scene survive in all parts of the world, especially the most prestigious competition ever, it requires participants and support … I don’t want to see this competition die, and I’m not here for political reasons, and I’m not for the war, I’m just able to not associate these things with the competition at all.”

Performing at the Tchaikovsky International Cello Competition has been the subject of many years of dinnertime conversations between Sam, his parents Ian and Lee, and twin sister Meg.

“I might have been 15 or something when I started looking into the history of the competition and all the absolute best players in the world, at least in the last few decades, that have all won the competition and continued to do well,” Lucas said.

“When I got the email of confirmation that I was allowed to come, yeah, I think I was very nervous but incredibly excited; nervous considering what’s happening at the moment but super super honoured at the same time.”

Lucas said ‘The Tchaikovsky’ was among the two classical music competitions most revered by classical musicians – the other is the Queen Elisabeth* International Cello Competition in Belgium, at which Lucas was a finalist last June.

Understandably, Lucas’ qualification for ‘The Tchaikovsky’ has dominated the thoughts this week of his parents in Montville.

“Over the years there’s been this great excitement, that it was THE competition to get into, and Sam always talked about it as a kid, and then as a teenager, and then when he got serious with his music in recent years,” Sam’s mother Lee said about her son’s dream.

His father Ian added: “To be invited sort of sets your standard without you even having to actually play an instrument, because if you are deemed good enough to play at ‘the Tchaikovsky’ then it’s automatically an indication of your standard.

“It’s the tier one of the tier one competitions; most people who are invited in the top 24 or 25 in that particular year, use it as a catalyst for a big ongoing career, so it’s a wonderful start.”

Unfortunately, due to insurance guidelines, Lucas’ priceless loaned cello, handcrafted by Italian craftsman Nicolo Gagliano in the early-1700s, could not make the trip with him to Russia.

“Unfortunately, I was advised only two or three days before my flight. I’ve been playing my Gagliano cello for the last two years and I haven’t played my other cello – it’s a modern cello – for over two years – no one has played it, not even a single note, so I had little time to adjust to the different dimensions,” Lucas explained.

“How stringed instruments work… if they are not played, it just changes its sound and the instrument ‘closes up’, it can take months for the sound to come back the way it was, so when I found out I was actually very angry and quite upset… so I got my Australian cello out, my modern one, and I went straight to the practice room, but I didn’t get time to do much practice.

“I had to travel to a different city, Bonn, to organise my Russia visa and then go back the day after to collect it – both days included six hour’s worth of travelling and administration - so I had no preparation on the cello at all; my only real preparation on this cello was when I arrived in Russia, which was cutting it very thin.”

Having faced that hurdle, he said his round one performance went well.

“Some things could have gone better but, overall, I’m very happy. I think the cello did a good job as well, it opened up a bit. Overall, I’m quite happy,” Lucas said.

“Regarding the audience, they’re very warm and kind, but of course they have their preferences and they know exactly what they want … it’s very difficult to please a certain audience when you’re not from their country, you have to try and do your absolute best and I think I played well and I think they liked me, which was great.

“I’m thankful to be here, I’m loving the city – St Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen so far, actually it’s super beautiful, so I’m very thankful to be here.”

Ed: Unfortunately, Sam learned on Friday (23 June) that he missed out on progressing to round two.

For information about Tchaikovsky International Cello Competition, visit: https://tchaikovskycompetition.com/en/

A video of Sam Lucas’ round one performance can be found from timecode 2:18:35 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj8oOaNRhhU

Sam Lucas’ website: https://www.samlucas-cellist.com/

*Note: Queen Elisabeth is the correct spelling. The title relates to the late Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876 –1965) who was instrumental in founding the competition.