“West Newton Pops” Q&A With Jakob Kobal

Q&A With Accordionist Jakob Kobal

In anticipation of Cherry Street Music’s next Classical with a Twist concert, “West Newton Pops” on November 17th, we posed a few questions to the artists in the program to get to know them a bit better. Here’s what accordionist Jakob Kobal had to say:

What keeps you busy professionally?

-Currently studying music full time at Berklee College of Music, playing and learning everything about it that I can.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

-Back home in Slovenia I would take them to Bohinj, forests and hills behind our house, Ljubljana city centre, and Postojna cave.

We’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.

-I am gonna give a very vague answer because it really depends on the kind of risk but in general I believe that whatever we do there is some kind of risk. Sometimes I approach risk taking just with my gut feeling, other times I might try to analyse the situation and look at the risk kind of as the ratio between importance of it to me and probability of good outcome. But I feel that at the end the gut feeling is always the deciding factor, and it can only get better by failing you a few times. The risk of not taking any risks is the biggest risk someone can make.

Who deserves some credit and recognition?

-Hard working and well meaning people who live by their words.

What inspires you or where do you find inspiration?

-Life. I believe inspiration is everywhere. You just need to recognise it. For me biggest inspirations are good teachers – mentors, my friends and good people I know, nature, good concerts, conversations, and I could go on and on…

For more information about each artist and about upcoming Cherry Street Music concerts, go HERE.