Isabella is from Vienna, Austria
Vienna is a centre of classical music, which is what Isabella started learning first on piano
Felt restricted by only playing classical music and wanted to branch out from that
Received first harmonica age 8, the Hohner Educator harmonica (which is like a chromatic without a slide)
Received a chromatic age 10 as wanted to play all of The Blue Danube waltz
Played several instruments when young: piano, percussion, trumpet and voice, still playing these now
Focused on the harmonica as felt was talented on it and there weren’t any other harmonica players in Vienna
Played classical music and easy listening on the harmonica in the early years
Was partly inspired to make her living from harmonica after school headmaster said it wasn’t possible
Has made her living from harmonica, having a lot of harmonica students since being 19 years old (also some concertina and piano students)
The popularity of the harmonica is the musically rich city that is Vienna comes from being very popular in years gone by
In the 1960s there was a big competition for harmonica in Vienna, with many ensembles taking part
Started teaching harmonica at an adult education centre and how improved as a harmonica teacher
Played at the famous Musikverein concert hall in Vienna at age 20 which helped with her career
Has long had a deep interest in the history of the harmonica and put on harmonica exhibitions
Played in orchestras, with a guitarist, pianist and had a symphony written for her
Isabella played a part in keeping the Seydel factory in business by ordering 1000 ‘boomerang’ harmonicas when Seydel were looking for new investors in 2004
Isabella also had the idea of adding the Seydel signature onto the Boomerang harmonica: which Seydel still use on all their harmonicas today
What is the Boomerang harmonica
Harmonicas with lots of different shapes
Has a great understanding of the history of the harmonica
The beginning of the harmonica (in Europe at least) was in Vienna, with a factory there pre-dating the ones in Klingenthal and Trossingen
Oldest chromatic harmonica that Isabella is aware of is from the 1850s and the factory also made high-end ivory harmonicas
Austrian factory closed in 1922 to bring an end to harmonica production in the country
Isabella also played a part in Seydel taking on the manufacture of the Renaissance harmonica from Douglas Tate
Isabella runs harmonica exhibitions using her collection of two thousand harmonicas
Has photographs of harmonica collection but these aren’t currently available online
Taught a large group of North Korean music students to play harmonica, first visiting North Korea in 2011 and four times in total up to 2013
The students hadn’t played harmonica before, with the only harmonicas available in North Korea being tremolos
Isabella took some orchestra harmonicas on her first visit to North Korea
All the students were musicians who played different instruments from the harmonica
Had 120 students in North Korea
Several of the North Korean conductors spoke German, helping Isabella to communicate with the students, with Isabella learning some Korean later
A group of 15 students came to Vienna for one and a half years
Attended the World Harmonica Festival at Trossingen and the female North Korean students played in the jazz category
The variety of music available in North Korea
The students were highly dedicated and practised hard
The North Koreans appearance at the NHL festival in Bristol UK and other concerts in Trossingen, Vienna and Graz
The North Korean ensemble played a composition for harmonica ensemble by Hohner published in the 60s
Isabella is no longer involved with the North Korean students as she is busy with other ventures
Got to know Jerry Adler well towards the end of his life, after he wrote an autobiography: “Living From Hand To Mouth”
Spent ten days with Jerry Adler and heard lots of his stories from his time in Hollywood
Jerry gave Isabella lots of his old records and reels and made a double CD for him
There was a presentation for the Jerry Adler album and Isabella played with Jerry and Howard Levy at the concert in Chicago
Jerry Adler was Larry’s younger brother, Larry taught Jerry and the two performed together
Jerry played in lots of Hollywood movies
Became interested in playing Bossa Nova music after a visit to Brazil following an invite from Pablo Fegundas
Isabella founded The Bossa Company quartet last year and has enjoyed good success with them in Austria
Approach to playing Bossa Nova on the chromatic
All the members of the Bossa Nova group were found on Facebook
Releasing an album with The Bossa Company in September 2024
Runs breathing therapy workshops to help people with breathing conditions
The benefits playing harmonica can have for people with breathing difficulties
Two of the North Korean students won competitions at the Trossingen World Harmonica Championships
Teaches private and group lessons
No longer teaching at the Austrian university
Has written articles, including for the US publication: The Harmonica Educator
Has played in various countries including: the US, UK, Germany, Morocco, Brasil, Estonia
10 minute question: currently working on practising for an opera performance
Likes to practise with backing tracks
Explains the importance of breathing through the harmonica, rather than blow and draw, and not holding too much air in
Plays the 14 hole Suzuki Sirius
Plays some diatonic and ran a workshop for diatonic earlier this year
Blues harp is a technique, not a type of harmonica
Does some harmonica maintenance, although doesn’t enjoy it
Isabella has created a video demonstrating approach to playing diatonics in the styles that might have been used in the past
Plays diatonics in different tunings
Embouchre: mainly puckers except for octaves
Uses the PA for amplification
Effects: a little reverb sometimes, and turns up lows and down the highs
Future plans: performing on an opera (The Moon Wears A White Shirt) in Vienna with her students, The Bossa Company album release and plan to go back to Brazil
