The Exchanges

Q It was, it was just your life, but a lot of people rebel against that too, right?

A Of course, and that could have happened, and my parents, uh, perhaps, this is why I didn't have, my parents, Were very, they viewed it in a very healthy fashion. They never pushed me into music. I was, I wanted to learn instruments, and I did, and my mom taught me piano, and my grandma taught me cello, and, um, But they always, they wanted me to go to a normal inverted commas school, so not a music specialist school, which a lot of my friends did, because we, you know, the families that were friends were musician families as well, and, um, they wanted me to go to a school where I would learn all subjects in detail, that it wasn't just about becoming a musician. Um, they always said to me, look, if, you won't be able to make it as a musician unless you wake up in the morning with this burning desire to practice.

AI assessment note: “this is why I didn't have, my parents... never pushed me into music.”

Q What decisions does the conductor make versus the musician in the chair? What's the relationship between the conductor, the audience, the music, and the musician?

A Well, in an ideal world, uh, and this, this happens regularly. I mean, it's, it's, it is ideal, but we're actually able to do it. It's not a question of having to make those choices. So when things are working well, um, a conductor and orchestra are in this state of absolute coordination, where the music is speaking the way it needs to speak, um, so that we don't sense, you know, I don't feel like I'm having to Um, do something unnatural to accommodate one of the players, and they don't feel like they're having to do something unnatural to accommodate the flow that I have brought the music into. But one can, as a conductor, let's say you're not in that ideal state, one can view this very differently. Um, my, my personal approach in front of any given orchestra is to try and respect as far as possible within the parameters of, of how the work is constructed, how I analyze the work, to respect, um, nuances that come from the players. So, You will, for example, I mentioned, ah, that we are, we're doing a piece by Bizet tonight, some, some music from Carmen. There are a lot of very beautiful solos for individual instruments, long solos, like, like a sung aria, but from the instrumentalists within the orchestra. At that moment, they're playing as soloists. They're sitting within the orchestra, but they're playing as soloists. Now, I, I believe very strongly that if you trust the mus…

AI assessment note: “Normally, You set, as a conductor, the parameters. So let, let's say the tempo”

Q So how much say, or is this dependent on the particular orchestra, but how much say does the orchestra have, and who, ah, the, the conductor is?

A Well, um, the orchestra was, was, uh, a committee from the orchestra was very much involved in the choice of who's the next music director, as in me. Um, and, uh, what happens is when you have guest conduct, this happens all over the world, when guest conductors come for a week, the orchestra gets forms to fill out where they comment on rehearsal technique, you know, conducting technique, uh, whether the, They felt the person was inspiring or not, you know, they, and so they, they hand those forms in, and then the administration goes through the feedback, and then they make decisions as to whether invite the person again. It's, it's a, it's, it's an amazing system. If you imagine at the end of every week, an office manager would have all his employees give feedback forms. Um, that's quite intense, but that's how it works with conductors. It's, it's, it's a, it's a very interesting position to be in, because on the one hand, you need to lead the group, and sometimes that involves saying, Things that they may not want to hear. On the other hand, as a guest conductor, you know that they're going to fill out forms at the end of the week saying, you know, I hate this guy, or I love this guy. Um, but you can't, I mean, I, I just never think about it. You can't think about it. Otherwise you, you, you, you can't function. I just do the job as I feel it has to be done, and people like i…

AI assessment note: “a committee from the orchestra was very much involved in the choice”

Q What's your favorite part of conducting an orchestra outside of the actual, um, performance?

A Well, that's a very good question. Um, I think, I think, um, in terms of my interaction with an orchestra, I mean, I love the, the stuff that I do on my own, the studying of scores, that, that I find very, very rewarding. Um, I do find it, uh, in my roles as, as music director and chief conductor like I have here or in, or in Germany, um, I find it incredibly rewarding being part of the development of an institution, so having a longer-term ambition, uh, for an institution, and then trying to do whatever you can to, to make that happen. To, to, to have the sense that you are a sort of guardian of an institution for a while, and that it's your responsibility to keep it healthy and to develop it, that's, that's lovely.

AI assessment note: “I love the, the stuff that I do on my own, the studying of scores”

Q Do you think that broad-based education Made you a better conductor or musician? Versus the more specialized?

A Sure, I mean, I wouldn't want to, you know, I think for my personal route, I wouldn't want to say anything against anyone who went to specialized, because there are so many great musicians who went to specialist schools. Um, for me personally, looking back, I think it was absolutely the right choice, because, um, when you, I love when I learn a symphony, or I learn a new work, Going through the doors that it opens to literature and to history and to philosophy and stuff, that really interests me. And I think, um, maybe I was given at school more tools to be able to access that. Um, so, so for me, the, the, the broader based education was definitely, uh, a positive.

AI assessment note: “for me, the, the, the broader based education was definitely, uh, a positive.”

Q What was it like, uh, taking over an orchestra that you had no part in? You recently took over this one. What was that like coming into that, um, walking into something that, uh, has already been created and shaped largely without you, uh, and then having to, uh, assume a leadership position in that?

A Well, one of the nice things about the way the process worked, uh, um, appointed me as music director is that I had the opportunity really quite a long time ago, I think it's six, seven, eight years maybe now, seven years, to first meet the orchestra. I came as a guest conductor, um, and we got on well. There was nice chemistry, so I came back, and then I came back again, and I did an opera here, and I did lots of concerts. So we built a relationship. What, what sometimes happens, uh, with conductors is that it's, uh, it's like those sort of dating sites, or, you know, you, you, you have a dinner, and you fall in love, or you kind of say, right, that's not the right person. Now, uh, that means sometimes, uh, music directors are appointed having only visited an orchestra once, and then come back very briefly, and that can work out beautifully. It's like that love at first sight thing, but you can also say after a couple of extra, further visits, like, oh, what have I done, you know. Um, here we had a different route, and, and I knew the orchestra very well. They knew me very well. I don't think there was a sense of, uh, ok, this could not work, or this, I think we, we both felt confident about what we were getting into. So I knew the players, uh, well. Uh, I knew the institution well. And so I felt very comfortable about what I was getting into. Um, my predecessor, Pinker Sucker…

AI assessment note: “I knew the players, uh, well... And so I felt very comfortable about what I was getting into.”

Q What would you say is the role of the orchestra in society?

A Well, I think that, um, this particular orchestra has, um, in fact, sort of, four different levels on which we work. We work for the city, so put simply, it, in, we need to be a great orchestra that people can come and listen to in the, in the city and hear interesting pieces, perform very well, and I want us to create a narrative around our program so that, uh, people who maybe don't feel like they know anything about classical music, they can come to a concert and they know What is the narrative behind this, this, uh, this program? So I like to do the pre-concert talks. I like us to write sort of interesting, uh, texts about it. Then we have the regional level. So, you know, looking beyond the bounds of Ottawa into, into, you know, Gatineau and into Quebec and Ontario to think about how we can be in contact with as many close communities as possible. Then we have the national remit, which is to, of course, be touring the country, taking projects, new creation projects, because we commission an awful lot of work to, uh, communities that Don't, uh, maybe have symphony orchestras all the time. And then we have our international role as a representative of, of the nation. Um, and each of those, those roles, uh, has different nuances, um, but each of them is, is very important. But I feel also, this is one of the reasons that, that, that new creation and, and commissioning Canadia…

AI assessment note: “this particular orchestra has, um, in fact, sort of, four different levels”

Q When you're up on stage and you first pick up the baton, what's going through your mind?

A So, I mean, first and foremost, I'm thinking about creating, um, a sense on stage through my body language, through my eye contact, through everything about the way I am, that prepares, uh, us, and by us, I mean, first and foremost, the orchestra, but then, of course, the audience for the beginning of the journey, and the journey, you know, being this piece, a piece of music, um, Exists in time. You know, you are taken on a journey which is going to take, let's say, in the case of the Requiem that we did, an hour and 15 minutes. And I have to, before I give the first downbeat, before I start the piece, create the conditions, a certain kind of silence, let's say. There are pieces you can, you can walk on stage, bow to the audience, turn, and give a downbeat. You know, everyone's still clapping, but it's that kind of music, bam, it's something that explodes off the stage. Um, But if it's going to be a really long and very intimate and very, uh, intense journey, it's sometimes nice to create a true silence beforehand. This kind of focused silence. And it's one of the things I love about, uh, the many things I love about, uh, you know, giving concerts is the, this shared experience. I mean, that's for me what is so important about, about live music. And you can see parallels between concert halls and religious spaces. If you go into a cathedral, you don't necessarily have to be a b…

AI assessment note: “first and foremost, I'm thinking about creating, um, a sense on stage”

Q And so what sort of feedback do you get now with the musicians? Um, I don't imagine there's forms weekly, but what, what are the interactions? Like, are you trying to?

A Well, we, you know, we're a big team, and, uh, and I, Um, dialogue is very important to me, uh, and I think the musicians here know that, that they can come and talk to me at any point about anything. Um, and one of the many things I love about this orchestra here, um, in, in Ottawa is that they're, they're very accomplished musicians, and they're very serious, in, in the best sense, people. You know, they, they know what we're doing, they have a huge skill set, and They hear when things don't work in rehearsal. They have ideas of how to correct it, and we all do, and I find we, we're able to talk like grown-ups with one another. You know, that didn't work. How do we fix it? Let's do this and this. Um, they're very well prepared. I'm always very well prepared. Uh, that's all we can expect of one another, that we, we, we know our material. Um, and I try and keep the dialogue open, so I talk a lot with the concertmaster, Yosuke, here. Um, We talk, you know, we talk about how things are going, you know, this and this, and as long as you keep that dialogue open, nothing too grave can ever happen because you, you see things coming, um, and, uh, and so that's how it works now. It's a sort of conversational basis between rehearsals before and after, you know.

AI assessment note: “It's a sort of conversational basis between rehearsals before and after”

Q Do you notice a difference in how you feel about the music? If the exact same music was played, say, on an iPhone versus a speaker system versus kind of, uh, Well, I do, I mean, look, I, I'm very lucky.

A I get to, I get to stand in front of the best speaker system in the world every day. You know, 80 of the most beautiful instruments ever created played by the best musicians in the world. I mean, the sound where you, where a conductor stands is pretty amazing. So it's not like, I have some friends, they have, you know, really amazing speaker systems set up in their house, and I go and listen to them, and it's not like I, I don't care, I think it's very cool, but I, I always want to say to them, hey, you should come and stand where I stand for my job, you know. So I have no problem listening on, on headphones. I mean, I have a nice pair of, you know, like noise-canceling headphones, and they, you know, um, which are, by the way, great on planes if you're trying to sleep.

AI assessment note: “So I have no problem listening on, on headphones.”

Q That's amazing. What would you say is the role of art in your life? So not only music, but literature and poetry, and how does that?

A Well, One of the, I'm not one of those people who says, oh, you know, the modern world is blah, bad, or whatever. I think the modern world is absolutely amazing, and I think we live in a time of opportunities to learn and, and, and exist pretty much second to none, ever. It's an amazing time. One of the things I find sad sometimes, though, is that we, we tend to speak as if the world of the arts and the world of the sciences are unrelated, or somehow, you know, one, one has utility, the other one is kind of, well, if you've got a bit of time off, you know, get involved in the arts, it's kind of cute. Whereas my life, I mean, I, I live what I think is a very practical life, you know, I, like everybody else, you know, I just, Live and do, and you know, I like efficiencies, I like, I like learning about science, it's always had, I've loved physics all my life, and, and, but for me, art, it involves just as much of the, um, analytical side that I, I know from physics, and from the sciences when I studied it, as anything else, and yet, it is this, this point, and it's, it's something very, um, fundamental about being a human, that we actually, Um, create through very controlled and very precise thought the conditions for creating beauty. That's why, again, if you look at paintings, it's no coincidence that often the proportions, um, uh, in great paintings will be very similar betwee…

AI assessment note: “but for me, art, it involves just as much of the, um, analytical side”

Q As you're conducting with the eye to where you're going with the piece, what do you focus on while the music is actually playing?

A Well, the interesting thing about, um, describing what a conductor does is that you, at any given point, have to be prepared to do a lot of different things. So there's the, let's say, the very simple craftsmanship of a conductor. You need to be able to give a beat that, uh, however you do it, Uh, makes clear to the orchestra what the rhythmic impulses are of the music. Um, now, uh, in contrast to majority of pop music or folk music, uh, uh, jazz, you know, pretty much any other world, there are, there are lots of, um, works in classical music and moments within works of classical music where the pulse is movable. It's what we call rubato, so give and take within the music, and so a conductor there Has to lead that sense of, of give and take. And it's a, it's a very beautiful thing. It's a, um, when it's functioning correctly, it's a symbiosis between me and the 80 musicians on stage. It's, it's in fact, I find, ah, one of the most beautiful things that humans do. You, you have sitting in an orchestra, 80 people who are absolute experts at what they do. They start when they're four, you know, four or five years old playing instruments. Then they go and study it, they do degrees and master's degrees, and then they go into the profession. I mean, there are so few professions where you can say that, you know, lawyers don't start studying law at four, and, and so on and so forth. M…

AI assessment note: “a conductor there Has to lead that sense of, of give and take.”