BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
When it comes to an impressive conducting career, we can conclude that Dane Lam has made it in Australia.
He’s also made it in China, having worked his way into the role of Principal Conductor of the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra – doubling the classical subscription offering and hosting world premiere performances in the 3000-year-old city.
A graduate of the University of Queensland and alumnus of Symphony Services Australia’s Conductor Development Program, Dane led the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and went on to receive a scholarship to the Julliard School of Music and a Junior Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music.
So basically, we reckon he can teach us a thing or two about what it means to make a career for yourself across the continents.
The Brisbane-born Chinese-Australian will return to his hometown to celebrate the Year of the Rooster with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s WorldBeat concert this February 9, and we ask him to reveal the secrets to his successful musical life so far.
Hi Dane, thanks for taking the time to chat. How are you looking forward to the QSO concert?
I’m looking forward to this QSO concert immensely. Being an Australian with Chinese heritage, it seems really apt symbolism to be returning to my home town in this program that unites some of the best aspects of European, Chinese and Australian musical culture.
I grew up watching the QSO and from a very early age was inspired by the power and finesse of these musicians. I’m looking forward to being back in front of a ‘home crowd’, performing with musicians for whom I have the utmost respect, where I can unite the two different sides of my own cultural identity.
As a Brisbane-born Chinese-Australian conductor who works across the continents, how have you found the experience of having a career so deeply rooted in both China and Australia?
My mother is an Australian of Western European heritage while my father is from Singapore and is ethnically Chinese. I feel as though I grew up identifying completely as Australian while having the benefits of having a foot in another culture: fantastic Chinese cuisine (my dad’s a professional chef, specialising in dumplings and laksa these days); family on another exotic continent; and another way of looking at the world. I grew up in Brisbane, did all my schooling here along with my undergraduate studies before studying in New York and, finally, settling in the United Kingdom. It was quite by chance that I was appointed Principal Conductor in Xi’an, though it felt poetic given my cultural heritage and early life experiences.
I have found spending a fair chunk of each year in China to be a fascinating experience; this is a culture that evolved, flourished and developed in relative isolation to what we might call ‘Western’ culture and so there are different ways of thinking, of approaching problems and relationships. I was prepared for this, to a degree, from my experiences on my dad’s side of the family – though the culture of the Chinese diaspora (Dad was born in Singapore and grew up in Malaysia) is still not quite the same as the culture on the mainland. Things are, obviously, incredibly crowded, busy and competitive but that can work to the advantage of the music. Players in the XSO really strive for excellence in musical styles that are relatively new to them. I’ve also become acquainted with whole cuisines I’d never experienced. I challenge anyone to find better noodles in the world than those you find in Xi’an: Xi’an is for noodles what Italy is for pasta.
What have you found to be some of the differences in musical approach across China and Australia?
The biggest difference between China and Australia is that, in Xi’an, we are often performing pieces for the very first time. We’ve done the first Puccini opera, Mozart opera, Mahler Symphony; the list goes on. And, because of this newness, it’s forced me to distil and articulate what actually makes Mozart ‘Mozart’, or Puccini ‘Puccini’. In Australia, our orchestras have a wealth of collective knowledge and stylistic experience, where I can often take for granted that it’ll be stylistically there. It’s incredibly exciting to think that each performance is a premiere and that we can make this music come alive for new audiences in such an ancient place.
I often wonder if the situation with classical music in China now is similar to how things were in Australia in the days of the likes of [conductor] Eugene Goossens. It’s also interesting to speculate on the role spoken language plays in the way orchestras phrase and breathe. One of the challenges I find in China is to have breadth and breath in a phrase. I wonder if this is due in part to the fact that Mandarin, while being a tonal language, seems to be very consonant-based and driven; conversely, it’s easy to obtain terrifically vibrant, energetic articulation and sound from Chinese orchestras.
You have had an enormous impact on the success of XSO in your role. What do you feel are qualities of good leadership in an orchestral situation?
It’s important to keep good music-making at the centre of everything we do. If we can articulate that phrase together, or pace that crescendo, or listen out for that gossamer low oboe line, then it energises our performances and translates into player morale and audience engagement. Listening is incredibly important and also for those in leadership positions. It’s easy to be drawn into the flashy advertisements or fancy lightshows but, really, when the music making is solid and joyful then success radiates from that.
One thing I’ve learnt is that seemingly insignificant things play a big impact on the artistic success of an orchestra. When I started in Xi’an, I was shocked to find rehearsals regularly starting late, without key players. Together with a fantastic orchestra manager, we managed to change things so that all players arrived in advance to warm up and so that the downbeat went down at the scheduled start of rehearsal. When people find their own self-discipline, it comes across in their artistic practice which, itself, requires enormous discipline. The fruits of our labor really became evident as I started to guest conduct other orchestras; those who started on time, who concentrated in rehearsal, had a better sound and way of playing. This was an eye-opener for me and is something that you can’t learn when you’re studying conducting; discipline is important, in music as well as in life.
What have been the biggest challenges for you in the XSO so far?
Language is the obvious one. My Chinese is still pretty basic, but I have enough to ask for musical effects I feel we need: louder, softer, faster, slower, long, short, early, late, sharp, flat. That’s pretty much all you need and some players might argue that’s all a conductor should say. But sometimes, these essentials need a small anecdote or turn of phrase to ignite the musicians’ imaginations. We are visual beings and respond to imagery. My Chinese is too basic for this. Luckily, there are some very gracious players who can translate my longer stories and, of course, I need to rely on my gestures more to convey each musical nuance.
My idea of what Xianease audiences will like and what these audiences actually like can diverge. For example, I think a Mahler symphony would sell out in most major Western cities; however, in Xi’an, Mahler is not so well known.
What advice would you have for other young musicians or conductors who are seeking to expand their careers across the globe?
I think any young musician who wants to embrace the international aspect of our profession needs to be international and to travel and study overseas. It’s not even a particularly Australian thing; great musicians and artists have been doing the grand tour since Mozart and Mendelssohn. It widens our perspective, increases our empathy and allows us to plumb new depths of the music that we love.
For young conductors particularly, I would say that you should conduct whatever you can: brass bands, police bands, recorder choirs. Whatever practice you can get leading musicians is valuable. Watch many other conductors rehearse; you can learn so much from the great conductors working with the great orchestras, but you can learn just as much by seeing problems conductors get into.
See Dane Lam conduct a program of Chinese and Western music with the QSO in QPAC for Chinese New Year on February 9. Book your tickets online.
