BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Have you ever wondered what life is really like in the orchestra? Welcome to EXPOSED!
In 2018, we continue to team up with musicians, managers, and arts administrators from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra to take you behind the scenes, and show you what it means to pursue a career in a challenging and fulfilling industry.
TSO principal bass trombone Mitchell Nissen graduated with Bachelor of Music Honours from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2012, after which he received a scholarship to travel to the United Kingdom and Europe to undertake further private study. In 2013, Mitchell began his Masters in trombone at Northwestern University, and in the following year he was a finalist in the International Trombone Festival Orchestral Bass Trombone and Trombone Quartet competitions. He also attended the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, where he worked closely with Stefan Schulz (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra).
Upon moving back to Sydney in 2015, Mitchell worked casually with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Australia Orchestra. As a passionate believer in the benefits of a musical education, Mitchell was also an active teacher and clinician in Sydney.
Always seeking to further his own abilities, Mitchell regularly travels overseas to further his training by undertaking lessons and masterclasses in both Germany and the United States.
How did you make your way into a position with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra?
The simple answer is I took an audition at the end of 2017 and came out with more votes than my fellow auditionees. The slightly longer answer is I studied trombone myopically for about 10 years.
I decided in 2007 to split my final year of school up to complete it over the course of two years so I could focus on attaining the level of skill I deemed necessary to gain entry to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. I got into the Australian Youth Orchestra for a couple of years, and I was mentored through the Sydney Symphony Sinfonia. I spent a small fortune travelling around Australia, the United States of America (where I completed a Masters in trombone performance), and Germany, to further my technical skills and musical knowledge.
I took all sorts of auditions, and failed a lot and succeed a bit. I freelanced with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Opera Australia Orchestra. Before the audition, I moved home with my parents for five months and practised obsessively for about six or seven hours a day. And then I got lucky.
What did you imagine life would be like with the orchestra – and what’s it really like now that you’re living it?
I’m not sure how I would characterise my imagined reality of the job. It was partly based on the touring experiences of orchestras in my youth where there was a euphoric sense of camaraderie and adventure; that we were discovering this new music together and diving into it with passion, curiosity, and excitement. The reality of the job is that its strikingly normal.
For most of my colleagues […] it becomes a bit more jobbish – everything is a bit more reasoned and pragmatic. There’s still enthusiasm and passion, but one can feel a little silly for expressing an excessive amount of excitement at the thought of sitting on stage in silence for 40 minutes just to have the pleasure of playing the Feierlich in Schumann Symphony No. 3.
How would you describe your typical day backstage and in the rehearsal room?
While I’m not sure there is such a thing as a ‘typical’ day in this job, I would characterise it as: Tim Tams and patience.
Being a small orchestra, the bass trombone is used as one should use truffle: sparingly and to great effect. As such, the repertoire we play often calls for us to wait around patiently for our moment. Sometimes this is in situ within the rehearsal room; sometimes in the green room in the company of a family pack of Tim Tams.
The true beauty of our job is that it’s always different and always changing. Sometimes, there’s Iced VoVos.
Was there ever a time you thought the challenge of your role inside the orchestra would be too great?
Yes, absolutely! Sometimes, this is over big things; sometimes over little things. I’m an incredibly anxious person at times, and sometimes the challenges are real and sometimes they are imagined.
I freak out over waacky rhythmical things and obscene extended techniques in modern works, and at other times over my ability to play softly and delicately on cue. So the challenge of the role is sometimes external and sometimes internal.
What do you feel are the strongest expectations placed on you in this role?
To play in tune, in time, with a good sound. My main job, as I see it, is to make my colleagues sound as good as they can by supporting them harmonically and rhythmically.
How do you cope with live performance pressure?
I do a lot of exercise and meditation. Solving the problem of performance anxiety is twofold, as I see it. You have the mental game, first and foremost; and then the physiological game. If you get in your head, you can cause all sorts of physiological reactions.
Meditation obviously helps my ability to clear my mind of distracting thoughts and generally stay calmer. Exercising helps my train my body to come back to a resting point after a rush of adrenaline much quicker. So the two work together to help me start calm, and recover after a mistake or other mishap.
How would you describe the chemistry in your instrumental section, and how do you work to support each other in your small team?
Honesty, openness, and humility are the key characteristics of my colleagues, which help us get on and give the best to the music. There has to be a level of openness when someone turns to you and says, ‘I think you might be a little sharp there’, so you can accept the advice as professional and not personal. We all have each others’ best interests at heart, and work to make each other and the section as a whole sound the best it can.
We’re very diplomatic and deferential, and I think we use our ears more than our mouths when trying to sort out a musical issue. We joke a lot at each others’ expense, and don’t take ourselves too seriously, which means we can keep our egos in check!
What do you wish audiences could understand about what it means to play in the orchestra?
I wish audiences could understand the visceral nature of being in the music – to literally sit inside the orchestra and sit inside the sound that surrounds you. The greatest pleasure for me is when we’re playing a big, broad, glorious chorale and I can feel my whole body and instrument resonating within the chord. It’s the feeling of contributing to something that’s greater than any single person, and greater than the sum of its parts.
What is the thing you love most about life in the orchestra?
Simply put, I love playing trombone in the orchestra. Any moment that I get to come in and contribute to that soundscape and immerse myself in music is a moment I love.
What is one piece of advice you can offer young musicians looking to commence their orchestral career?
Know thyself. That might be a bit vague and a bit trite. In order to know your ultimate endpoint and how you can plan your pathway forward, you must first know how to use your strengths and weaknesses to advance, and not inhibit your growth.
Listen to musicians of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra perform in TSO Live Sessions this September 21, and TSO Brass in St David’s Cathedral this September 22. Keep up to date with future concerts on the website.
