BY JO ST LEON
For the past seven years, Marko Letonja has taken the roles of chief conductor and artistic director with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. But it was recently announced that his time with the orchestra, due to finish at the end of this year, will be extended.
TSO managing director Nicholas Heyward this July stated that Marko has accepted the new role of conductor laureate, effective from 2019. Nicholas describes this move as “a mark of respect”.
“It’s a way of saying to Marko, ‘You did a great job and we think you’re special’.”
It is rare for chief conductors to move to guest conductor positions immediately after their tenure. There is usually a gap of a few years before the relationship is resumed, and Nicholas puts this down to the fact that – by the time a conductor’s reign in the top job is over – the musical love affair between musicians and conductor often concludes. He suggests that, traditionally, these relationships start with great enthusiasm and wane towards the end of tenure as the gloss wears off. If the relationship is to continue, a few years then pass before nostalgia for “the good old days” kicks in and the conductor is offered a new role with the orchestra.
This phenomenon does not seem to have happened with Marko and the TSO.
In general, the players seem to have the same level of enthusiasm for him now as they had when he first arrived. This is, of course, in part because of his musicianship.
“He is a great conductor, and he has a real rapport with the musicians,” Nicholas says. Marko himself talks of the flow of energy he felt between himself and the orchestra, right from the start.
“We have inspired each other, which is not so common,” Marko says.
“When it happens, it means a lot. It’s very special.”
Violist Anna Larsen-Roach talks of his awareness as a conductor, always knowing which instrument has a special note, or phrase.
“He uses his whole body to include everyone,” Anna says. “He can give you an eyebrow, or an elbow, just for one note and you feel acknowledged – a valued member of the orchestra.”
When asked what it was about Marko that made him the standout person for the job, Nicholas says, “he just gets us”. By this, he means that Marko understands the needs of a small orchestra such as the TSO, and the important role the orchestra must play in its community.
Marko seems a strong advocate for Australian music. This is an integral part of the TSO’s national identity, and Marko has embraced the commitment so willingly in his own career that he now takes Australian works to Strasbourg to perform with his other orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg.
The TSO commissions emerging Australian composers such as Melody Eötvös, whose work they performed this August. Read more.
Marko also supports the work the TSO does in training young composers and young conductors. He believes conductors are in a constant state of learning.
“In making music together, you would be an idiot if you didn’t learn something from the musicians,” he says. He has a conducting class of nine in Slovenia, and has gained an understanding of the needs of young and emerging conductors. After all, it can be intimidating for a young musician to stand in front of an orchestra of older and vastly experienced musicians.
He tells his students: “Don’t forget that everyone who sits in front of you has the same level of education as you. Everybody has got more experience than you”. With that in mind, he acknowledges that all musicians must feel respected.
Leonard Weiss conducted the TSO with other young artists as part of this year’s Australian Conducting Academy Summer School with the orchestra. Read more.
Marko also arrived with a commitment to working in the community – particularly prisons. The TSO has built an ongoing relationship with Risdon Prison that brings enrichment to prisoners and players alike. Cox and Gelsthorpe, in their evaluation of the worth of music in prisons, found profound implications for prisoners’ personal development and sense of self.
In one instance, Nicholas recalls being in the audience when Marko conducted Peter and the Wolf at Risdon’s family day. Close by Nicholas in the audience was an inmate with his arms wrapped around two small children. The inmate was pointing to the players, and said: “That one’s playing the wolf, and that one the duck.” It is this transformative power of music that underpins Marko’s love of community work.
Nicholas Heyward says of Marko: “He just gets us.”
In a recent article about the demise of the old-fashioned maestro who considered himself second only to God, Andrew Mellor identifies the emergence of a new style of maestro: a respectful and collaborative fellow-musician. Marko epitomises this. Much of his ongoing popularity with the players can be attributed to his talent for forming relationships. He does this with such an egalitarian style that no musician seems left behind.
Asked whether this is a deliberate policy, or just who he is, Marko replies: “Maybe it’s both.”
“I think it comes from two people. One was my father, who would always punish me if I would treat two friends or two members of the family in a different way. It was also my teacher, Otmar Suitner in Vienna, who we all – the whole class – really loved.
“He said, ‘You treat the musicians equally. You never say “David” to somebody and “Mr Hopkins” to somebody else’.
“This is a great thing, because otherwise the musicians will feel you have a preference.”
This issue of preference is important to Marko on levels musical and personal. He will never express a desire to have one player over another for a particular concert. Speaking of his orchestra of 110 players in Strasbourg, he says “it is [made up of] 110 musicians. If we are great, we are all 110 great. If we are bad, we are all 110 bad”.
“There is no formation A, the stars; and formation B, the less-shiny version. That doesn’t exist.”
Talking to Marko gives a remarkable sense of history and artistic continuity. His teacher Otmar was a student of Clemens Kraus, a highly regarded conductor during the ‘50s. He was, in turn, a student of Richard Strauss. This is a musical lineage of which Marko is justifiably proud, but it is only the beginning. Mention so many of the great conductors of yesteryear – Harnoncourt, Karajan, Furtwangler, to name but a few of those in popularity at the time – and Marko has watched, listened, and learnt. This thoroughly modern conductor brings to Tasmania a timeless wisdom and tradition that is beyond price.
There is general agreement among players and management that the greatest highlight of Marko’s tenure with the TSO has been the Helpmann-awarded concert performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, with soloists Nina Stemme and Stuart Skelton.
Stuart Skelton performed in the TSO’s Helpmann-winning Wagner (image Sim Canetty-Clarke).
Anna Larsen-Roach says “it wasn’t just a highlight of Marko’s seven years, it was the highlight of my whole 20-year career”.
“The incredible calibre of the soloists made me play better; with more care. I had to rise to their stature.”
Tristan was also a highlight for Marko himself, who describes it as “unforgettable – a complete wild journey into the world of opera”.
Anna Larsen-Roach performs viola in the TSO. Read more.
Marko regards the roles of chief conductor and artistic director to be multi-faceted. As well as attending to the musical health of the orchestra – issues such as intonation, rhythm, and ensemble – he believes he has some responsibility for the well-being, self-esteem, motivation, and working conditions of the players.
“Sometimes I need to be a psychologist, too,” Marko says – an important observation when considering the widely discussed issues of mental health in the arts industry.
He is not sure, yet, what the role of conductor laureate will entail. As the three years unfold, he may stamp his own unique personality on the job. For now, he says he is happy to continue with a relationship that he describes as “mutual inspiration” and enjoy the coming three years.
Visit the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra website to check out Marko’s upcoming concerts.
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