BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, the entire nature of our industry has shifted — seemingly overnight — with artists forced to abandon their live events and projects.
But despite such mass cancellations, musicians are proving they have the power to take some control over what can only be described as a horrendous situation — and adapt with ingenuity, determination, and creativity.
In this interview series, we document the COVID-19 impact on the Australian arts industry while facilitating a candid discussion about what it is like to work during this difficult time. We hope this series will bring hope and solidarity to our creative community – things we need now more than ever.
Here, we chat with Nicole van Bruggen, co-artistic director and clarinettist of the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra. Despite the challenges brought about by 2020, and the instabilities of performing and touring in 2021, Nicole’s arts organisation has just announced its largest-ever season. Here’s how she’s travelled through the pandemic so far, and how she plans to make 2021 the orchestra’s biggest year yet.
Nicole, last time you were featured in CutCommon was for an interview in our print magazine. As things have it, we didn’t go to print in 2020 (thanks, COVID-19). How did the pandemic affect your own big plans for this year?
2020 was shaping up to be an absolutely brilliant year for me. Not only had we launched a spectacular concert season with the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra — of which we were really lucky to be able complete the first tour in March just before lockdown — we were also expanding our youth orchestra program Young Mannheim Symphonists to include a residential National Winter Academy, as well as three State Intensives. And I was going to perform in a season of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro in Denmark with some of my dearest colleagues from all over Europe.
On a more personal level, we were going to tack a family holiday on to my opera season to spend time with family and friends in Holland, and then travel through Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and on to Greece.
As was the case for everyone in the arts industry, I watched all these grand plans disappear in a puff of smoke throughout March and April. More than 12 months of constant and fabulous work was cancelled within a couple of weeks – it was mind-boggling.
It was also an incredibly difficult period emotionally, attempting to come to terms with what it meant for me and my foreseeable future.
I can imagine. You’ve already taken on so many roles with the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra – principal clarinettist, general manager, board member, and co-artistic director. Now, you’ve had to take on the role of ‘person trying to sustain an arts career during a global pandemic’. How has this new role dominated your attention in 2020?
To be honest, I wasn’t so concerned with how to sustain my own arts career. I was fully focused on making sure the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra would survive the roller-coaster and emerge at the end of the ride, thriving!
We engage more than a hundred freelance musicians every year, offer music education programs to a couple of thousand students annually, and have loyal and enthusiastic audience members and supporters all over the place. That is a much bigger picture than my own performance career.
Once the initial shock subsided, Rachael Beesley and I put our heads together and created artistic planning for literally dozens of scenarios. We presented two live-streamed concerts — one from Melbourne in between lockdowns and one from Sydney, we moved our Young Mannheim Symphonists program online — creating the National Online Winter Academy, and we have both spent copious hours teaching and mentoring students from all over Australia and globally.
Music students have responded hungrily to the expertise we offer, and it has been extremely fulfilling to be able to remain connected with these young aspiring musicians throughout 2020.
You’ve certainly made a lot of changes with the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra. What’s it been like becoming a public health advocate, and learning how to run a registered COVID-19 Safe Organisation within the space of a few months?
We will be operating in numerous venues across three states and one territory in 2021, each with its own COVID-19 guidelines and registration requirements. When you ask people for advice, most are only aware of how it all works in their immediate environment, so many hours have been spent combing through government websites to stay up to date on the latest announcements the whole way through.
In New South Wales, I have been representing the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra in Roundtable of Instrumental, Vocal and Music Education Organisations, which meets online at least every couple of weeks. There has been incredibly positive action from this group, in terms of communications with the various government authorities but also with the sharing of information amongst all the member organisations, so that we could support each other in getting on top of the various COVID-19 safe requirements and advice.
There’s so much to consider on a local level, and beyond. You also have a long history of touring across Europe and Australia. When you live in a time – and look into a future – when the nature of touring is unstable, what does this mean to you?
One way I have managed to keep on top of my mental health this year is to focus fully on what is possible, and to try not spending too much time dwelling on what isn’t. Some days, this is easier than others.
I am lucky and very grateful that I have fulfilling music performance and education work on the horizon. I have come to terms with the fact that I won’t be returning to play in Europe for the time being. I am optimistic that this will return though and, in the meantime, I look forward to returning to the stage and connecting with my Australian colleagues, and creating even more opportunities to allow these superb musicians to shine.
National touring, although unstable as you mention, is already possible again at the time of answering your question. We need to remain flexible from now on, and have certainly had a good crash course in that skill over the past months!
What advice would you give to other artists who are planning their return in 2021, but might be feeling worried about what lies ahead?
The challenges of 2020 taught us how to back-pedal and side-step. I now know how to postpone, morph, or cancel concerts, tours, education programs, and everything else. I know how to pivot to digital. I know how to unmute in Zoom…
If we were worried about what lies ahead, and were to wait to see what is going to happen in 2021 — and we didn’t go ahead and launch — we wouldn’t have time to plan for anything. It takes us around 12 months to put our annual concert season together. From brainstorming the initial creative ideas, collating the programs, confirming the finances, booking our musicians, reserving the venues, preparing the marketing, auditioning our youth orchestra participants, writing our education materials, arranging the production logistics, to creating COVID-19 Safe Plans, the list goes on.
If the pandemic or anything else was to stop us in our tracks again, we would deal with that when it happened. This costs money, of course, and involves a degree of risk. But if we don’t soldier on, we will have nothing. Our orchestra doesn’t want to just survive another year. We aim to thrive for years to come – artistically, financially, and emotionally – performing concerts and presenting unique music education programs.
Only time will tell how much of our 2021 Concert Season will proceed as planned. In a perfect scenario, we will pull the whole thing off. If we need to move dates, venues, find replacement musicians at the last second, coach instead of fly, or anything else, we are ready!
What strengths have you discovered in yourself, and in your organisation, from the process of surviving 2020 and planning such a comeback?
2020 was a good opportunity to stand back and look critically at our organisation’s strengths. We are fortunate to have incredibly generous individual donors, philanthropic foundations, and other patrons within our community.
We are grateful for our government support from Create NSW, Creative Victoria, the City of Sydney, and the City of Melbourne, and we are very lucky to work with a strong board chaired by the late Richard Gill’s daughter Claire, keeping our connection with the Gill family and Richard’s legacy close to our hearts.
We also have amazing colleagues, of course, and a strong team of volunteers who all play an integral part in making the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra what it is today.
I am an optimistic woman of determination and action. I’m pretty sure I knew that already, but 2020 has certainly shone a light on it. Rachael and I are leading our orchestra from strength to strength. We have now successfully navigated it through a global pandemic, and have indeed come out the other end thriving!
We have incredibly skilled musicians and educators in our community, a compact and strong management team which has honed its skills over the last months, aspirations aplenty, and we are ready to take on 2021 and beyond. Bring it on!
Keep up to date with the Australian Romantic & Classical Orchestra’s 2021 season on its website, and check back in with CutCommon as we bring you more stories about these musicians.
For more stories in our COVID-19 careers series, click here.
Images supplied.
