Of All Ages: Hans-Eduard Kooij and the DSO

BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE

 

The Derwent Symphony Orchestra has brought music to the Hobart community since 1974, and draws players from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, University of Tasmania Conservatorium of Music, and other local talents young and old. In the past, they’ve played in colonial warehouses, aged homes, and even Hastings Caves (the latter for an Olivia Newton-John film clip, no less) – so they’ll be taking it easy for their gig in The Friends’ School’s Farrall Centre this weekend. When I say taking it easy, I mean as easy as Carl Orff’s epic Carmina Burana allows. Which isn’t really all that easy.

Conducting the DSO and choir will be Hans-Eduard Kooij, who has come a long way since his first conducting stint (think uni revue, Queensland University of Technology). The Netherlands-born muso and scholar studied at the Queensland Conservatorium during his 20s, and in the years since has worked as a repetiteur for Australian and international ballet companies, given chamber music and theatre performances, and conducted various choirs and ensembles. After moving to Tassie in the ‘90s, he completed an Honours degree in piano performance and started a PhD – but “ultimately decided that I rather be involved in actual music making than pursuing an academic career.”

 

The Derwent Symphony orchestra is an open orchestra, and has featured musicians aged between 16 and 85 years old. How do you find the experience of conducting a group of musicians where there might be decades between them?

The age gap between the musicians of the DSO is indeed large, but unsurprisingly, it is the ageless nature and the love for music that brings us all together. We also have various levels of skills and musicianship, anywhere between semi-professional, retired, or Conservatorium trained musicians, to amateurs who just enjoy being part of a larger ensemble. But I see it as my task to be as inclusive as possible and encourage everyone to perform to the best of their individual capabilities. I see myself not as a leader but as a facilitator.

Do you feel that there is a difference in attitude or ideas toward music between the different generations – or when you raise the baton, does everyone unite with a common understanding?

Every conductor has his or her own mannerisms, and I am certainly not infallible. But we are all learning together – not only about the music, but also what works best for everyone. This sometimes means we all have to make compromises in terms of our own ideas of style and performance. But encouragement and being open to any suggestions of the instrumentalists about what I can do to make them perform better is, for me, the key to success. I am there to help in any way I can. We are a team.

What to you are the joys of conducting?

Learning and developing new musical skills and ideas, and helping others to create great music together as a team. I also feel very privileged to be in the very best location where I can experience all the intricacies and details of a piece of music – something one does not get as much while being part of a larger ensemble in any other position. People often think that a conductor is the most important figure in an orchestra, as well as some conductors thinking that they are the highest authority within such. I believe the opposite: the conductor’s role is merely there to facilitate others to make good music. I always ask members of the ensemble for their input as they are the ones who make the music happen. They play the sounds, and know better than I how to make their instruments sing. Whatever it takes, whatever they need, I am at their service, as well as in service of the music. Again, we are a team, and everyone is just as important as anyone else within that team.

Carmina Burana is up there in one of the most well-known pieces in music history. As a conductor, how do you approach a work like this to bring the listener something new? 

Carmina Burana was originally intended as a theatrical work. I am intending to include some basic visual elements to the performance to reflect this concept. This includes medieval monk style costumes for the choristers, and some basic light effects to depict the mood of the various sections. The performance will also be introduced by a local Latin scholar, Dr Jonathan Wallis. He will open the concert with an entertaining talk, providing a translation and the historical significance of the work. The text of the famous ‘O Fortuna’ will be printed in the program, and after the final bows it will be played as an encore, and I will invite the audience to sing along, as well as the Ragazzi (the children’s choir).

The work demands a large choir – what are some of the challenges of conducting a really big group of singers?

The largest challenge lies with both the individual choristers and orchestra members, as it will not be possible to give every single cue to everyone all the time. For me, the challenge is to instil a sense of independence during the rehearsals, where we all get to know the music well enough to need as little cueing as possible during the performance. I believe that once the actual performance happens, over 95 per cent of the conductor’s work has been done. His or her task during the performance is just being a point of reference for the performers, and to provide visual reminders and keep the balance and tempi together.

What do you find really exciting about this work?

The incredibly clever way it was composed and scored: highly sophisticated and yet, so driven by basic and primitive folk-like and rhythmic elements. It is a work that with the right amount of support, enthusiasm and determination, can be done within any community ensemble. The immense detail and variety of sound colour that underscore the equally incredible meaning of the text are also very exciting. I have found that every part and detail of the music is essential and it is a wonderful experience to see it all coming together.

 

Hans will conduct the DSO’s first performance of Carmina Burana at 7.30pm, Saturday November 15, and second at 2.30pm, Sunday November 16. Tickets from www.trybooking.com/FZEB. 

 

Image supplied.