BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
This week, eight aspiring conductors have been honing their craft with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. A series of intensive workshops has prepared them for a culminating challenge: to stand on the podium and lead a world-class orchestra. (In front of an audience, no less.)
We recently had a chat with each of the participants in this Australian Conducting Academy Summer School to learn what conducting means to them. But we also wanted to hear the other side of the story. How do you train a group of emerging talents and give them the confidence they need to embark on their careers?
The TSO’s principal guest conductor Johannes Fritzsch designed and facilitated this program, and was also on the panel that selected the participants from tens of applicants. I met up with him in the rooms of the TSO to learn how he’s inspiring and training these conductors.
Hi Johannes. Talk me through the 2019 Australian Conducting Academy Summer School. How does it build on the experiences of previous years?
We try to adjust every time. We do a meeting after the course and see what went well and what could have been better. So I added this year a session in public speaking, because the conductors have to present either their piece, or someone else’s piece, in the concert.
Often nowadays from conductors, it’s not just expected to conduct but to do pre-concert talks and present the program: conduct, turn around, talk about the next piece, turn around. So we have Jane Edwards, a singing teacher here in Hobart, who works with our participants and hopefully gives them some general advice.
Does that expectation, of the conductor speaking directly to the audience, indicate a change in what people want from a live performance?
I think the traditional form of orchestra [where] everybody comes in silent, and then a concert happens without anything else, is a bit past form. And orchestras try to find new ways to communicate with the audience, which is great.
Aside from public speaking, how do other activities in this academy cross into that side of personal and professional development?
They all feed into the one central thing of conducting, which is such a complex matter. [We also work with] a mime artist. He has been here last year and the year before, so that was something I really wanted to do. He will talk about body awareness, personal presentation, and how to control the breathing when you are nervous – because standing in front of many people is quite a stressful situation.
There’s vocal confidence, confidence with breathing, and even some body awareness through yoga training in this program. What else will you do to help build these conductors’ confidence?
Confidence is a very important aspect if you are in front of many people, especially if you are in front of an orchestra. The orchestra is highly trained. The collective knowledge of the orchestra is always more than just one person. To balance it out […] that requires a lot of healthy confidence, not arrogance.
How do you balance “healthy confidence” against arrogance and ego?
An orchestra is like school classes: they have such an extremely sensitive, collective feel. You remember when you went to school – your teacher walks in, and in half a minute everybody feels if she’s good, like that! [Snaps fingers] And it’s very hard to change that. So an orchestra is like a school class. In order to be accepted, and they accept you as a leader, you have to portray confidence in a very healthy and natural way; and demonstrate that you’re absolutely at the top of what you do.
Would you say non-verbal communication was more important than verbal when you assessed the applicants for the program? How did you receive your first impressions?
We selected them from videos they sent. [There were about] 54 musicians and conductors.
We had a small panel […] we assessed all first individually, and then as a panel.
When conducting is so much about that dynamic between people, is anything lost in the video applications?
Yes. But I’ve done it for many years, so it doesn’t take long to see if there’s some talent or potential.
When you say you can see “potential”, is there any practical translation of what you’d look for and what that is?
I think I can see – and not just me, the panel can see – if someone has genuine musical expression; he or she wants to say something with this music. Otherwise, there’s no reason to do it. Much too stressful!
Is there ever an end point when it comes to adding a personal interpretation or expression to the score?
That’s a good point – and the older the music […] almost all the possible versions have been tried out. But there’s also something to say about doing a performance in the style [of history]. It is very lively but polished, and it doesn’t have to be always something new.
Through the orchestra, the audience feels the music comes not from here, but from here [points from head to heart].
What’s an advantage or quality in those who are training, and haven’t yet accumulated decades’ worth of knowledge about interpreting older works?
Sometimes innocence or naivety – and lots of enthusiasm. So we have to [combine] that enthusiasm with technique and ability to communicate with the orchestra. It’s fun and it’s exhausting. They can drop out once they’ve been on the podium, but I have to be ‘on’ – and I have to balance the energy or chemistry between orchestra and conductor.
Sometimes, I have to be careful that nothing flares up. It’s an extremely well-tempered orchestra. But, after five hours of playing music, it’s stressful for the orchestra too. If someone comes [with] arrogance, that can get bad reactions.
Is that five-hour block the usual rehearsal time for conductor with the TSO?
That’s normal. [But here,] more pieces, different conductors. It requires much more flexibility and attention.
How does the academy compare to your own training as an emerging conductor?
I studied many years ago in East Germany. We had more often the chance to work with an orchestra. The participants here almost never have the chance to work with a fully professional orchestra.
It was integrated into my studies – it was a different time and place. Therefore, this type of program is [important] for young conductors. It’s the only type of program in Australia and New Zealand that we can find.
When they study at university, most of the student orchestras are good, but it’s a different level – it’s a different way to communicate. It’s a different situation to working with a fully professional orchestra. And that is a gap that is so hard to close here in Australia.
Where I grew up, we had 55 orchestras […] so when I was 22 and finished study, I was straight into it as a young conductor. That was just luck. Continuous training after university doesn’t exist [in Australia], so what we do is try to close that gap a little bit.
So how can students in university or semi-professional orchestras emulate that different professional dynamic between conductor and orchestra?
You can’t.
Does that have a flow-on effect in Australia?
Musicians are a bit different, because they have training with the Australian Youth Orchestra. So they step up gradually and often get a job. Conductors, and conducting students, leave for England or Germany and continue their studies there.
To conductors wishing to stay in the country, what do you encourage they work toward in their careers?
The best you can get as a young conductor is an assistant conductor job with an orchestra. Some of [the participants] from previous years got an assistant conductor job – one in Brisbane, one in Melbourne, one in Perth.
That is very good, and shows the program really helps.
You can support the next generation of conductors in Australia by watching them at the Conducting Showcase, 5pm February 1 with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in the Federation Concert Hall.
READ NEXT: Each ACA participant tells us what conducting means to them.
We partnered up with the TSO to take you behind the scenes with Australia’s new conductors. Stay tuned as we team up again to bring you more stories shedding light on Tasmanian music and education throughout the year!
Images supplied.
