Classical Music by Kent Nagano

Author:Kent Nagano
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MQUP
Published: 2019-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

ANYTHING FOR THE TURNAROUND

My team and I decided to be brave and position the orchestra in a new and different way, for an orchestra has to be singular to its audience, unique so to say. To achieve this, its music has to be played in a context that reflects the country’s history, the people of the city and the orchestra itself. To put it simply: in the francophone city of Montreal, Beethoven has to be placed in a context that is different from what it would be in Berlin, Munich, New York or even Vancouver. If this is accomplished, Beethoven will sound different, too. Why does that matter to me?

Let me give you four reasons: Firstly, I am trying to use the uniqueness created through the regional context to establish a permanent link between the music and the people who live in the city where the orchestra is located. It connects the orchestra more closely to the people so that it becomes part of society. This is extremely important. We are, after all, recruiting our listeners from it. That way, in a best-case scenario, I am giving the citizens the opportunity to identify with their orchestra. The more the specific characteristics of a society are reflected in the orchestra, its sound and its repertoire, the more distinctive the orchestra becomes, and the greater the identification with it. Gradually, it will attract not only typical concertgoers but also new and, above all, younger listeners. At every performance, our audiences have to feel our esteem for them and their relevance to us. Without their interest, we wouldn’t be selling tickets, we couldn’t justify the public funding that makes up forty percent of our overall budget, we would soon stop being on stage and would no longer play. This deep connection with the local audience is the basis for the establishment first of a regional, then a national and, finally, an international reputation. Without being anchored locally, nothing can work.

Secondly, it is the only way I can show people that a two- or three-hundred-year-old work, for example a symphony or an oratorio, is not an exhibition piece from the glossy catalog of a venerable museum, but has retained its relevancy throughout time. If I cannot create a connection between a composition and the present-day reality of the people who buy the concert tickets and who are even funding us through the subsidies made possible by their taxes, as well, then the music cannot unfold any special sound. And I would forfeit my right to exist as a conductor.

Thirdly, it is only through context that the particular sound of an orchestra is developed. That sound is shaped by the overall idea behind an engagement, by the compilation of programs, the connection with the region and thus through the whole framework of experiences we are offering the audience. That way, throughout the years, the orchestra becomes unique. To use economic jargon, which has long become commonplace for us, as well, it becomes a brand.

And fourthly, through all of this, I gain the audience’s trust to open up to new works.

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