By Kathryn Olsen
Utah Symphony in Salt Lake City has recently announced that it will be collaborating with Maestro David Robertson for a three-year tenure as Creative Partner. Ahead of this weekend’s Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 concert and in anticipation of the 2023-2024 season, he granted the following interview.
Kathryn: We are here with Maestro David Robertson, who has just been announced as the inaugural Creative Partner for the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera organization. Thank you so much for doing this.
David: You’re very welcome. It’s very daunting to be the inaugural Creative Partner. I’d better not mess up.
Kathryn: When I was told about an upcoming announcement, there was the caveat that this was not the conductor announcement. The following day, it was announced that you would join the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera leadership team as the inaugural “Creative Partner.” What is this role as you. yourself, define it?
David: Well, I think it’s about a more closely-knit connection with an organization than just coming in as a guest conductor once a season. Principally, put it this way: there are three weeks that we will look at and the aspect of a creative partner should, I think, contain elements of thinking outside of a normal program. I think, with the orchestra, we’ve come to an understanding of what we can do within a normal program, so part of the enjoyment and pleasure will be to stretch the horizons of what we might think of what we think of as possible—things that we could play, venues we could play in, ways of presenting music. So, it’s a combination of all of those things and what I look forward to is, when they do find a Music Director that I can enjoy working with, that person in their role and figuring out things that they would like to do and how what I’m doing can complement what he or she might want to do as Music Director.
Kathryn: How were you approached about this position? Did Utah Symphony/Utah Opera initiate a conversation about Creative Partner or were you looking into another role and were asked to join the organization in this position?
David: They said, “Would you like a longer-term connection with us?” And I said, “Sure, that would be fine, but I am not in a situation where I would be able to be Music Director.” I’m sorry about that, because I really love the orchestra, but it doesn’t fit with many things that I have going on, including family and geography and all of that. So, then we put our heads together and came up with this format, which is new for them and also new for me. I’ve been a music director before; I’ve been Chief Conductor. I’ve been a Principal Guest Conductor, but this aspect in which there’s the ability to look at the aspect of creativity with a symphony orchestra and an opera company and think how one can utilize that in ways that might not have been trie before is something that we both found to be an exciting prospect.
Kathryn: You have been involved in the artistic leadership of ensembles worldwide, from the BBC Symphony Orchestra to Staatskapelle Dresden and you have a respected educational role at The Juilliard School. Can you give any examples of how these experiences have memorably or uniquely prepared you for this new position with Utah Symphony/Utah Opera?
David: You know, one of the interesting things about the way conductors learn is that we pick up things and we understand more deeply through our connections with musicians and working with musicians, so each orchestra teaches you something different. My conducting life probably extends to 130 or 140 different orchestras by now and each one of them have allowed me to understand something else about how music works and in each one of those cases, there have been audiences who were different from city to city and from country to country. So, all of those things, I think, do have a weight in the background of how you’re thinking about questions. In terms of the situation here, I am still learning about what it is that would be important for the Utah Symphony and for the community here because I think the challenges that face arts organizations worldwide are similar, but I have often found that the solutions to those challenges are site-specific. There are things that you can do in one place that can be wildly successful and those aren’t necessarily ideas that will have as much resonance in another place. So, part of this endeavor with the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera is to figure out, specifically, what are the things that we can do here, which will allow a greater expansion of their activities and the people that they play to.
Kathryn: Utah Symphony said in its press release that you have developed and will lead three programs for the 2023-24 season. How has this compared to your experiencing conducting the orchestra in your previous concerts in 2020 and 2021 with the Symphony. Is the creative process different in terms of development of the upcoming season?
David: Yes, it is. These are the sorts of programs that, ironically, you would only do if you were a music director because they are the kinds of programs that are more demanding than you would ask of a guest conductor, not so much from the point of view of the musicians of the orchestra, but more in terms of the whole department of communication, of marketing, of preparation, of venues. All of these things that go to making something successful are requiring a different level of commitment from the organization, so it works both ways. I know that the organization is putting in the resources to do these things in a way that will make for unique and memorable experiences for audience members and they are projects that I am extremely passionate about and so the orchestra is excited to have my passion be involved in making these things happen.
Kathryn: I’m not familiar with the precise procedure for coming up with the orchestral program. When you do a program as a Guest Conductor or Visiting Conductor, such as the program you’re doing this weekend with the Prokofiev Second Piano Concerto and the first symphony of Dmitri Shostakovich, is that something where the music is selected in advance and you were asked to conduct or are you the one who comes up with the program?
David: The short answer is “yes” for both because it can change depending on circumstances, so sometimes, a soloist doesn’t work out, so it’s a blank slate. Sometimes, there is a soloist, but they haven’t decided what they’d like to play. Sometimes, there’s an actual piece on a program and there might be something else that’s already been decided, and then, you work to make something that’s complete and blends all of the different elements in a concert experience that will be special and will not be like anything else. So, that’s really why you say “yes” to both, because at some point, you come in as the conductor and you’re invited in late in the process and, sometimes, you’re invited in very early in the process and are involved with making it work.
Kathryn: Do you have any comments on the upcoming season, which will be announced in March?
David: Watch this space, because people will be very moved by the programs and I don’t think any of them will be too radical, but I think one of them will be very surprising and a huge amount of fun.
Kathryn: It all looks very intriguing, especially the festival efforts and focusing on one familiar masterpiece.
David: The nice thing with the festival is it never needs to be the same. You can do something that’s really a one-off of concentrating on one kind of thing and there, you can push the envelope a great deal, which is what I hope we’re doing in this case
Kathryn: In looking forward to the three-year tenure that the Utah Symphony has announced, do you have a goal for each season? I have read that your conducting approach is one of learning as much as you can rather than dictating what happens. Is it fairly open or is it somewhat staged at this point?
David: No, I think one of the first things is to see our way through the first three programs and then we’ll see where they are with the Music Director search, where they are with the other ideas that they would like from me and what sorts of things they would be able to do. An orchestra like this that has a long history and a storied past with the amazing things that Abravanel was able to do, to bring them to international prominence, it’s a place that has a large amount of continuity and traditions and so I’m interested to see where my part in that trajectory can bring out the best things. So that’s what you do in a partnership—it’s not something where I say, “This is what I’m going to do.” It’s exactly about the partnership that the orchestra and I can find to do that neither of us would be able to do on our own.
Kathryn: Turning our attention to this weekend’s performances, are there things that you would encourage audiences to listen for? I know that Sergei Prokofiev and Shostakovich were contemporaries, so pairing their works is an appropriate choice. How was the choice made to use the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 with Shostakovich’s first symphony and what do you feel is the tie that binds with John Adams’ 1985 The Chairman Dances?
David: Sometimes, connections can be made across time. This is the reason that we can listen to music from the 1600s now or look at a painting from that time and see people that seem somehow familiar to us. In this case, the dancing, almost balletic quality of the Prokofiev comes out very much in The Chairman Dances, which is a foxtrot for orchestra. The sense of playful irony in the Adams works very well with the sense of irony and, sometimes, sarcasm in both the Prokofiev and the Shostakovich. There’s also a sense of fun in all three works, as well as the connection between a very important part in the Adams, which is clearly then reflected in the Prokofiev, but the piano then remains in the orchestra with a very important role in the Shostakovich. The culmination of that and individual players who step to the fore and become the spokesperson or representative of the entire orchestra, whether the clarinet or violin or tuba. All of those things play a role in how the whole concert is tied together.
Maestro Robertson will be conducting Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 on December 9-10, but, as he said, music lovers should “watch this space” for many exciting ventures in the future.
Utah Symphony presents Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2
Abravanel Hall, 123 W South Temple, Salt Lake City, UT84101
December 9-10, 2022, 7:30 PM
Tickets: $10-88
www.usuo.org
Contact: 801-533-5626
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