Saturday, November 30, 2024
8:00 PM
Andris Nelsons and the two 2024 Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellows share this concert of Norwegian and Finnish works, beginning with Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia. Then, Benjamin Grosvenor is the soloist in Edvard Grieg’s fiery Piano Concerto, followed by Grieg’s Baroque dance-inspired Holberg Suite. The program concludes with Sibelius’s single-movement Seventh Symphony, the ultimate expression of his personal musical language.
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Ross Jamie Collins, Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow
Na’Zir McFadden, Tanglewood Music Center Conducting Fellow
Benjamin Grosvenor, piano
Jean SIBELIUS Finlandia
Edvard GRIEG Piano Concerto
GRIEG Holberg Suite
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 7
This concert is no longar available on demand.
Hear a preview of the concert with conductors Na'Zir McFadden and Ross Jamie Collins using the player above, and read the transcript below.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity):
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with two conductors from, well, last summer's Tanglewood Music Center, but also many other arenas in which they've conducted, now making their Boston Symphony debuts here at Symphony Hall. Na'Zir McFadden, it's good to see you today. Thank you for your time.
Na'Zir McFadden It's great to be here. Thank you for having me.
Brian McCreath And Ross Jamie Collins, thank you for your time as well.
Ross Jamie Collins Of course, I'm happy to be here.
Brian McCreath I'm interested in a little bit of background from both of you. Let's just start with what that moment was when each of you thought, "Actually, conducting is the path I want to take," the idea of pursuing this in a really serious way. Na'Zir, when did that strike you?
Na'Zir McFadden So it actually started pretty early in my life. I grew up in the church, so I was always around music. And my family, they were church musicians. And I remember sitting in the back of the pew, and I used to hop one pew, one pew, one pew to get closer to the energy. And I was always captivated by what the conductor was doing, and he was able to embody the music by just using his hands. And I thought that was the most exhilarating thing. And I actually used to break plastic clothes hangers, and I used to wave my arms around not really knowing what I was doing, but somehow feeling the music deeper. I had many mentors and I reached out to many organizations, received many "no's," but some "yes's." And that is what led me here.
Brian McCreath Fantastic. Ross, how about you? Was there a particular moment? Did it also start early for you?
Ross Jamie Collins So classical music has always been a part of my life. My parents are violin makers. So I was handed a violin before I could walk. Well, my fingers couldn't bend into a violin, but I grew up playing the cello and the piano. And at some point in my teen years, when I was 13, 14, I had been to concerts and I saw conducting. And I thought, you know what? That looks like a lot of fun. And my parents, being violin makers, they know professional musicians, and one thing led to another. I was doing conducting masterclasses, and at some point then, after a few masterclasses, it really clicked. And I had the light bulb moment where I realized that, you know what? This is really fun and this is what I want to do.
Brian McCreath Fantastic. Now, when did Tanglewood become something you were even aware of as a place that one could go to study music?
Ross Jamie Collins I studied at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, and I graduated back in 2023. And going to school there, Tanglewood was always at the top of the list. It was one of the first things out of people's mouths when talking about summer festivals and summer experiences, and everybody had nothing but amazing things to say about Tanglewood. And people were itching to go back. So, I had already known about Tanglewood, that it's one of those places where you leave a changed person, and you become part of the family, and people have so much fun there. So then, me thinking then I would like to do a summer festival as well, it was one of the first places I thought of.
Brian McCreath Na'Zir, tell me about a moment from this last summer at Tanglewood that really sticks out for you, that is, maybe, a moment that you were working with a mentor or maybe standing in front of TMCO [Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra] conducting or anything else. What's a moment that is the signature moment from this last summer at Tanglewood for you?
Na'Zir McFadden Well, I think I can speak for myself and Ross when I say this, but we ended our tenure at the Tanglewood Music Center off on a high note. We actually got to step in for Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony for Hannu Lintu, who was unfortunately not able to make the performance. And that was the perfect way to end the summer because we got to showcase our growth, our growth and musical understanding, the passion that we had for conducting. We got to showcase that as the final performance with the TMCO.
Brian McCreath And that particular piece brings some real challenges to it. Was this a situation in which you felt fully prepared, like, well, here I am, I'm going to step in and I'm going to conduct this piece.
Na'Zir McFadden At the beginning of the summer, maybe the answer to that question would have been no. But by the end of it, I knew that we were ready. It was the perfect moment, the perfect place, the perfect orchestra, the perfect faculty. And I think we all felt perfect in that moment.
Brian McCreath That's fantastic. Ross, tell me about your experience of that moment.
Ross Jamie Collins I mean, it was very surreal in a way. And like you said, it was like the perfect setting for it. I mean, for us, it felt like a very wholesome moment because we had been there the whole summer, and we'd been with the orchestra the whole summer, and they are friends at this point, close friends at this point. So that moment then, us getting to be there for the final notes, I remember I was standing with Na'Zir on stage, and we took a bow with the whole orchestra behind us. It kind of felt like we were all taking that bow. It was a very, very wholesome moment. So, you know, I totally agree with what Na'Zir said.
Brian McCreath And to clarify, you each conducted part of the symphony. Is that right?
Ross Jamie Collins Yes. So Na'Zir conducted the first and third movement and I conducted the second and the fourth movement.
Brian McCreath That's fantastic. Wow. What a really, really cool way to to handle that situation when a conductor is indisposed. Na'Zir, tell me, because you were the two conducting fellows at Tanglewood and, you had mentors - you worked with Andris, I'm sure, as well as other conductors and other mentors - but tell me what you learned from Ross during your summer.
Na'Zir McFadden I - [laughs] as Ross rubs his hands together - first I want to say, working with the mentors at the TMC is a phenomenal experience. But getting to work with another colleague, someone who's in the same experience and is conducting the same amount of rep and different rep with you, I think I've learned to take it easy and not to think so much about it. I mean, Ross has such a fluid technique and he has this bright personality that he showcases on the podium. And oftentimes I can get in my head. And when I watch Ross, I'm like, he is just having the best time on that podium. So I've definitely learned how to be a little bit more free and open.
Brian McCreath That's beautiful. Well, Ross, same question for you.
Ross Jamie Collins Well, first of all, I'm blushing now. Give me a moment. How am I supposed to go after that? I was going to say something very similar. Standing in front of new people, it can sometimes feel very daunting and very even overwhelming at times. There were a lot of car rides that Na'Zir will remember, that we were on the way back from either a rehearsal or a master class, and we were kind of putting the pieces together and sometimes, maybe Na'Zir as well, but I was kind of like, what just happened? And it was a real pleasure having Na'Zir there to kind of like reassure that, you know, we're fine. I mean, throughout the whole summer, I became more and more relaxed. And it's so nice that there were two of us and it felt very intimate and it felt very close. So getting to be there with Na'Zir, it felt very reassuring. It felt comfortable, It felt nice. It felt like we were in it together.
Brian McCreath Na'Zir, let's talk a little about Andris Nelsons, because you worked with him over the summer, and now here you are in a subscription week of the Boston Symphony. I've got to believe that the rehearsal process and what you're working on with Andris is in such a more concentrated form here than it was at the TMC. So, tell me about working with the BSO and with Andris this week.
Na'Zir McFadden Well, for starters, it's the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They make it so easy because everything that you show and anything that you ask for, they're able to give to you. And that's a bit of a double edged sword because you can ask for too much or you can not ask for anything and they're willing to go right along with you. And that is the perfect, perfect place to experiment and to be spontaneous. And when you have an orchestra at such a high level and they're so experienced and they're offering tips as well, it's wonderful. Now, Andris Nelsons, for me, is the musician's musician. His personality is very much the same on the podium as it is off of the podium. And one of the things that I've learned from Andris and have been able to experiment with in my own conducting and personality is to be vulnerable. He is not afraid to make silly faces if it helps the character of the music, or to change his posture or to change the way that he breathes to really capture a specific idea. Like I said, he's a musician's musician. Everything that you want him to show, he's able to do it through his face, through his hands, through his body language, and he's able to say it. And for me, Andris, his interpretations are always the closest to what I imagine in my mind. So to be able to learn from someone that I treasure, I can't put the feelings into words.
Brian McCreath That's beautiful. Ross I think there's some Finnish history in your background, and you studied with this incredibly famous conducting teacher, Jorma Panula. And so I've got to ask, what was it like when you found that you would be conducting Finlandia by Sibelius in this concert?
Ross Jamie Collins I mean, I was thrilled to say the least. Finlandia is a piece that I obviously know very well. I grew up singing, and every Finnish kid grows up in school singing the middle song theme, either in choir or in mornings at school. So then getting to do that piece is a real honor. And I feel this kind of Finnish pride that we have going into the concert on Friday and Saturday.
Brian McCreath And as a conductor, there's a lot to do in this relatively short piece. I mean, there's all kinds of tempo changes and texture changes. And is it a piece that you have actually conducted before so that you already kind of knew going in what you were in for?
Ross Jamie Collins Yes, I've had the chance to do it before. And it's one of those pieces that it's so heavily written that when you dive deeper into it, there's always something new, like a very small thing that you can either change or approach differently. He was a detailed composer and some things are best approached with a wider perspective. And some things are better when you go into the fine details of things. So I'm very happy to get to do it.
Brian McCreath And conducting it with the Boston Symphony must bring you some extra dimensions of this piece that maybe other orchestras don't bring.
Ross Jamie Collins I mean, are you kidding me? They're amazing. Like, the rehearsals yesterday and today have been just phenomenal and getting to stand there, it's very overwhelming, the sound that they bring. It's just this kind of super luscious and it's got that kind of intent and drive in it that's hard to find. And it's irreplaceable.
Brian McCreath Na'Zir, were you familiar with the Holberg Suite?
Na'Zir McFadden Yes. So I've performed the piece multiple times, actually. And what's interesting is that I've now performed the piece at many different levels of playing. I got to perform it with my youth orchestra in Detroit. So, you know, beginner musicians, I've gotten to perform it with some community ensembles. And now I can finally say I've gotten to perform it with one of the best orchestras in the world.
Brian McCreath And can you describe that to me? I mean, you already described the experience generally of conducting the Boston Symphony, but this piece in particular: what is it about this piece that this orchestra, this particular string section really brings to the piece?
Na'Zir McFadden Well, the sound is so nuanced, and there are many different qualities of sound within the orchestra. And I think that is the perfect setup for this piece of music because it's based on five dances, really six dances. And each particular dance calls for a different sound concept. So being able to experiment and request different things from the orchestra is perfect. And I hope that the audience pays close attention to the Musette movement because it's actually based on a bar song, if that makes any sense. And it's the closest influence of jazz that we have in the classical repertoire, and it's the first influence from the Baroque period. So I've actually asked the orchestra to do a little bit of swinging.
Brian McCreath Nice. That's great. Well, Na'Zir McFadden, it's great to meet you and congratulations. It sounds awesome in rehearsal, so thanks for your time today.
Na'Zir McFadden Thank you for having me.
Brian McCreath And Ross Jamie Collins, also, wonderful sounds in rehearsal and great to see you work here in Symphony Hall. Thanks for your time.
Ross Jamie Collins Thank you so much.