Saturday, March 15, 2025
8:00 PM
Guest conductor Teddy Abrams leads the BSO and soloist Ray Chen in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, the first work the composer completed after his separation from his disastrous marriage. 120 years later, Michael Tilson Thomas lovingly set three of Walt Whitman poems about longing and belonging for baritone and orchestra. Leonard Bernstein’s star-crossed lovers closes the program in an iconic love letter to New York.
Teddy Abrams, conductor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Ray Chen, violin
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto
Michael TILSON THOMAS Whitman Songs
Leonard BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
In a preview of this program, Teddy Abrams describes his close relationship with Michael Tilson Thomas, the thematic threads that weave through these three pieces of music, and ideas about the role of orchestras in the lives of the cities in which they perform. To listen, use the player below, and read the transcript underneath.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Teddy Abrams, who is here in Boston for the first time to lead the Boston Symphony. Teddy, thanks for a little of your time today, I appreciate it.
Teddy Abrams Thank you so much for having me. This is amazing.
Brian McCreath Well, I say it's your first time in Boston to lead the Boston Symphony, but is this your first time in Boston?
Teddy Abrams No. I've been to Boston many times. But the nice thing about coming as a guest conductor is that you're generally at an orchestra for a full week, and I don't know that I've ever been in Boston for a full week, or, if I have, it was a long time ago, I think, as a clarinet student doing a workshop with Richard Stoltzman, actually, and I was maybe ten years old. So that was a while ago.
Brian McCreath Fantastic. Well, tell me then, where does the Boston Symphony sort of play into the story of Teddy Abrams? You must have encountered at least recordings of the BSO somewhere along the line. But what more is there to say about how the Boston Symphony forms part of your musical life?
Teddy Abrams Oh, the BSO has been a huge part of my own development and my ideas about what an orchestra can be. There are so many different ways that the BSO has been a part of my life, even though I haven't conducted it yet until this point. I was a student at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute for two years, and that was transformative for me. That's when I found my people. I found my community of young musicians. That's for high school aged musicians from around the country. And I had never been in a place where everybody was as serious as I was about music. And I got to hear the BSO and the Tanglewood Music Center concerts every single day. I just absorbed everything that I possibly could, and it was immensely inspiring. It's part of the reason that I do what I do now. I've maintained friendships from that period. My best friend was the bassoonist that I sat next to and he's still my best friend. And between that, and then, of course, my own lineage where I grew up with Michael Tilson Thomas as a mentor, I heard so many stories about the work that he did in Boston, and then the connections between him and Leonard Bernstein to Koussevitzky, right up to the point that I'm using a copy of a Koussevitzky baton. That's what I use, which is what Tilson Thomas uses. So, the BSO's factored into my life in really immense ways. And maybe most of all, I think the model of how Koussevitzky created an orchestra that really matters and has a central place in cultural life is an inspiration for me and my own work in Louisville. I've always wanted to do the same thing, to actually have something that people connect with on a broader level than simply putting on concerts. It becomes bigger than that.
Brian McCreath That's a much richer history than I expected you to give me. But that's fantastic. And so, let's talk about MTT because yes, I understand that he has been a mentor of yours from the very beginning, literally from the very beginning of your ideas of being a conductor. Tell me about MTT as a teacher, as a mentor, and what it was that made you want to have him in that role for you?
Teddy Abrams MTT, as we all call him, and I know Bostonians really know him because many people have followed his work here since he was 24 years old, when he was the assistant conductor of this orchestra, but he is the real deal. And I know that that's a ridiculous thing to say at this point. But what I mean is, he is the genuine artist that you kind of hope that the people who rise to the top of their profession might be. There are many different ways that people find themselves with an international career and great respect. But Michael has done it because his mind and his understanding of music is unlike anybody else's. His brain sees and experiences life differently, and he has a perspective on music and art and culture in general that illuminates things that nobody else would have ever found. And that's the reason that people have been so enthralled with his ability to make music and to create art that nobody else would have imagined. That's what I mean by he's the real deal. I've never met a person like him. Every moment that I've had working with him since - and now this is going on nearly 30 years because I first corresponded with him when I was nine years old - but every single interaction has been inspiring and transformative for me, illuminating. Like, he will say something, even offhand remarks, that show a part of the world that you wouldn't have seen. And that's very, very rare. You know, at a certain level, there are so many great musicians, technically proficient musicians, talented musicians, but very few people that have that deep kind of insight into what life is like. And he does.
Brian McCreath And many people - probably more in San Francisco, people do know this about MTT - but many people who engage with concerts and hear his name don't actually realize that he is a composer, that he's composed a lot of music, maybe not an extensive catalog, but a lot of great music. And so you had a lot of choices if you wanted to include some music of his in this particular program. What led you to the choice of the Whitman Songs?
Teddy Abrams We were looking at a bunch of the different options for Michael's orchestral output, and considering how the program might all interact, which is an interesting one, because of course, you have a very famous concerto on the first half and then a very, very famous Bernstein Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. What would be something that actually links everything together? Thematically, the Whitman Songs is perfect because all these pieces of music are about identity. A lot of them deal with certain elements of sexuality, and all three composers had a different relationship to their own sexuality, Tchaikovsky, of course, being gay and closeted his entire life. Bernstein, we all know, is very complicated. And Michael, who has been quite open with his sexuality his entire life. And you look at the third song of these three Whitman settings, and this is a famous, maybe one of the more explicit poems of Whitman's called "We Two Boys Together Clinging." So, there is this question of identity, but there's also something very important on the second half that goes even beyond the personal identity, and to more of a question about American Identity and who we are. And that was the question that Whitman interrogated. It's the question that Bernstein kept trying to answer in his own music, and MTT said it was the question that he confronted when he first started reading Whitman as a young man. And so, there's a very powerful kind of tether here in the second half that asks us, what does it mean to be an American artist? What does it mean to be in this country as a creative person and try and represent your people? And in all three of these artists, MTT, Bernstein, and Whitman kind of hanging in the background there, have their voice on this program.
Brian McCreath I didn't even actually make that connection with the Tchaikovsky, too, that the history of that piece even particularly has to do with his own identity, his own struggles with that identity. So, that's a really fascinating way to put these pieces together.
Teddy Abrams One of the things that I find most inspiring about this program is that even though all three composers are dealing with the great tragedies, the great uncertainties of their times and their own lives, they have answered the questions of life and some of those that can't even be answered, but they have answered them with joy. And that's the amazing thing, that in the midst of Tchaikovsky's great turmoil, personal turmoil, dealing with a marriage that he couldn't sustain because he knew who he was, he writes the Violin Concerto, which has so much expressive joy in it. Yes, it has turns that are tragic and reflective here and there, but overall, it's a joyous piece. West Side Story, despite the story literally being a tragedy, it's a Shakespearean tragedy, but the music is so full of passion for life itself and just utter joy. There's a swagger and a sense of walking down the street and whistling, which we all know from the movie, but that's in there, that's in Bernstein's output, like this ravenous quality for life. And then Michael answers it the same way, even as wistful as his music can be, you can hear that he tends towards the joyful, he tends towards the belief in this thing, in life. And I think that that's actually a really great program for right now with all the craziness and uncertainty. It has nothing to do with even politics. It's just an uncertain, complicated world that feels faster and more difficult to apprehend than ever. And these are the right pieces for that, I think.
Brian McCreath That's great. I know you've worked with Ray Chen on several occasions, but tell me now what you feel like he brings to the stage, especially in a piece like the Tchaikovsky.
Teddy Abrams So Ray and I actually went to school together. We went to Curtis and we entered the same year, in 2005. He stayed a little longer because I was a conducting major, and that's only a three-year program. At least it was back then. And the great thing about Ray is that he's the same old Ray, even if he's, you know, very well known, he has really achieved a remarkable presence around the world, particularly online. And he has cracked the code. Most classical musicians really struggle with figuring out an online persona because it's not something we often grew up with, or maybe, unlike other parts of the entertainment world where you have to build an online personality along with your career, in classical music, you can actually get away with not doing that. But it means you're missing out on audience. And Ray has been incredible. And if you really look at the work that he's done, he has an app that's an open practice room system where people can drop in on each other's practice sessions and give comments. It's a brilliant concept and it's executed really well. And of course, he's just in touch with a global fanbase of millions. And I think that's probably inspired tremendous numbers, especially of young musicians that really look up to him. And he's done right by them. All that to say that he delivers on stage because he's obviously, of course, a tremendous violinist, but he also puts on a show, which is what you want. You want somebody that can engage the audience and make them feel that the presence of the soloist reflects the presence of the piece, and he always does that. This will be the third time I've worked with them this season, actually. We did Barber's Concerto in Louisville and then did it again actually at Curtis. It's the Curtis 100th year anniversary this year. So, it was very special. We did a set of shows together. And so anyway, I can't wait to do Tchaikovsky with him here.
Brian McCreath Yeah, with Samuel Barber's very strong connection to Curtis as well.
Teddy Abrams That's right. Yeah. I always love those kind of background tethers. You know, it's something that I think about, like, what's the music that I feel like I can really bring something special or something unique, and even, for instance, in this situation, even with the BSO, which knows everybody, has seen it, every conductor. But hopefully, my personal relationship to Michael and also the Bernstein family - they've been a huge part of my life - that that can feel like there's something that we can still exchange, and I think that's important as a conductor, that you have something personal to bring to this because especially an orchestra like Boston has seen literally every major artist has come to this hall and played with this orchestra. And that's a lot of pressure. That's some pressure, and you have to be yourself in the end. Like in the end, it doesn't matter who's been here or not. What matters, you know, is, are you making music? That's all. But you also want to know that you can offer something that maybe you can't find anywhere else.
Brian McCreath You mentioned Koussevitzky and the idea of an orchestra being important. And MTT, I think, had that same sort of philosophy behind all of his work in San Francisco and in other places, too. But it really, really took flight in San Francisco. So tell me, you now arrive at the Louisville Orchestra, which is a midsize orchestra with a proud history in very specific ways, which should be honored. But it was an orchestra at the time, a bit down on its luck, if we can just put it that way, quite a euphemism for what was going on. But you come in and you brought ideas, you brought initiatives, programs, things that you wanted to do to connect that orchestra to the city. Okay, I'm just laying a lot of groundwork here, because what I want to ask you is, was it MTT that inspired these? And maybe Koussevitzky, too. Where did your thinking about the connection of an orchestra to its city specifically come from in your mind? And if I might ask the dreaded two-part question, you've been there now for ten years. What have you learned that worked and maybe even what didn't work?
Teddy Abrams Oh man, that's a question. That's a really amazing question because that alone is a topic that could take, I mean, you actually could never finish that discussion because it gets to the core of what institutions are really supposed to be doing. What I think is very telling about the ways in which Koussevitzky, Bernstein, and MTT all expressed their leadership is that the things that they perhaps are best known for are the civic influences, the civic ideas. You know, Koussevitzky says, let's build a music festival that's going to transform the way people experience music in the summer and transform the way young musicians are educated. Bernstein says, let's find a way to create concerts for young people that will make them care about this music for life. And MTT says, let's define the San Francisco Symphony as the place where the Mavericks are given a home, where the edgiest, most interesting new music and living composers have a real role in society. Those are all civic ideas. Those are not just good concerts. Those are big ideas about what an orchestra can be and do. And whether you liked or agreed with every single thing those individuals actually produced is not the point. The point is that they all had a reason where, if a random person stopped them in the street and said, hey, why should a city have an orchestra? Like, why should they get all this money? That money could be donated anywhere. Any one of those men could have answered that question. And that is the model that I have tried to use. I've tried to know in my heart why I believe the institution is there.
This is not the same as the music. The music is eternal. I always say this. Let's not get this confused. Mozart, Beethoven, Bernstein, Mahler, John Adams, the creation that they've all offered us has nothing to do with the value of institutions. Institutions have to prove themselves. The music doesn't. The music is great, and it will always be great. Whether there are orchestras or not, the music is still great, theoretically. The institutions, though, have to understand who they are, and they have to be able to answer that question as to why we exist in a world that often doesn't understand us. And that's the inspiration. Those individuals all found that. And in Louisville, what I've tried to do is say, we are conduits to help our community, both locally and as a state. Now, that sounds kind of folksy, but it's quite specific. As a city, we are not a creative destination, so we started a program that employs full time composers. We have a whole staff of composers. We have three full time composers that live and work in Louisville. They're literally on our staff. They're not paid by commission, they're just writing for the orchestra year-round because we want it to be seen as a destination. And many of the composers who have been through the program just stayed in Louisville. So now we have this whole community of composers. That's one thing. Then we said to the state, we want to help you, but help us to help you solve the urban-rural divide, which nobody seems to be making any dent. This is a very divided country and a very divided state. And the legislature said, sure. Here is some funding to go and take the music to every part of Kentucky. So, we spend five or six weeks a year on the road in rural Kentucky. Not fancy concert halls, often high school gyms and community centers or arenas, if a city has that. And we're doing these long-term residencies in Appalachia and western Kentucky, and that's our answer. That kind of performing really does change lives and it creates so much empathy. I feel like such a better American because I've spent time with people that I wouldn't have met otherwise. And certainly, I don't share their background, and they probably don't share mine. And we've spent real time together because of it. So, it's a long answer, but I wanted to share those thoughts because I had inspiration and mentors that lit the way.
Brian McCreath It's a long answer to a long question, to be honest. So that's my fault, too. But Teddy Abrams, it's really great to have you here. Wonderful to hear you work with the orchestra. And thanks a lot for your time today. I appreciate it.
Teddy Abrams Well thank you. This is so exciting. This is truly an honor. I can really say that. This is so cool.