Friday, August 14, 2026
8:00 PM
Anna Handler leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a dance-themed orchestral program that includes Christopher Rountree’s For Martha (Variations on a Theme of Leonard Bernstein), Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7
Anna Handler, conductor
Aaron COPLAND Appalachian Spring
Christopher ROUNTREE For Martha (Variations on a Theme of Leonard Bernstein)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7
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In an interview with CRB's Brian McCreath, Anna Handler talks about conducting Copland's Appalachian Spring with the Martha Graham Dance Company, the discoveries of Christopher Rountree's For Martha, and what her two years as an Assistant Conductor at the BSO has meant for her.
Transcript:
Brian McCreath: I'm Brian McCreath at Tanglewood with Anna Handler, who is getting ready to conduct her last concert as BSO Assistant Conductor. It seems like, gosh, it seems like you've been here for so long. You're such a wonderful part of the community. Everybody loves you, but you haven't actually been here that long. And now it's time for the next chapters. I'm so glad we get a chance to talk about this final program for you, Anna. So thank you for your time today.
Anna Handler: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's always an honor to talk to you about the pieces I get to do here.
Brian McCreath: This is a great program. I mean, it's one that I spotted immediately when the Tanglewood season was announced, because if you're doing "Appalachian Spring," that's great enough at Tanglewood. There's so much story and connection, and the vibe of the piece is so Tanglewood. But this is very special because it's being danced to by the Martha Graham Dance Company. And so when you were asked to take this program, what were your first thoughts about conducting "Appalachian Spring" with the Martha Graham Company, along with the other pieces on the program? We'll get to that, but tell me more about Copland to begin with.
Anna Handler: I got this beautiful email from Tony Fogg asking me if I wanted to conduct this program because I had had the chance prior to conduct "Appalachian Spring" with the BSO and with the Chamber Players in the Suite version. And that's a piece that every young conductor gets to do at some point in their education because it's very popular in competitions and auditions. It has this, in the Suite, rehearsal number 35 that is a little bit tricky. And, you know, but now that I look at it again, it feels much more easy and smoother in my body. But when you first look at it, it's like it can be a little tricky. And now, I mean, every time I got to do this— first I got to do this at the new MIT Concert Hall with wonderful players, and then at Tanglewood. And I thought, wow, I mean, it doesn't get better than this, you know, in America at Tanglewood, the place where Copland and Bernstein, you know, everybody was. And now, I mean, an even more deeper relationship with the piece through adding the dance and doing the full ballet version. I can understand why the suite exists.
I mean, or maybe we are just very used to having this shorter version, but some music in the ballet makes a lot of sense when you see someone dancing to it. But when it's just concert music, it makes absolute sense that they cut that out for me personally. But I'm very excited now to learn this new part of the piece that I didn't know of, because I always listened to the suite first. My fault, you know. [Laughs]
Brian McCreath: We all do. But here's the thing, Anna, you know, you mentioned that it's actually very difficult and a good conducting contest kind of piece, because what people in the audience don't think of is that it is very complicated rhythmically. Much more so than it appears when it's done really well. It's one of those pieces that when it's done well, it sounds easy and it flows. But when you're in the orchestra or on the podium, it's got so much rhythmic complexity.
Anna Handler: Yeah, I mean, it is not like maybe like "Rite of Spring" in terms of complexity. But yeah, it has meter changes that sound like a folk tune at the end of the day and then a very, I would say, archaic and... I would say it's very rooted in, like, for example, Shaker. There's a Shaker song. And I feel, me coming from Germany to this country also, I feel kind of like connecting with this tradition of starting a new chapter of your life somewhere new. And this is the same for this couple that moves there. I'm really excited to see the dance. I mean, I will not see it directly. It will be behind me, but I hope to see a video or I mean, then watch the dancers a little bit while we are rehearsing. And it's so great that I got introduced to Martha Graham Dance Technique actually 3 years ago at Juilliard.
Brian McCreath: Tell me about that. Wow.
Anna Handler: I had this gift to study at Juilliard and David Robertson, our conducting teacher, thought, we should not only be immersed in the music department, but also in the acting and in the dance department of Juilliard, at least to have, you know, some kind of insight or visit some classes. And I actually then, through the Kovner Fellowship, was able to afford some private classes with Terese Capucilli. I'm not the best dancer on this planet, I really honestly confess, but Martha Graham Technique is, from what I felt, extremely spiritually connected to your breath and feeling your pelvic floor energy and posture and energy. And I mean, I always feel or see what Terese Capucilli, this picture she gave to me, which was a tree with incredibly long roots and like fiery floor, like a lot of energy down there. It's like a full circle moment to do this now. Yeah.
Brian McCreath: That's fantastic. And I have to believe that that kind of work, working on that kind of dance, can do nothing but help conducting itself because the physical awareness of your body has to be a big part of conducting, I suppose.
Anna Handler: Very much so. I kind of wish I was still having Martha Graham Technique class regularly. Because, how do we conduct? Conducting for me is something truly personal. Of course there's the technique, but also I think the way I found to conducting was that the music found me or moved through my body. And it was like a channel that opened up when I found it, like the hands that moved very naturally. And I think best conducting for me at the moment is probably a mix of intellectual understanding of the score and the music, but then also bringing in this intuition and the very natural emotion that arises when I conduct. And the same with technique. When I see Martha Graham dancers, they have so much core muscles and so much strength, but it's all connected to their breath and it's very organic and it doesn't feel tense to me. It feels like a flow. So I really want to learn from them when I meet them. So let's see.
Brian McCreath: And then a real highlight of this program, as if there's one highlight among the big 3 pieces, but Christopher Roundtree's piece "For Martha." And it's something that is such a fascinating story behind it. Tell me what you've learned about this piece and where it comes from.
Anna Handler: Well, this piece is a little gem that I'm very grateful to conduct now for the first time in my life, and it's being premiered here at Tanglewood. It has been performed 2 times before, but this is the Tanglewood premiere. And my dear friend Marshall Estrin, who I studied with at Juilliard— he's a composer— and he introduced me to these fragments by Bernstein 2 years ago, just mentioning them, that they were found, and it was part of this process, Library of Congress. And then Tony Fogg sends me again this email saying, these are fragments by Bernstein. And I talked to Marshall again, and he said like, oh my God, that's probably the piece. We can't wait to hear it. What did Christopher actually do with this fragment? Because the piece is, I would say, 80% Christopher's music and 20%, if not even, this fragment. And it's framed like a little jewelbox. I mean, so beautifully surrounded. What I've learned about this fragment, how it came to be alive, is that Martha Graham wrote this piece called American Document in the 1930s, and they had done this with music, but then she wanted to come back to the piece in the 1980s and was looking for a composer, and she approached Leonard Bernstein.
And first he was extremely excited and came to rehearsals and wanted to be part of the project, but then I think it was just not the right— or it is to be believed that it was not the right time in his life, and he didn't finish the project, and then they used music by John Corigliano, his oboe concerto.
Brian McCreath: Well, let's talk about the third piece on this program, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. And maybe at first, for people looking at the program on paper, maybe the connection doesn't jump right out, but I think there are connections between Beethoven's Seventh and the rest of this program. Tell me about those connections and why this was a piece you wanted to do on this concert.
Anna Handler: Just quickly connecting it to Bernstein, it was the last piece he conducted here at the Tanglewood Music Festival in the year of his death. And I've watched a little clip of him conducting the third movement, and it seems so easy for him, it's almost like a dance, like how he embodies it, the different accents and fortepianos. It was my suggestion because I thought of this quote by Richard Wagner that this piece is the "apotheosis of dance," the "apotheose des Tanzes." And I always wonder, like, why did he say that? You know, this rhythm [sings], and this obsession with the dotted rhythm and one note only, you know, so it's always -- [sings] and then it comes in the second movement [sings]. So is this a melody? That's what Bernstein always asked. Is this the greatest melody ever written? Not really. What happens harmonically? A minor, E major, A minor, you know, like a little bit going to C major, but it's also not revolutionary. But still, it reaches us so directly, imminently. I think it's also— there's this long introduction that I think is full of joy in a way, and also a little bit like, I call it maybe, hammering, you know, [sings] these scales that go up and then the dolce -- [sings].
So a lot of contrast in the symphony. It comes after No. 5, after No. 6. And is there a story to it or is it abstract music? So there's only 8 and 9 left. And on a personal note, I can say I'm so grateful that I start my Beethoven journey this year with 7, because I will do 5 at the Hollywood Bowl in 2 weeks, and then I will do number 9 in Ulster as my very first concert as the new chief conductor.
Brian McCreath: Beethoven 9 for your first concert? That's fantastic.
Anna Handler: I know, it's their 60th anniversary. It's a celebration.
Brian McCreath: The 60th anniversary of the Ulster Orchestra.
Anna Handler: Exactly, exactly. And we are using a lot of young people in the chorus, so 16 and upwards, from so many different regions of the country. And I'm really excited about this. And then I'm going to be artist in residence at the Beethovenhaus Bonn for the next season. So my deep, I think, interest in Beethoven goes to a longer time when I was still practicing piano a lot. But I think last year when Andris did all 9 Beethoven symphonies with the BSO, that was a very special moment. And I can't wait to experience it with them. And it's a gift that Lorna [McGhee] will play flute for me and John [Ferrillo] will play oboe for me. And, both Nathan [Cole] and Sasha [Alexander Velinzon] and everybody, you know, this feels like some of the people in the orchestra still played this with Bernstein. And I hope that they will not hesitate to tell me what they still remember, so that this tradition continues and the knowledge lives on. And because I'm starting from scratch. But this morning, for example, I had a quick exchange with Antonio Pappano, who has become a mentor. And so I conducted a little bit for him Beethoven 7, and he had good things to say, obviously.
Brian McCreath: Antonio Pappano, the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and many other ensembles and companies. But what an amazing program to wrap up your time in this position. And now that you say what is in front of you, what your plans are after this concert, it's propelling you forward. It's like a springboard. You're doing Beethoven 7 and springing forward into Beethoven 5 and Beethoven 9 and this residency at the Beethoven House. Maybe you're already thinking about this. You speak with such affection for the individual players in this orchestra, and at this moment of pivoting away from the Boston Symphony after this concert, tell me your nutshell thoughts about your time with the BSO and what it has meant to you.
Anna Handler: This is a very unique opportunity in the whole world. The BSO offers their Assistant Conductors just an enormous gift and range of opportunities. I don't know any other position that gives you subscription concerts and really serious full-length concert programs at Tanglewood and at the Hall. It's a huge honor, privilege, and it is important also, I think, to show the world, like, we believe in young people, we nurture younger talents, and we want them to learn what our tradition is. If you look at the Vienna Philharmonic, also how they bring in academists, and there's also this passing on of the tradition. And we see this also Berlin Philharmonic and in other orchestras. And I think for conductors it's the same. You cannot become an old and wise conductor if you weren't a new and young one. You have to start, you know, you have to start. And I have felt so welcomed and warmly accepted in this community, and I will miss them so much. And some of them have become like my parents or grandparents, and I have exchanges with them, and I want their feedback moving forward.
And feedback, but also opinions or exchange. This is an orchestra that has so much personality, and each individual player looks at these pieces with so much devotion, and they sing, and they have their own voice. Learning how to trust that, not wanting to control it all— you come with your vision, you have to be prepared, very prepared, but then also seeing what they offer and what they have to say about the piece. So I couldn't be more grateful for these 2 years, and I can't wait for what's next. But I feel like I have a lot of very valuable knowledge in my backpack, and I hope to pass it on to new people as well.
Brian McCreath: I'm sure that'll happen. And I will say that I'm very grateful for your time here and the conversations we've had. It's always been wonderful to see you at the Hall, here at the Shed, everywhere.
Anna Handler: Likewise, likewise, likewise. Again, thank you for giving me the chance to improve. I don't know if I improved from the first this interview to now. Honestly, I feel like I'm still talking too much.
Brian McCreath: No, you're wonderful. It's fine, it's fine.
Anna Handler: I don't have a teleprompter. I'm very, I'm very—
Brian McCreath: You have so many things to say. It's great, it's fantastic. Anna, thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Anna Handler: Thank you so much for having me.