Best Parental Bail-Out Ever
Here's a fun story from out East, where the Boston Symphony's young assistant conductor Julian Kuerti was making his subscription debut last week. It seems that piano soloist Leon Fleisher was taken ill at the last minute before Tuesday's concert, leaving no time for a replacement to be flown in from out of town. Fortunately, conductor Kuerti is the son of famed Canadian pianist Anton Kuerti, and dad was in town to see the kid's big night. It didn't take much convincing to get him to hop up onstage and fill in, allowing Julian to join the tiny (and probably slightly uncomfortable) fraternity of conductors who have led a concert with a parent on stage alongside.
(I should mention that Julian's an old friend of mine. We've known each other since we were teenagers in the early 1990s, long before he traded his violin for a baton, and it's been a lot of fun to watch his career start to take off in the last few years. A couple of summers back, he actually filled in as conductor of the orchestra at the New England music camp where fellow MN Orch violist Ken Freed and I work, and that gig garnered him my favorite review that he's ever received. Writing on the camp's private wiki page after the summer was over, one 12-year old stated emphatically, "He's the only sane conductor I've ever met." High praise indeed.)
Anyway, the Kuerti double bill reminded me of a great story that was first reported in the New York Times a couple of years back, when the New York Philharmonic's now-music director designate Alan Gilbert was making his much-anticipated debut. Gilbert is the son of two NY Phil musicians, one of whom still plays in the orchestra, and during a rehearsal, she apparently blew an entrance. Now, this kind of thing happens all the time in rehearsals, and unless there's a larger problem or the mistake happens more than once, conductors tend to ignore it out of respect to the offending musician, who presumably can be counted on to correct the problem without having it pointed out to the whole band. But Gilbert, realizing who had dived in this particular hole, stopped the orchestra, whirled around to the first violin section, and hollered, "MOM!"
According to the Times, the whole Philharmonic broke up laughing, as Gilbert remarked, "I've been waiting my whole life to do that."
(I should mention that Julian's an old friend of mine. We've known each other since we were teenagers in the early 1990s, long before he traded his violin for a baton, and it's been a lot of fun to watch his career start to take off in the last few years. A couple of summers back, he actually filled in as conductor of the orchestra at the New England music camp where fellow MN Orch violist Ken Freed and I work, and that gig garnered him my favorite review that he's ever received. Writing on the camp's private wiki page after the summer was over, one 12-year old stated emphatically, "He's the only sane conductor I've ever met." High praise indeed.)
Anyway, the Kuerti double bill reminded me of a great story that was first reported in the New York Times a couple of years back, when the New York Philharmonic's now-music director designate Alan Gilbert was making his much-anticipated debut. Gilbert is the son of two NY Phil musicians, one of whom still plays in the orchestra, and during a rehearsal, she apparently blew an entrance. Now, this kind of thing happens all the time in rehearsals, and unless there's a larger problem or the mistake happens more than once, conductors tend to ignore it out of respect to the offending musician, who presumably can be counted on to correct the problem without having it pointed out to the whole band. But Gilbert, realizing who had dived in this particular hole, stopped the orchestra, whirled around to the first violin section, and hollered, "MOM!"
According to the Times, the whole Philharmonic broke up laughing, as Gilbert remarked, "I've been waiting my whole life to do that."
Labels: conductors and conducting, musician humor
posted by Sam at
8:40 AM
1 Comments:
Sam, I LOVE your stories! "Mom!" Haven't we all wanted to do that? (smile)
"He's the only sane conductor I've ever met." Is insanity a job requirement? Sarah?
During my conductor research for my novel, I found conductors to be interesting, intelligent, often intensely curious about the world and people, friendly, funny, and...incredibly stubborn, often driven people. I must confess, I never wondered about their sanity, although perhaps it can be argued that anyone who decides to work in any art, including music and literature, may indeed be insane in this world.....(smile)
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