John Storgårds--A Profile



John Storgårds

This weekend, John Storgårds will conduct the Houston Symphony in an all Brahms concert. In the previous post, I mentioned that that his background bore some of the indications of a potentially fine conductor.

This of course raises the question, "where do conductors come from." These days, they seem to come from everywhere and from many of the wrong places.

After the jump, a quick look at this conductor's path to the podium and some thoughts on what makes a really good conductor.
What does it take to be a conductor?

In some respects, all it takes is enough chutzpah to take a stick and get onto a box in front of a group of musicians, combined with someone willing to give you that box.

There are courses of study in conducting just like there are courses of study in public accountancy. If you have had the right classes and have the right agent, someone will give you a box.

For awhile anyway.

My view is that these classes are often populated by folks who have not distinguished themselves as musicians first and who mount the boxes without the necessary apprenticeship.

In former times, however, an excellent musician who wanted to conduct would gain an audience with the maestro and become a vocal coach or repitateur and assistant in the opera house, learning at the elbow of someone who knew how it was done. Solti did with Toscanini. Bohm did with Bruno Walter. Bruno Walter did with Mahler.

Storgards' background, although not identical to the old model, is a lot closer to that than the conducting competition wunderkind model of today. Storgards served as concert master in a fine orchestra. This gives his musicianship bona fides that many conductors lack. Even more, the concertmaster position gives experience with the musical heart beat of an orchestra that cannot be duplicated in any fashion other than being on the podium itself.

Even better, that orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony, was conducted by one of the finest conductors of our generation, Esa Peka Salonen. So Storgards could observe how to do it right and could work hand-in-glove with a conductor who is the real deal..

From there he studied conducting with the same teachers that produced Salonen.

He got his box and never stopped. He is Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Artistic Director of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra and most recently the Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic.

Here he conducts an extremely complex piece of contemporary music, and a high level of technique is obvious:




Here he talks about an upcoming symphony season and a bit about orchestra building.



I can hear the symphony board now. How do we market this? What about flash? What about sizzle? What about sex appeal?

He's from Scandinavia. Sizzle is not the defining regional characteristic. And is music more than marketing?

Fear not. The flash and sizzle of a charismatic leader are negatively correlated with making an organization jump from good to great. The second coming of Karajan--absent Karajan's gifts--is not what is called for.

Dogged persistence combined with humility are the ticket. Can one perceive that just watching? I don't know.

Come out to the concerts this weekend and start to judge for yourself. Read the review and weigh in with your own thoughts.