Profile: Thomas Dausgaard

Thomas Dausgaard
(photo by Per Morten Abrahamsen)

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, our Houston Symphony will perform with a leading candidate for the position of its next music director: Thomas Dausgaard.

On the program will be Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3, Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Stephen Hough at the piano, and Nielsen Symphony No. 4, subtitled The Inextinguishable.

Follow the links for some exemplar performances.

I'm a huge fan of the Nielsen, and Leonore 3 is always a good way to get going with a bang. Liszt makes about three war horse concerti in a row, but they are war horses for a reason.

So get out there, buy some tickets, and listen for yourself.

Looking at the list of contenders before the season, Thomas Dausgaard is one that I would have rated as highly probable to be able to fill the role of music director. But as I've said before, its a very curious business trying to hire an alchemist.

So after the jump, let's take a look at some of what can be known before the music is heard.


The day job interferes a bit this week, so this profile will have to be short. Before any words of mine, here is Thomas Dausgaard on Thomas Dausgaard. A profile from guest conducting in Seattle:



Now, quickly, some of what I view as the "pros" in Dausgaard's background:

• Age: Dausgaard is a grownup. Older and more experienced than either Orozco-Estrada or Alexander Shelley. Having a larger body of work to evaluate lessens the risk for the orchestra.
• Leadership experience: Dausgaard has already had the leadership and administrative experience of leading at least two orchestras as music director or principal conductor: the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
• Discography: Dausgaard's has recorded extensively. If he continues to do so using our orchestra, so much the better in raising the profile of the orchestra and the city.
• Tradition: Dausgaard comes from an area of northern Europe and the Baltic that is producing some of the most compelling conductors of recent times. And there's a Sibelius anniversary coming up, which would be right in Dausgaard's Scandinavian wheelhouse. 
• Availability: Dausgaard is no longer music director of one of the organizations he was leading, presumably freeing up time and energy to lead an organization on this side of the pond. 
• Profile: Dausgaard is conducting everywhere, including major American orchestras, which would reflect well on the Houston Symphony. Then again, so is Herras-Cassado. 

But there may be some cons as well:

• Opera experience: He may have it but I don't see it in his background. Of course Lenny didn't grow up at the opera house either. 
• Instrumental chops: He may have them, but again, I don't see it in his background. Not every conductor has them, but many of the ones I think are best do. 
• Training: As one ages, the schooling received in the past becomes less relevant to making guesses at how good you really are. Still, I cannot tell from his background how he came to conduct and who taught him.

So, now a preview of his podium presence. How about some Tchaik 6:




Or perhaps some Nielsen to whet the palate:


Too many Houston Symphony patrons have been cleverly disguised as red velvet seats these last 10 years. So get your tickets and get out there.