A conductor of an orchestra is akin to a football team’s coach. S/he must be a capable leader, and also have the empathy to understand the emotions of the orchestra’s members. A conductor is the unifying force of an orchestra, bringing hundreds of musicians together in a single performance. “No one can prepare for the emotions and psychological things that happen at rehearsal,” says James Gaffigan, who leads Switzerland’s oldest orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra (LSO), since 2011. “There is no textbook that teaches you how to read people. As a conductor, one has to deal with a lot of egos, and be sensitive to the musicians’ emotions.” This evening, the LSO makes its Mumbai debut under the baton of Gaffigan, featuring Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili.
Growing up in a family of non-musicians did not deter Gaffigan from gravitating towards the piano at an early age. Even as a toddler, he would fiddle around with the instrument, trying to create melodies. “We had a piano at our home in Staten Island, NY,” says the 36-year-old New Yorker. “My parents realised I had talent and decided to support my musical education.” Growing up, he listened to popular music like Frank Sinatra and even rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Jane’s Addiction. He started appreciating western classical music at the age of 15. Around this time, Gaffigan moved to Manhattan, New York, where he took formal music lessons at the LaGuardia High School. Simultaneously, he also attended classes at the Juilliard School’s preparatory division for young musicians.
At 19, Gaffigan realised that he wanted to become a professional conductor. Consequently, he went on to take lessons in conducting at the New England Conservatory in Massachusetts, Boston. Here, he was exposed to many noted orchestras, chief among them, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. “When I was leaving high school, I saw my peers playing in orchestras and I loved the sound it produced,” says the conductor. “It was fascinating to see so many musicians come together to create something beautiful. I knew then that I wanted to play a bigger role than just playing with an orchestra. I wanted to read and interpret music scores, and had a desire to lead musicians.”
But it was during his graduate studies at Rice University, Houston, Texas, that Gaffigan learnt the most about conducting. Among his mentors was Larry Rachleff, former music director of the Shepherd School Symphony and Chamber Orchestras.
Gaffigan began his career as assistant conductor to the Cleveland Orchestra (CO), U.S.A., from 2003 to 2006. But it was in 2000 that he made his debut as a guest conductor for the CO, for Tchaikovsky’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Gaffigan got the position thanks to an offer from American conductor David Zinman. After 13 years of being a conductor, Gaffigan still considers his career’s highlight to be a performance with his first orchestra. “When Franz Welser Möst, director of the Cleveland Orchestra, fell ill, I was asked to replace him for a concert only an hour before it began,” he says. “I had had no rehearsal with the orchestra and I was very nervous. We were going to perform Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No. 5’ and somehow, I ended up feeling like I was driving a smooth, elegant car. The orchestra was so perfect; it didn’t feel like I had never conducted them in that repertoire before.”
Unlike Gaffigan, this evening’s guest pianist, Buniatishvili, was inspired by her mother to learn the piano. Growing up in the Georgian city of Batumi, Buniatishvili’s first teacher was her mother, who was a talented pianist but never pursued a musical career. The 29-year-old says, “My mother started me off with piano lessons at age three, and there was no looking back.”
While her initial training was at the Central Music School in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and at the Tbilisi State Conservatory, it wasn’t until age 17 that Buniatishvili began formal lessons. At 19, she moved to Vienna to study at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where Russian-Austrian pianist Oleg Maisenberg mentored her. Four years later, the pianist moved to Paris, where she now lives. Since her stage debut at age six with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra, Buniatishvili has performed with several international ensembles, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The concert pianist was recently invited by Coldplay to play the introduction to the song ‘Kaleidoscope’ from their latest album. “This is my only non-classical work, and it was great fun working with the charismatic Chris Martin (Coldplay’s frontman),” said Buniatishvili. For the Georgian, the best part about any art form is that there can be no ‘best’, as in sports. “Competitions destroy art,” says the pianist. “But sometimes, it is necessary to participate in them, as I did in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2008, to surmount obstacles in one’s career.” For her, in music or any art, one can emerge a winner only if one sets out without the aim to win.
Like Gaffigan, this is Buniatishvili’s maiden concert in India. The two-day programme will bring the LSO’s Asian tour to a close.
This evening, under Gaffigan’s baton, the LSO will be performing Weber’s ‘Overture to Euryanthe’, Beethoven’s ‘Piano Concerto No. 1’ and Dvorak’s ‘Symphony No 8’. Friday’s programme comprises Weber’s Overture to Oberon , Grieg’s Piano Concerto and Dvorak’s ‘Symphony No. 9’ ( From The New World ).
The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra will be performing at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA on Thursday and Friday, 7 p.m. onwards. Tickets are priced between Rs. 400 and Rs. 2,232. Call 22824567 / 66223724 for details.
The writer is an intern with The Hindu
