Quality | 2009.12.12
New Generation X takes hold of orchestras
Robin Ticciati has taken up his baton with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and joined a wave of new conductors galvanising the world of classical music
Last night 26-year-old Robin Ticciati, the new principal conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, made his long-awaited debut at Glasgow\'s City Halls in the company of Magdalena Kožená, one of the world\'s finest singers.
Spotted at the age of 15 by Sir Colin Davis, this first appearance by the tall, tousle-haired young Londoner had been hotly anticipated. "Scarily over-excited about Robin Ticciati\'s Usher Hall debut tonight", Twittered one rapturous concertgoer arriving at the concert hall. "Excited hush, Mr T is about to walk on stage!", Twittered another, just moments before the performance started.
The excitement over Ticciati\'s winning combination of boyish charm and professional maturity is well justified. He is the youngest ever conductor of the orchestra at La Scala, Milan. Past appearances at the Glyndebourne festival and Glyndebourne on Tour were widely praised, as were his appearances with leading orchestras in Germany, Sweden and Italy.
But the fact that has really got the musical world talking is that, far from being a one-off wonder in a world where conductors are traditionally only considered mature at 80 and still a mite callow at 60, Ticciati is not alone.
British orchestras are increasingly defying tradition by hiring a fresh generation of brilliant young maestros. Of 19 professional orchestras in this country, nine have principal conductors so young that, until only recently, they would not have been taken seriously either by orchestras or audiences.
Ticciati may be the youngest on the scene, but not by much: barely nudging 30, the Latvian Andris Nelsons has been secured as principal conductor and music director by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) until 2014. "Never before have I heard such warm, veiled, ethereal beauties from these players," wrote the Observer\' s Fiona Maddocks, who reviewed Nelsons Proms debut with the CBSO.
At 33, the Israeli Ilan Volkov – principal guest conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra – remains the youngest person to hold the enviable position of conductor with a BBC orchestra. Also 33, Vasily Petrenko has been credited with galvanising the Liverpool Philharmonic: buffing up what was widely recognised to be a demoralised orchestra to a sleek, shining international standard. The Russian\'s recent work at Glyndebourne was widely praised, while this season he was credited with inspiring the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain to new heights of zest and verve at the 2009 BBC Proms.
But is the concert hall\'s new devotion to the cult of youth undermining orchestras\' musical integrity? The fears are dismissed by Roger Wright, director of the BBC Proms and controller of Radio 3. Wright insists we are now in a new musical golden age for British orchestras. "You would have to go back a long way to find such a good era," he said.
Sir Roger Norrington, the 75-year-old principal conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, agreed. "The orchestral standard in this country is the highest it has ever been throughout history," he said. "There could be a risk of young, one-trick wonders being promoted above their abilites but what is actually happening is that the quality of the work produced by these bright new things is incredibly high."
Norrington points at Kirill Karabits. Just one year older than Petrenko, the Ukrainian conductor has been winning rave reviews as principal conductor of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. And there are others knocking at his door: future engagements include the Philharmonia and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Next summer he will conduct the Britten-Pears Orchestra as part of the Snape Proms at Aldeburgh.
Back in London, the British Olivier award-winning, 35-year-old music director Edward Gardner is also widely credited with breathing fresh life into English National Opera, whose growing reputation under his youthfully innovative hand has seen the house ally itself with outside talent, from Anthony Minghella\'s hugely popular Madam Butterfly to Forced Entertainment\'s production of Philip Glass\'s Satyagraha .
The emergence of the musical Generation X has occurred with startling speed: only five years ago, pundits regularly bemoaned the fact that, aside from increasingly middle-aged maestros, such as Rattle, now working in Berlin, the Russian Valery Gergiev at the LSO, and the Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen, now at the Philharmonia, there were no new talents emerging. Now, however, Britain is the European test-bed for new stars of the podium. "It is really interesting that we have them all here: a few years ago, there was this huge gap – there was a noted dearth of middle-career conductors. They were all terrible old and there wasn\'t anybody else ready yet," said Graham Sheffield, artistic director of the Barbican and chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society. "[This new generation] are all exceptionally talented and energetic and charismatic."
This missing generation of conductors in their 40s and 50s suggests that the young blood currently are likely to continue their uninterrupted, headlong rush towards the great musical appointments. Over at the London Philharmonic Orchestra, for example, 37-year-old Vladimir Jurowski is a fixture as principal conductor until 2012 – when he is tipped to succeed the 68-year-old Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin Staatskapelle. Young as he is, the Muscovite can already state his terms. Just 29 when he was named music director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, in 2004, Jurowski was reported to have been offered – and turned down – the music directorship of Welsh National Opera. The refusal – or, at least, the rumour of it – did him no harm: in May 2007 he received the Royal Philharmonic Society music award for conductor of the year.
Also 37, the Oxford-born Daniel Harding – Sir Simon Rattle\'s protege at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – has been drawing in the crowds as principal guest conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra. The LSO took a huge leap back through the generations with Harding\'s appointment: its previous chief conductor was the patrician, 82-year-old Sir Colin Davis.
Last on the list, but still barely brushing 40, the 38-year-old Frenchman, Stéphane Denève, took his place on Friday in front of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as music director to conduct a sell-out concert: The Great Concertos: Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.
This new influx of artists is a welcome regeneration for a profession that is often accused of miring itself in venerability. Edward Gardner has brought in the dynamic young theatre director Rupert Goold — fresh from his multi-award-winning Macbeth and London runs of Enron and Oliver! – to follow Minghella\'s Madam Butterfly and Jonathan Miller\'s 1930s-style La Bohème , with a daring and controversial new production of Puccini\'s operatic swansong, Turandot .
Younger conductors are also proving to be both keen and innovative in drawing in new audiences. Over in Liverpool, for example, Petrenko was one of just eight conductors to endorse the 10-year classical music outreach manifesto, "Building on Excellence: Orchestras for the 21st Century", dedicated to increasing the presence of classical music in the UK, including giving free entry to all British schoolchildren to a classical music concert. Sheffield, however, sounded a note of caution. "If I have one reservation, it is that they should not allow themselves to be hyped up too much," he said. "The danger is that, because they are a small band of very glamorous people, they will be over-used."
Over-promotion could be an answer to the Catch-22 that has traditionally trapped aspiring maestros: conductors cannot conduct without experience – but they cannot gain that experience without conducting.
But when 26-year-old Tugan Sokhiev crashed abruptly out of his post as principal conductor of Welsh National Opera in 2004, it was amid complaints from the chorus about his lack of experience.
"There is always a race to find the next prodigy conductor, and that can be damaging if they are thrown into the limelight before they can handle it," said Hugh Macdonald, former director of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. "For every young conductor who makes it, there are several more who have been pushed too early."
Norrington acknowledged the risk. "Young conductors might have energy, but not have the skills and knowledge that cannot be taught and can be gained only from experience," he said. "I had 20 years of experience before I was in demand: I was 50 years old by that point. But that\'s how long it took for me to feel confident enough to really be myself on the podium."
But Nicholas Mathias, senior vice-president and co-director of IMG Artists, believes there is no going back. "I see Britain as setting a trend that is spreading across the world: America is already following our lead and other countries will follow," said Mathias, who recently signed up a 16-year-old conductor, the Venezuelan-born Ilyich Rivas.
"This is a very exciting and rich time for British orchestras," he added. "This crop of hugely talented, educated, charismatic and marketable young conductors are rewriting the rules and I\'m on the edge of my seat to see what the results will be."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec[...]g-faces-of-britains-orchestras
