Chloé van Soeterstède Photo: Olivia da Costa
It's clear when conductor Chloé van Soeterstède stands on the podium that hearing is not the only one of your senses she wants to engage.
The French conductor, who will take the Auckland Philharmonia through a concert of Prokofiev, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninov this Thursday, told Three to Seven host Bryan Crump she thinks about music in terms of feel and taste, as well as sound.
Which means, with some composers, she prefers to leave her baton in the dressing room.
"We are working with texture, and I love making the comparison with eating. When you eat a lemon or eat a chicken that has some nice soy sauce or honey, the textures are very different in the mouth: it is exactly the same thing at the end of your fingertips."
You can see an example of Chloé stirring the pot, baton-free, with Beethoven here.
Chloé comes from a creative, but not a musical family. While her parents don't share her deep appreciation of music, they fully support her career.
"They really don't understand what I am doing, but if they can come to concerts, they will."
In London, Chloé formed her own chamber orchestra, the Arch Sinfonia, partly so she would have an ensemble to conduct, and partly to realise her own ideas about what a classical concert could be.
They include collaborating with visual artists and dancers, but perhaps more importantly, getting the audience as close to the action as possible.
"We invite members of the audience to sit inside the orchestra, because I really believe the experience when you are sitting next to a musician is completely different. You have goosebumps all over the body." Once again, she's engaging your other senses.
Her programme with the Auckland Philharmonia is Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, and (with soloist Sergey Khachatryan) Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.
Because those scores are a little more complex, Chloé will be wielding a baton, and for those who'd like a front bench seat, there won't be room for any members of the audience on stage, this time.
However, with three very distinct pieces, there's bound to be a rich range of musical flavours on the menu.
Rachmaninov Photo: wikicommons
For example, at the very end of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, composed after the Soviet revolution forced him to leave Russia, listen for the crash of the tam-tam, which Chloé wants to stretch out as long as possible.
It won't be the sweet sensation you'd usually expect at the end of a three-course meal, but – like a shot of vodka – the taste is bound to linger.
