13 Nov 2024

The complex work of a conductor

From Three to Seven, 4:30 pm on 13 November 2024
Conductor Vasily Petrenko

Conductor Vasily Petrenko Photo: RNZ

Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Vasily Petrenko, is in Aotearoa to lead New Zealand Symphony Orchestra concerts this Friday 15 November in Wellington and the following evening in Auckland.  

RNZ Concert's David Morriss caught up with the conductor shortly after he'd finished rehearsal to talk about the music in the programme, as well as his Academy for Young Conductors which was launched in Armenia earlier this year.

Alongside practical conducting opportunities, the four-day intensive educational programme included a workshop on the social and mental skills that conductors need.

"I think nowadays the job of conductor and the work of a conductor is very complex, in terms of not just onstage but offstage," Petrenko says.

"You have to work with the public, you have to work with the government sometimes, and you have to work with sponsors. And, of course, you have to work with musicians in the orchestra."

"So for that, those social skills and mental skills: how you present the orchestra, how do you bridge this gap between the public and the orchestra, how do you explain the importance of the culture of classical art to society, how do you explain that all to politicians, for instance. It's not easy."