Vulnerability, accessibility and psychology is what drives Kiwi conductor Tianyi Lu who is home to conduct the APO.
The University of Auckland alumna is wowing audiences and orchestras alike with her conducting and passion for bringing the music to life. She’s always “felt” the music through movement, and she portrays that through her craft.
Tianyi Lu conducting the APO Photo: ©Adrian Malloch
It’s not surprising the Welsh National Opera (WNO) recently announced Tianyi Lu as the first female Conductor in Residence.
“Even when I was studying a piece I’d find I move to it. It would teach me about the structure and emotion… of the piece,” she says. “One of my strengths is my vulnerability. I’m not afraid to show the real rawness of the experience.”
By displaying that vulnerability in a performance, it gives her a connection to the musicians and the audience. “We are sharing something with a group of people; it’s so special and can never be repeated,” she says. “I think it’s important as a conductor to think about what will help the music. Every gesture should enable and empower [the musicians] to do their best.”
As a conductor she wants to bring out the best in others and drive that positive psychology behind the music and performance. “How do I be an enabler and a calming oasis and inspire others to feel confident on stage?” she says. “Seeing them thrive… it’s a beautiful thing about conducting.”
New Zealand conductor Tianyi Lu Photo: ©Adrian Malloch
Lu is very much an in-demand conductor. With the Welsh National Opera she’s off to conduct Carmen in Liverpool next year, and will conduct the Melbourne Symphony and Lapland Chamber Orchestra later this year. She also has gigs with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Romanian Radio National Orchestra and Seattle Symphony lined up for 2020.
Many conductors start in opera before moving into symphonic works, but she’s combining both. She says the new role with the WNO is a way to address the gender imbalance in conducting and she hopes after her 18-month tenure is completed, someone else will step up to the podium.
When she started in conducting however there were no visible female conductors, and picking up the baton didn’t cross her mind, until it was suggested to her by a mentor at the University of Auckland. “You’d never see women conducting orchestras. [But] the possibility [to be a conductor] didn’t hold me back,” she says.
Having more female conductors front and centre will help change the perceptions of classical music, and she hopes the art form will become more accessible to others. “Our own perception of our art [is that] classical music has a cultural history of elitism and we can’t deny that. It’s been reserved for the wealthy or more established,” she says. “I think we have a real mission to break that down.
“Education… is on the side lines in arts organisations in the world, but it has to be in the centre of what we do. Musicians have to be advocates for our art.”
She also wants to see a shift in concert decorum. She says at a recent concert she was conducting in Dunedin a child was vocalising their enjoyment and she was thrilled by that. “I was happy that I heard a child enjoying themselves and the fact that parents took the child to a concert,” she says.
And she wants people to clap. “Some concerts, we do need silence… but I was thinking about when Mozart played. Audiences would clap in the middle [of a piece],” she says. “If we just relax a bit more. Art is life and life is messy and not always simple. It is essential to make art more relevant and accessible to people.”
Tianyi Lu will conduct the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Cirque performers The Dust Palace at the Aotea Centre on 11 and 12 October.
