Koen Kessels news.

[Ondine]

 

 

 

[Sophoife]

Both companies now to be shortchanged? Because that's what it amounts to. At least it's only London-Amsterdam, not London-Sydney-Melbourne!!

 

Still amazed I've heard Jonathan Lo more in London than in Australia this year.

 

Yes yes I know he had commitments, but you know, he's being paid extremely well by AusBallet, and perhaps he should have deferred taking up the appointment until more of his prior commitments had been completed.

 

Shortchanged of Sydney (ish)

[Jan McNulty]

He's also the music director at BRB and (I know I'm not at every performance) I can't remember the last time I saw him conduct them...

[bridiem]

Are there really so few talented conductors/potential music directors around?! 

Edited December 14, 2023 by bridiem

[Jan McNulty]

7 minutes ago, bridiem said:

Are there really so few talented conductors/potential music directors around?! 

 

I think ballet conducting is a special skill but Jonny Lo introduced Northern Ballet audiences to several excellent ballet conductors during his tenure there  for example Martin Georgiev (who has also conducted at BRB) and Edo Frenkel.  We also have associate conductor Daniel Parkinson.  Phil Ellis from BRB has also guest conducted at NB.

[EVWS]

15 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

He's also the music director at BRB and (I know I'm not at every performance) I can't remember the last time I saw him conduct them...

 

Graham Watts posted on his Instagram that Koen Kessels is stepping down from BRB at the end of this season 

[Jan McNulty]

1 minute ago, EVWS said:

 

Graham Watts posted on his Instagram that Koen Kessels is stepping down from BRB at the end of this season 

 

I know this sounds harsh but I really don't think the audience will notice!

[capybara]

I've never 'got' Koen Kessels; other conductors preferred.

Time for a change at the RB too perhaps?

[San Perregrino]

58 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

He's also the music director at BRB and (I know I'm not at every performance) I can't remember the last time I saw him conduct them...

 

Koen Kessels was conductor last week when I watched BRB Nutcracker.  Perhaps you've just been unlucky @Jan McNulty

 

I think Birmingham audiences would notice the difference between recorded music and a live orchestra and conductor.

 

Royal Ballet Sinfonia

Conductor Koen Kessels; Leader Robert Gibbs

Edited December 14, 2023 by PeterS

[Sophoife]

I mean, this year AusBallet has had as conductors:

 

Charles Barker (principal conductor ABT, music director Pittsburgh BT, music director AusBallet 1997-2001)

Joel Bass (current conducting fellow)

Nigel Gaynor (music director and principal conductor Queensland Ballet 2016-)

Martin Georgiev (staff conductor ROH, guest conductor BRB)

Jonathan Lo (current music director)

Nicolette Fraillon (music director 2001-2022)

Vanessa Scammell (former AusBallet conducting fellow)

Simon Thew (former assistant music director AusBallet, now music director at Houston Ballet)

Barry Wordsworth (former music director Royal Ballet and BRB at different times, has conducted the Last Night of the Proms, all-round conducting legend)

 

Simon conducted Don Q in Sydney at short notice because it was suddenly realised Mr Lo had London commitments that clashed (I should know, I saw Simon in Melbourne then again in Sydney when he conducted the night before I left Australia, and then in London Lo and behold 🤣)

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by Sophoife
Altered wording of final parenthesis

[Scheherezade]

Think how lucky you are, Sophoife,

to have had so many luminaries! 😊

[Jan McNulty]

4 hours ago, PeterS said:

 

I think Birmingham audiences would notice the difference between recorded music and a live orchestra and conductor.

 

 

 

Miaow!!

 

I think it possible that I see more BRB performances than you...

 

I await with interest to see who BRB will appoint as Music Director.  

[Sophoife]

6 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

Think how lucky you are, Sophoife,

to have had so many luminaries! 😊

 

Well, I personally didn't hear either of Messrs Georgiev or Gaynor 😉

 

Maestro Wordsworth though...!

[Blossom]

This sounds easily achievable with Amsterdam only a short flight away. It would be barely different to working in Manchester and London. Looking forward to hearing more news from Amsterdam.

[Jan McNulty]

7 hours ago, Sophoife said:

 

Well, I personally didn't hear either of Messrs Georgiev or Gaynor 😉

 

Maestro Wordsworth though...!

 

Nigel Gaynor conducted at Northern Ballet for some years and was very popular with the audiences (especially "our gang").  I actually met his wife before we met Nigel.  In 1998 I was standing in the queue for the ladies at Blackpool Grand and got into random conversation with the lady behind me.  She eventually told me that they had just relocated from Australia and her husband was conducting Northern Ballet for the first time!

 

We were very sorry when he went initially to RNZB before relocating to Brisbane as MD of Queensland Ballet.

[FionaM]

I don’t understand how a conductor can be music director in multiple places simultaneously.  And do the role justice.    (Reminds me of Valery Gergiev’s multiple roles.)   
 

Also why is it necessary for conductors to conduct all over the place?  I could understand being based primarily at one house and occasional guesting elsewhere.   The norm seems to be in a different house (and country) every other week …
 

 

[Jan McNulty]

@FionaM I suppose it depends on how their contract is written.

 

As I understand it, unless things have changed, as well as MD duties at NB, the MD is contracted to conduct X number of performances.

 

Having had the privilege as a Friend of NB (now Patrons) to attend rehearsals and talks about new works I can say that the previous MD, John Pryce Jones, always tended to be at them.  Due to the pandemic I had a lot less in-studio exposure but looking at IG his successor Jonny Lo was also in attendance.

 

I must say I don't know how moving between continents works when there must be an element of jet lag for one thing...

[Emeralds]

I must say I had no idea Koen Kessels was still Music Director at BRB!- I thought he gave it up as I hadn't seen him conducting for BRB much recently! I do like the performances at ROH that he's conducted on the whole....not seen anyone manage to sort out the issues with certain brass passages in Romeo and Juliet with the ROH Orchestra though, haha.... so wouldn't expect Kessels to! 

 

Just to mention that in the music world it has always been the norm that conductors do travel a lot - as transport advances allow (so no regular transcontinental flights to Australia and USA from Europe in the 19th century but conductors did go between USA and Europe by ship....but obviously stayed longer). Martin Yates also flies back and forth between ROH, Japan and engagements in Europe. Barry Wordsworth also travels a lot (as Sophoife's record of his work in Australia show) but I  think less than he used to due to his advancing age.

 

While orchestras often have a chief conductor who is expected to do a lot of concerts with them (eg Simon Rattle at City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, then recently at London Symphony Orchestra), it is felt to be more interesting for the musicians, audiences and the conductor himself or herself for a conductor not to stick to one orchestra or one city all the time. It's a bit like Muntagirov, Nunez and Kaneko guesting in Japan, South Africa,  other European cities etc while still being RB principals I guess. Or Osipova's international engagements! For me, I'm not too bothered who holds the title as long as the music being played at each performance sounds very good and supports the dancers well. However, I am hoping Philip Ellis will get the BRB MD job (if that's what he would like) when Kessels goes, though, as he's put in many, many years and hours of excellent performances for BRB & RB. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Emeralds

[bridiem]

It's partly about the regularity of conducting, but more that the MD should have a great familiarity with the company, its musicians, its dancers, rep, history etc in order to really contribute to its - er - musical direction. I'm not sure that can really be attained by someone who drops in and out.

 

I don't think it's like dancers guesting overseas - more like being a principal dancer or director in more than one company. Having said that, Bintley managed (?) to direct BRB and the National Ballet of Japan at the same time, which I always found bizarre...

Edited December 15, 2023 by bridiem

[capybara]

Gavin Sutherland to come back to the UK, please.

Until recently ENB’s MD; now in Munich.

[Emeralds]

That's a good comparison, @bridiem. About the guesting, my apologies for not making it clear- I was actually using ballet stars guesting abroad to explain to other members why conductors routinely travell to different cities and countries to conduct different orchestras, instead of just staying put and conducting only their own "band". Not about being MD, which is a bigger gig or "prize job".

 

I agree being music director of more than one orchestra- especially in different countries- feels weird as you'd expect them to be around to oversee the performances and familiarise themselves with the repertoire. Certainly some MDs like Nicolette Fraillon in Australia appeared to be present for a lot of Australian Ballet's productions, likewise Andrew Litton (who, funnily enough, used to be a chief conductor in the UK- Bournemouth SO) at New York City Ballet. But some others historically have not seemed so hands on. And I think you can be hands on/available by timing your gigs carefully- eg turn up at ROH for start of rehearsals and discussions with the choreographer, then leave and let the other conductor.get on with it, and return for the premiere. And some conductors cleverly manage to schedule a conducting engagement in the same city when they come back for the premiere or rehearsals etc. (I don't know how they cope with jetting around so much and living out of suitcases in hotels, AirBnB or rental apartments, or wherever they stay!). 

 

It's common in the conducting world now for the best ones to be offered more than one chief conductor job even in different countries eg Marin Alsop, Edward Gardner etc etc - even if orchestras or opera houses know you already have one or even two existing jobs! They are almost like film stars- if you are chief of one, other ensembles feel you have a good reputation so they're more likely to bank on you. The young rising star conductor Klaus Makela had something like two or three director jobs already (I think one was very small and less demanding) but still got offered the top job at the Concertgebouw (to officially start later) which is akin to being artistic director of RB - but there was no request or proviso to drop one or any other of his jobs! 

 

There are several examples I know of being principal dancer in more than one company at one point- Jurgita  Dronina and Francesco Gabriele Frola being simultaneously principal dancers at ENB and National Ballet of Canada at the same time, Svetlana Zakharova being principal dancer of Bolshoi and La Scala at the same time. I'm not sure how Dronina and Frola arranged it with Karen Kain as they seemed to be in ENB a lot? Maybe one other company seems to become more of a guest artist role. You are right- David Bintley seems to have juggled the Birmingham and Japan top jobs too. 

 

The other conductor whom I thought would be great is Paul Murphy who has also conducted BRB & RB ballets a lot and the orchestras always sound great with him. So either Philip Ellis or him. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Emeralds

[Sophoife]

20 hours ago, Emeralds said:

some MDs like Nicolette Fraillon in Australia appeared to be present for a lot of Australian Ballet's productions

Nicolette, despite her training and experience in Europe (Dutch National), suffered from the worst affliction to affect a conductor: she's female. She did guest elsewhere, but got far fewer offers than she would have if she had been male. She was, however, one of the trailblazers for conductors such as Vanessa Scammell and Alondra de la Parra. Marin Alsop The Divine is of course La Doyenne. And Simone Young is The Godmother.

 

Side note: my oldest bestie, who now lives in Zürich, has two sisters, one of whom lives in Amsterdam. She and I were on a city cruise in 2017 and were talking music (that was our connection as youngsters, and was her profession). Turns out she and Nicolette, young first time musical mums in Furrin Parts, had been quite close for a while, until the general rejoicing when Nicolette got the AusBallet job. Nicolette was rather unflatteringly amazed when I gave her Liz's greetings: "How on earth do you know her?" Well, I'm not just a ballet geek you know.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by Sophoife
Added Simone Young

[Pas de Quatre]

Quite a few years ago now I went to a pre concert talk given by Marin Alsop before she conducted Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concert. One of the subjects she talked about was this jet setting of famous conductors. There are many pluses she said, but the downside was that all orchestras begin to sound too similar.  The distinctive sound created by individual Conductors who worked mainly with one orchestra no longer happens.  At the time I thought it equally applied to classical ballet as a general "international" classical style has taken root.