In your opinion, what makes experiencing the ballet The Nutcracker with a live Symphony Orchestra so special?
There are actually two things. One is just in general, live music is a much more exciting experience than recorded music. Even in the realm of popular music, sure, A Taylor Swift album is great, and people love listening to the music but to actually go to a live Taylor Swift concert is a whole other experience, and so the same is true for any live performance of great music. That experience is very special. And then the second aspect has to do with the interactions between the orchestra and the conductor and the dancers on stage when they are dancing to recorded music, it is fixed. You know it, it doesn't change and there's no back and forth, no human interaction. But when it's with live music, live orchestra and the conductor, then we can adapt. We can interact musically and it's just a much more satisfying artistic experience.
In your opinion, what do you think has contributed to the incredible, enduring popularity of The Nutcracker?
First and foremost is the music. I mean it is simply great music. That is very memorable, I mean almost anybody in the world can whistle or hum some of the tunes from The Nutcracker. Then of course it's a fun story with the battle scene and the mice that you know and the Christmas tree that grows bigger than life. There are many factors, but I think first and foremost it's just wonderful music.
Do you have a particular part of the score that is like a personal favorite to you?
I love the entire score, so it's hard to really pinpoint, but a couple parts that stand out are in act one at the beginning of the snow scene, and then another one is the Russian dance. I just love the excitement and energy of the Russian dance.
Can you tell me a bit about some of the unique challenges that come with conducting ballet?
I think the most challenging thing has to do with the fact that there are different dancers each time. If it were the same dancers dancing the same parts every rehearsal and every performance that would be one thing, but dancers rotate from performance to performance, and then even sometimes there could be injuries and somebody could be replaced at the last second. Each dancer is different. They have different tempos that they prefer, and in fact different length legs. Somebody with longer legs needs a little more time in a leap than somebody with shorter legs. I think that one of the biggest challenges is just trying to adapt to each different dancer and making them comfortable with what we're doing musically.
How many times have you conducted The Nutcracker? This was a question I actually posed to our musicians last year, and for some of them the number was in the hundreds. Do you have a ballpark of how many times you've conducted it?
It's definitely well into the hundreds. Earlier in my career I played violin for The Nutcracker hundreds of times, for sure. I used to do it 50 times a year because I grew up in Chicago, and so we did it with the Chicago Ballet and it was basically 50 shows a year for several years and that was as a player. And now I've been conducting it since 1997 I believe, coming up on almost 30 years of conducting it every year, multiple times. I don't have a number, but certainly in the hundreds.
Does it ever get old or are you excited for it each year when it comes around?
It does not get old. I love it. It is great music and there's a reason that it can be played all around the world 50 times a year in each place. That couldn't happen if it were bad. Subconsciously I just pace myself and by the time we get to the last performance I'm happy that we're at the end. I enjoyed conducting it and then we put it away for 11 months, and then it comes back next December. But I'm always happy to do it.
I will also add one little insider tidbit, which is whenever there's a run, whether it be The Nutcracker or a holiday concert or a Broadway show, anything that is repeated many, many times. It can become repetitive for some of the performers, and I have always considered it to be one of my primary responsibilities to bring energy to every performance, whether it's performance number one or number 27. Because while it might be number 27 for the performers, for the orchestra and for the dancers, it's performance number one for that little 4-year-old girl who is coming to the performance for the first time. And it may very well be their first performance of any type. It could be their first concert ever, and I want to make sure that their first concert ever is fantastic for every person that comes. I think that one of my primary responsibilities is to try to bring that energy and excitement to every performance.
Interview conducted by Jessica Caraballo for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. To read more interviews and behind the scenes content, visit Stores and More, visit: https://www.tucsonsymphony.org/content-hub/