WEBVTT - Karina Canellakis - from Violinist to Conductor

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<v Speaker 1>This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the

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<v Speaker 1>Thing from iHeart Radio. That's the third movement of Rockmnonov's

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<v Speaker 1>Symphonic Dances Opus forty five. This is the Netherlands Radio

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<v Speaker 1>Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by my guest today, Karina Canalakis. The

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<v Speaker 1>recording is a special preview of an upcoming album, Rock

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<v Speaker 1>Mononoff the Bells and Symphonic Dances from Pentatone Music, available

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<v Speaker 1>this June. Karina Canilochus has achieved many firsts as a

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<v Speaker 1>conductor in the classical music world. Not only is she

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<v Speaker 1>a world class conductor and violinist, she's also the first

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<v Speaker 1>woman to be appointed principal guest conductor of the London

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<v Speaker 1>Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Canilacus

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<v Speaker 1>was also the first woman to conduct the Nobel Prize

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<v Speaker 1>Concert in Stockholm and the first woman to be named

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<v Speaker 1>chief conductor of any Dutch orchestra. As both a violinist

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<v Speaker 1>and conductor, Canilacus has conducted or performed with major orchestras

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<v Speaker 1>such as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the

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<v Speaker 1>Bavarian Radio Symphony and the Munich Philharmonic. She is currently

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<v Speaker 1>the first female chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic

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<v Speaker 1>Orchestra and a principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic.

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<v Speaker 1>But before all the accolades and prestigious postings across the world,

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<v Speaker 1>Carmina Canilacus grew up in a family of musicians, crowded

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<v Speaker 1>into a small New York City apartment.

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<v Speaker 2>It's sort of like one giant room with doors in

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<v Speaker 2>it basically, I mean, just one of those things. Yes,

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<v Speaker 2>and we just.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a studio that.

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<v Speaker 2>We literally shared everything. I mean, you know, soundproofing, whatsoever. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>my brother and I shared a room until I went

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<v Speaker 2>to colleges. It was interesting. Yes, that's what made you

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<v Speaker 2>the artist, was character building.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, Now your parents played what they both.

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<v Speaker 2>Played piano, But my dad became a conductor and was

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<v Speaker 2>a conductor sort of. He always said he's famous in

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<v Speaker 2>the Tri State area because he conducted the Brooklyn Philharmonic,

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<v Speaker 2>the Westchester Symphony, Queen Symphony, so he was he was local.

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<v Speaker 2>But he has multiple sclerosis from quite a young age,

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<v Speaker 2>which is why he didn't really do the whole international

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<v Speaker 2>travel thing.

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<v Speaker 1>This illness set in when he was how old.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, a teenager already, and it was sort of on

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<v Speaker 2>and off, you know, and.

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<v Speaker 1>So it does not impact his piano play.

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<v Speaker 2>It did eventually. Yeah, so you know, you see baby

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<v Speaker 2>pictures of me. He's already walking with a cane and

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<v Speaker 2>then he got a wheelchair and everything. But he did

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<v Speaker 2>everything from the wheelchair. I mean really, they built a

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<v Speaker 2>ramp for him up to the podium. He was, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>washing dishes. Oh yeah, to conduct he was washing dishes

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<v Speaker 2>at the kitchen sink, you know, with two kids running around,

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<v Speaker 2>three orchestras, everything from a wheelchair.

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<v Speaker 1>So was he still with us?

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<v Speaker 2>He is, He's you know there, he's still there.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, So when you're in this, was there a piano

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<v Speaker 1>in that apartment?

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<v Speaker 2>No, two pianos?

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<v Speaker 1>So two pianos? Yes, four people, two children, two adults.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it was a full house. It was a cacophony.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean really literally every single day there were multiple

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<v Speaker 2>people practicing at the same time. My mom, her poor

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<v Speaker 2>piano students, would come over and she'd be giving him

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<v Speaker 2>a piano lesson. Meanwhile I would be screeching away in

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<v Speaker 2>the extreme when of my brother in the parents' bedroom.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean really sitting on the edge of the bed

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<v Speaker 2>practicing cello. It was It was interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>When you were growing up on the Upper West Side,

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<v Speaker 1>did you go to like a public school for grade school?

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<v Speaker 2>I went to Bank Street School, which is a private

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<v Speaker 2>school because it was walking distance. Well at the time,

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<v Speaker 2>it's now on one hundred and twelve, so it was

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<v Speaker 2>a four block walk, which was easy for my dad

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<v Speaker 2>with the wheelchair and everything right down the street. But

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<v Speaker 2>then I went to Stuyvesant High School, so that was

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<v Speaker 2>a public magnet school, and that was great.

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<v Speaker 1>Because because of your musicianship.

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<v Speaker 2>Well it's actually a math and science school, and you know,

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<v Speaker 2>you have to test to get in and all that stuff.

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<v Speaker 2>Why what I do?

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, you went to study math and science.

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<v Speaker 2>But it's funny because I loved math, but I also,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, I loved I was very sort of interested

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<v Speaker 2>in studying in school. I was a little bit of

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<v Speaker 2>a nerdy kind of teenager. There was a nerdy side

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<v Speaker 2>of me, and there was a side of me that

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<v Speaker 2>was very rebellious and out with the boys and kind

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<v Speaker 2>of so it was an interesting mix of of personality.

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<v Speaker 2>But I loved the violin, and that took over and

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<v Speaker 2>it was actually pretty difficult to be at Stuyvesant. The

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<v Speaker 2>last couple of years were a struggle because they didn't

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<v Speaker 2>want to let me out to have practice days and

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<v Speaker 2>things like that, and I just to go somewhere else.

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<v Speaker 2>For you you got to go, you know, practice for

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<v Speaker 2>my weekend recital or whatever. You know. I didn't want

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<v Speaker 2>to be doing calculus homework. I wanted to be practicing

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<v Speaker 2>my violin. And what happened, well, my mom would write

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<v Speaker 2>me sick notes all the time, Basically she's sick and

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<v Speaker 2>is some violin lessons exactly?

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<v Speaker 1>And that's what happened.

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<v Speaker 2>That is literally we played.

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<v Speaker 1>How long did that last?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, that was the entire you know, junior and senior

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<v Speaker 2>year went like that. At high school, yeah, because that

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<v Speaker 2>was the only way. I mean, if you want to

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<v Speaker 2>get you know, I went to the Curtis Institute of

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<v Speaker 2>Music in Philadelphia. It's extremely competitive to get Oh yeah, well, so.

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<v Speaker 1>You finished eleven and twelve, you're playing hockey, you're sneaking

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<v Speaker 1>off to do your lessons, and then what's decided whiles

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<v Speaker 1>you're rolling through that period of eleventh and twelfth grade

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<v Speaker 1>and these difficulties, had you made your mind if you're

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<v Speaker 1>going to go to a Curtis type thing.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, it was a shift. The first year in high school.

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<v Speaker 2>I still I loved studying French, and I loved math,

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<v Speaker 2>and I loved everything. But then it became clear to

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<v Speaker 2>me that I found out about this magical Curtis Institute

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<v Speaker 2>of Music place, you know, where all these people that

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<v Speaker 2>I idolized had gone to the school. Right, Oh my gosh,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, if only I could go there. So I

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<v Speaker 2>actually I auditioned my junior year. I did not get in.

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<v Speaker 2>I was in the finals. I did not get in.

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<v Speaker 2>They said I was rushing the last movement of Tchaikovsky concert,

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<v Speaker 2>so I didn't get in. I was devastated. And at

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<v Speaker 2>that point I said, I'm going to do everything in

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<v Speaker 2>my power to just practice I don't know, five six

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<v Speaker 2>hours a day. And I did that for the next year.

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<v Speaker 1>I had of where were you that year?

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<v Speaker 2>I was? That was that Stuyvesant year where I was,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, getting the sick notes all the time. And

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<v Speaker 2>I went to senior year. That was senior year. The

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<v Speaker 2>audition was like February of my senior year and I

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<v Speaker 2>got in, and that was I mean, I can't you

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<v Speaker 2>explain to you the feeling. I couldn't even believe when

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<v Speaker 2>my parents got the phone call from Gary Graffman, president

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<v Speaker 2>of the school. We would like to offer Karina spotted Curtis.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean it was I came home from school, I

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<v Speaker 2>got off the subway, I came in the door, and

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<v Speaker 2>they said, you got into Curtis. You know, it was

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<v Speaker 2>like my life is made.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Now, when you go to a school like that

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<v Speaker 1>is how many year three or four?

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<v Speaker 2>I was there for five years. Actually it's normally four.

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<v Speaker 2>You can extend. It's sort of a little bit loosey

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<v Speaker 2>goosey in terms of how long.

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<v Speaker 1>You say, so a fifth year there?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I did.

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<v Speaker 1>And when you when you're standing you the conductor in

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<v Speaker 1>front of an ensemble anywhere during your career, what percentage

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<v Speaker 1>of people in that room go on to a master's program?

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<v Speaker 1>You went on to Juilliard. How many people are getting

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<v Speaker 1>those advanced degrees in music now who will have a seat,

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<v Speaker 1>they have a chair somewhere.

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<v Speaker 2>I would say that right now, we're in a situation

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<v Speaker 2>where there are many more people who are amazingly qualified

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<v Speaker 2>for these top orchestra jobs than there are actual positions,

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<v Speaker 2>and so it makes getting job in an orchestra anywhere

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<v Speaker 2>in the world. This is not just an American problem.

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<v Speaker 2>This is also the case in Europe. It's so unbelievably competitive.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, you go behind a screen and play for

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<v Speaker 2>a committee of nine people, and it's it's really a

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<v Speaker 2>sort of cold, ruthless situation because you getting, Yeah, you're

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<v Speaker 2>behind a screen. You either get enough votes or you don't,

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<v Speaker 2>and that determines whether or not you get a position.

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<v Speaker 2>And you know, some people are not cut out for

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<v Speaker 2>that kind of an audition process. They're a little bit

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<v Speaker 2>more artistic. So my brother, for example, has never played

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<v Speaker 2>in an orchestra. My brother Nick is a fantastic cellist.

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<v Speaker 2>He's at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center here in

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<v Speaker 2>New York. He runs Chamber Music Sedona. He's a soloist

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<v Speaker 2>and a chamber musician. Orchestra was not his thing. So,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, I think graduates from these conservatories they all

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<v Speaker 2>do their best, but they're not everyone is cut out

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<v Speaker 2>to win these auditions for major orchan.

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<v Speaker 1>So not many people, would you say, in the classical

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<v Speaker 1>world now who have a chair somewhere necessarily have a

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<v Speaker 1>master's degree that to more training beyond.

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<v Speaker 2>I would say any people get a job straight out

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<v Speaker 2>of the so called bachelor's program they do. Many people

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<v Speaker 2>will audition when they're twenty twenty one. Yeah, yeah, but

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<v Speaker 2>especially Curtis Juilliard, some of these schools in Europe. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>they'll win a job while they're in their very early

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<v Speaker 2>twenties and then work their way up from one position

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<v Speaker 2>to then a better orchestra and a better orchestra.

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<v Speaker 1>When you decided you wanted to go to Juilliard, you've

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<v Speaker 1>been five years already at Curtis your dream? What made

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<v Speaker 1>you want to go to school more? What would you

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<v Speaker 1>gain from that?

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<v Speaker 2>It was all about the teacher. I think for a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of violinists, you sort of you fall in love

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<v Speaker 2>with a certain teacher. You hear about a teacher who

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<v Speaker 2>you think is going to give you something. Now is

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<v Speaker 2>we're talking about a teacher. This is very sophisticated music making.

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<v Speaker 2>At that point, you know how to play the violin already,

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<v Speaker 2>you've been playing it since you were a little kid.

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<v Speaker 2>But there are so many other elements, also psychological elements

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<v Speaker 2>to playing an instrument and being able to stand on

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<v Speaker 2>a stage in front of hundreds of people and lay

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<v Speaker 2>with a beautiful sound without getting nervous without having the

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<v Speaker 2>nerves affect your physical body. It's the same thing with conducting.

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<v Speaker 2>When you get up there, you need to be physically

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<v Speaker 2>relaxed and try to sort of just be in the zone.

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<v Speaker 2>And that takes You have to have the right teacher.

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<v Speaker 2>You've got to have some It must be like acting.

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<v Speaker 2>Some people bring out the best in you, right. If

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<v Speaker 2>you're around those people more often, you will become a

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<v Speaker 2>better violinist or a better conductor. So that was the motivation.

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<v Speaker 2>I wanted to study at Juilliard with a man named

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<v Speaker 2>Donald Weilerstein, whose daughter, Alisa Weilerstein is A. Yeah, she's

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<v Speaker 2>a very close friend of mine and Rapa, they're both

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<v Speaker 2>really close friends of mine. At that point, I wanted

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<v Speaker 2>to do violin competitions and whatnot, and I thought, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>New York was a New York is New York. There's

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<v Speaker 2>no place like it on earth. You know, if you're

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<v Speaker 2>in New York as a young violinist, you have so

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<v Speaker 2>many opportunities. First of all, you can go out and

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<v Speaker 2>you can constantly be getting student tickets for Carnegie Hall

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<v Speaker 2>and the Met and Lincoln Center, chambersag Society and all

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<v Speaker 2>the things New York Philharmonic. But also, you know Juilliard was.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, you get gigs, you know, you can actually

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<v Speaker 2>start getting professional experience, such as well playing concertmaster in

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<v Speaker 2>the Haddenfield Symphony in New Jersey, which I did while

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<v Speaker 2>I was even a student at Curtis. You know, I

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<v Speaker 2>had chamber music gigs. You know some of them are

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<v Speaker 2>You know you put your violin case in the kitchen

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<v Speaker 2>and go play the wedding.

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<v Speaker 1>The same thing. Don't turn anything down.

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<v Speaker 2>You'll be absolutely not ready. You learn from every single

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<v Speaker 2>thing you do. Also, the friends you make doing those

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<v Speaker 2>kinds of gigs you will keep for the rest of

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<v Speaker 2>your life.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, while you are at Juilliard, you get the phone call,

0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:43.199
<v Speaker 1>I guess you get contacted about the Berlin Academy. What's

0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:44.040
<v Speaker 1>the proper name of that.

0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:48.120
<v Speaker 2>Organization, The Carian Academy of the Berlin Fulharmonic. I was

0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.079
<v Speaker 2>only at Juilliard for four months because then I left

0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.840
<v Speaker 2>and moved to Germany and moved to Berlin. You know,

0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:57.000
<v Speaker 2>this audition was in the beginning of October. Found out

0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.480
<v Speaker 2>about it through again somebody I had met at chamber

0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:02.680
<v Speaker 2>music fust a violinist named Simon and Bernardini who plays

0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.560
<v Speaker 2>in the Berlin Philharmonic. And he said to me, there

0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.080
<v Speaker 2>aren't many Americans doing this program, you know, come take

0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.920
<v Speaker 2>the audition. And I flew over to Berlin, took the audition,

0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.760
<v Speaker 2>won the audition, moved to Berlin in January of two

0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:15.760
<v Speaker 2>thousand and five, and started playing in the Berlin Philharmonic.

0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:17.679
<v Speaker 1>And your family would go see the Berlin when they

0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.400
<v Speaker 1>came to New York. Yes, who was conducting the Berlin Then?

0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.160
<v Speaker 2>When I was in high school, I went and I

0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:23.040
<v Speaker 2>saw them with a bottle.

0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:27.199
<v Speaker 1>Well, a bottle, yeah, bottom, ye, a bottle with lucerne.

0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:30.000
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh. If you want to have a really

0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.040
<v Speaker 2>like nerd out fun, look at the different lengths of

0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:36.080
<v Speaker 2>the same symphony. How long it is?

0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.520
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I have I have thirteen Maller ninths in my phone.

0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:43.000
<v Speaker 2>So the Chaikovsky six with Bernstein. I'm very into that

0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.080
<v Speaker 2>piece because I just read I just recorded that piece

0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.280
<v Speaker 2>and released it. It's unbelievably. I used to talk about

0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:49.040
<v Speaker 2>this with Alan Gilbert.

0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:50.080
<v Speaker 1>How minutes?

0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.400
<v Speaker 2>How did he do that? How did he keep the tension?

0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.000
<v Speaker 1>Mazelle with the phil Harmonic playing the Maller ninth, the dagio,

0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:00.680
<v Speaker 1>he has five minutes the most brisk one is high. Yeah,

0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.880
<v Speaker 1>Seegar Stram is a good one. But Lauren Mazelle plays

0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.840
<v Speaker 1>it like he crushes every drop. Great thing. That's incredible.

0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:11.880
<v Speaker 2>But if it's genuine, then it comes from that conductor's

0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:13.600
<v Speaker 2>soul and that's just the way that they hear it.

0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.440
<v Speaker 2>Then you know, if it's convincing enough, I think, and

0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:18.240
<v Speaker 2>you know, you can do anything, but.

0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:20.640
<v Speaker 1>You're standing there. I mean, this is your job. Yeah,

0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:23.400
<v Speaker 1>you're standing there in front of an ensemble. You're gonna

0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.240
<v Speaker 1>conduct something. Let's say you're gonna do the Mallar five.

0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.199
<v Speaker 1>Something people are very common when people know the adagio

0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:30.560
<v Speaker 1>from the Mallar five, you're gonna you're gonna play that?

0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.240
<v Speaker 1>And do you say yourself, it's my responsibility to play

0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.240
<v Speaker 1>this at a certain pace. Is it my responsibility to

0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:38.960
<v Speaker 1>play this a certain way and not get succumbed to

0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.280
<v Speaker 1>the feelings too much? I'm gonna slow the thing so

0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:42.040
<v Speaker 1>far down.

0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.440
<v Speaker 2>Sure, that's a really good question. I mean that's a question.

0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:47.120
<v Speaker 1>How much is your mood rule?

0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:49.840
<v Speaker 2>Well, that's the thing is that you know, I think

0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.920
<v Speaker 2>it's it's dangerous to be indulgent when when it comes

0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.960
<v Speaker 2>to especially slow movements of famous pieces. But even with

0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.280
<v Speaker 2>Beethoven symphonies, you know, there are metronomer markings and there's

0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:03.520
<v Speaker 2>a whole there's a whole controversy about, you know, like

0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.160
<v Speaker 2>were they accurate or not? What kind of a metronome

0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.400
<v Speaker 2>did he have? Was it broken, was it weird, was

0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.600
<v Speaker 2>it irregular? We don't know, but I do think. I mean,

0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.760
<v Speaker 2>some of the metronal markings are simply impossible. You cannot

0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.520
<v Speaker 2>play it that fast. And there are all kinds of

0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:19.800
<v Speaker 2>theories about the Ninth Symphony, the metronal markings in the

0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.640
<v Speaker 2>Ninth Symphony, what that was supposed to mean. But you know,

0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:24.760
<v Speaker 2>that's part of my job. I have to interpret that.

0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.920
<v Speaker 2>I have to decide how fast or slow this thing

0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:31.360
<v Speaker 2>is going to go. It's entirely up to me, and

0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:35.520
<v Speaker 2>that's a huge responsibility. And there have been many performances

0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:38.920
<v Speaker 2>in my life, especially right now. My main job is

0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.280
<v Speaker 2>a radio orchestra. So every single thing we do in

0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.960
<v Speaker 2>Amsterdam from the Concerka about is live radio, which is

0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.960
<v Speaker 2>sometimes traumatizing because in the moment of that performance, you're

0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.200
<v Speaker 2>in a certain mood, you feel the audience, the player,

0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.000
<v Speaker 2>there's a certain vibe in the harmst there is there's

0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.280
<v Speaker 2>a chemistry, there's an atmosphere in the live concert hall.

0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:03.360
<v Speaker 2>Then you listen back on to the microphone and you think, no, why, no,

0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.280
<v Speaker 2>what so it was so slow or it was so fast?

0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:08.520
<v Speaker 2>God did I take it? So I just listened to

0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:10.480
<v Speaker 2>a recording that I did of maller one in Japan

0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.120
<v Speaker 2>this past summer. It was at the Pacific Music Festival,

0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:15.640
<v Speaker 2>which was founded by Leonard Bernstein right at the end

0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:20.120
<v Speaker 2>of his life. And it was a fantastic experience because

0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.480
<v Speaker 2>it's a young orchestra. Their auditioned from all over the

0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.920
<v Speaker 2>world between the ages of you know, twenty and thirty,

0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.080
<v Speaker 2>so young professionals. But the principal wins were all from

0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.600
<v Speaker 2>Berlin Philharmonic and the principal strings were all from Vienna Philharmonic,

0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.400
<v Speaker 2>so we were together, they were. It was a side

0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:38.400
<v Speaker 2>by side. The philosophy is used from Vienna, Berlin and Vienna.

0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.280
<v Speaker 2>And did they play together, well, not often. It was

0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.680
<v Speaker 2>very interesting, like the sort of the response to the

0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:48.160
<v Speaker 2>beat and everything was really fascinating. But the last movement,

0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.240
<v Speaker 2>because it was young people and there was so much

0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.840
<v Speaker 2>excitement saying the last moment was insanely fast and I

0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:56.920
<v Speaker 2>just listened back to the video. You know, they send

0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:58.720
<v Speaker 2>you these things and they say, will you approve this

0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.920
<v Speaker 2>for YouTube whatever? When you listen and you think it

0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:06.040
<v Speaker 2>didn't feel it felt just perfect in the moment. But

0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.480
<v Speaker 2>was that too fast? You know, this is our whole life,

0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:09.360
<v Speaker 2>you know, was that too fast?

0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:09.720
<v Speaker 1>Is that?

0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:12.000
<v Speaker 2>Would I take that tempo next time when I do

0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.200
<v Speaker 2>the piece? I'm doing the piece in a few months,

0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.000
<v Speaker 2>Will I take it that fast next time? It depends

0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.160
<v Speaker 2>also on who you have in front of you, the

0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.000
<v Speaker 2>response of the orchestra, the age of the players. You know,

0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:29.280
<v Speaker 2>there's so many others had too much green tea or something, yeah,

0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.800
<v Speaker 2>green tea. But it was I mean in the moment,

0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.280
<v Speaker 2>I mean the audience went completely berserk. It was. It

0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.280
<v Speaker 2>was so exciting because also, you know, you're rooting for

0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:39.920
<v Speaker 2>these young people. This this young horn player doing his

0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:43.440
<v Speaker 2>first smaller one playing principal horn, sitting next to Sarah

0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:46.880
<v Speaker 2>Willis from the Berlin Phulhmonic playing second horn. So it

0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.920
<v Speaker 2>was an amazing experience for these young people and you're

0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:52.960
<v Speaker 2>rooting for them, and when they play, well, it's just

0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.920
<v Speaker 2>everyone was you know, it was a fantastic experience.

0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:08.280
<v Speaker 1>Conductor and violinist Carina Canlocus. If you enjoy conversations with

0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.120
<v Speaker 1>classical music conductors at the top of their game, check

0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.359
<v Speaker 1>out my episode with Maestro Rafael Piari.

0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:18.920
<v Speaker 3>When I go into an orchestra, especially for the first time,

0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:21.639
<v Speaker 3>it's all about let's see how the sound of the

0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:24.280
<v Speaker 3>orchestra reacts to my beat, and let's see what we

0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:27.800
<v Speaker 3>can do together. Every orchestra has a specificity and there's

0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.520
<v Speaker 3>something that is different and with everybody, and yet it

0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.760
<v Speaker 3>will see how with the chemistry that would happen on

0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:35.760
<v Speaker 3>the stage, how much it could be.

0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.080
<v Speaker 1>Ben It's like a dancer party.

0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.199
<v Speaker 3>You know how fast you can do and how you

0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:42.320
<v Speaker 3>can go from one place to the other, makeup twirl.

0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:44.879
<v Speaker 3>Beyond that, it is just all about that kind of

0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:45.800
<v Speaker 3>trust happening.

0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.480
<v Speaker 1>To hear more of my conversation with Rafael Piari, go

0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:57.480
<v Speaker 1>to Here's the Thing dot org. After the break, Cana

0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.959
<v Speaker 1>Locus talks about growing up in a house of musicians

0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:34.000
<v Speaker 1>with two pianos in a one bedroom apartment. I'm Alec

0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:47.720
<v Speaker 1>Baldwin and this is Here's the Thing That's Bella bar

0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:52.560
<v Speaker 1>Talk's Concerto for Orchestra and my guest today, Karina Canelakis

0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:58.360
<v Speaker 1>conducting the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. This recording this courtesy

0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:23.360
<v Speaker 1>of Pentatone Music. Canilacus's conducting career began in twenty fourteen

0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.560
<v Speaker 1>when she started her first professional conducting job as an

0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:32.560
<v Speaker 1>assistant conductor for the Dallas Symphony under conductor Yap van Staden.

0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:37.680
<v Speaker 1>Only a few months into her post, Canilacus would find

0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:42.639
<v Speaker 1>herself standing in for von Staden as an emergency substitute conductor.

0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:48.119
<v Speaker 1>When Canilacus led the Dallas Symphony performing Shostakovich's Symphony Number

0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:53.480
<v Speaker 1>eight with no rehearsal. Now a seasoned conductor, I was

0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:56.800
<v Speaker 1>curious what her preparation for a performance looks like.

0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:02.480
<v Speaker 2>I mean, definitely, the finding a call place is crucial

0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.840
<v Speaker 2>for me, and I feel like doing nothing for about

0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:09.440
<v Speaker 2>three hours before the performance. I do a nap, religiously

0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:14.239
<v Speaker 2>short nap, and then about three hours before showtime, I

0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.440
<v Speaker 2>don't like to talk too much to anybody. I don't

0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:19.440
<v Speaker 2>like to have too many people around me. I certainly

0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:21.720
<v Speaker 2>don't listen to any music or look at my phone.

0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.200
<v Speaker 1>You don't play the piece, you're gonna go, oh my god.

0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:28.399
<v Speaker 2>No, Well, it's going on in my mind anyway, like

0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:32.720
<v Speaker 2>a very loud recording. It's unbelievable. It's literal. I mean,

0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:34.600
<v Speaker 2>I always have music going on in my head like

0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.040
<v Speaker 2>a loud recording. Right now, it's Jostkovic five, because that's

0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.240
<v Speaker 2>what I'm doing next week. Literally, and I have sometimes

0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:43.880
<v Speaker 2>multiple the different parts of the piece cancel each other out.

0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:45.679
<v Speaker 2>I mean that the one sort of goes by like

0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:47.880
<v Speaker 2>a cloud in the wind, and then the other other

0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.439
<v Speaker 2>part comes through, and I think the brain, you know,

0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.320
<v Speaker 2>it's working out. How do I feel about this? What

0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:56.280
<v Speaker 2>the tempo? Again? The tempo? Most important thing a conductor

0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:58.600
<v Speaker 2>can do is set the tempo sort of the flow

0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.280
<v Speaker 2>of it. Do I want Oh, I'm thinking about this

0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:03.080
<v Speaker 2>G sharp major chord that comes in the middle of the

0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:04.679
<v Speaker 2>third movement. Do I want them to do it with

0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.959
<v Speaker 2>vibrato or without vibrato? I just had a text message

0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.720
<v Speaker 2>conversation with my brother about this, because he loves that

0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.320
<v Speaker 2>chord with vibrato. He thinks it should be warm. I've

0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:16.160
<v Speaker 2>always done it cold because I think it's false hope,

0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:18.679
<v Speaker 2>because it goes immediately to C sharp minor. These are

0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:21.600
<v Speaker 2>the things that are going on in my head. I

0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:25.919
<v Speaker 2>have my reason, but you know, we sort of go

0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:28.119
<v Speaker 2>back and forth about it's great to have people in

0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:29.880
<v Speaker 2>the family you can talk to about music and about

0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:33.439
<v Speaker 2>interpretive decisions and things. It's amazing your mother played what

0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:37.159
<v Speaker 2>My mother's a pianist, an amazing pianist. She was an

0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:39.720
<v Speaker 2>incredible solo as she played concertos with my dad conducting

0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:41.000
<v Speaker 2>a lot, and she could.

0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:42.800
<v Speaker 1>Go from one piano to the other in the apartment.

0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.520
<v Speaker 2>She could, well, we had two pianos because she would

0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:50.159
<v Speaker 2>teach students piano concertos and she would play the orchestra

0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.240
<v Speaker 2>part on the upright and they would play the concerto

0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:54.159
<v Speaker 2>on the grand piano. So it's an upright next to

0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:56.880
<v Speaker 2>a grand piano. But you know, just to say before

0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.680
<v Speaker 2>the performance, you know this this it's sort of it's

0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:03.800
<v Speaker 2>a very very hectic conversation going on in my own

0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:06.879
<v Speaker 2>brain between me and myself and I and so I

0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:08.960
<v Speaker 2>need a lot of quiet for that because it's already

0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:11.520
<v Speaker 2>feels like a lot of noise in my mind. And

0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:13.080
<v Speaker 2>by the time I get to the hall, I don't know.

0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:15.520
<v Speaker 2>I just I just and you know, right before I

0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.359
<v Speaker 2>go on stage, I do have these moments because I

0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.879
<v Speaker 2>think because I was a violinist for so many years.

0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.760
<v Speaker 2>I really was. I was a full time professional violinist

0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.520
<v Speaker 2>until I was thirty. I'm not one of those stories

0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:29.560
<v Speaker 2>about you know, I knew I wanted to be conductor

0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.679
<v Speaker 2>when I was ten, and I first conducted when I

0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:35.480
<v Speaker 2>was twenty. You know, I was late to this. I

0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:38.040
<v Speaker 2>didn't I really loved playing the violin. I didn't have

0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:41.119
<v Speaker 2>any ambition to become a professional conductor. And then what

0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:46.320
<v Speaker 2>happened Rattle, Well, yeah, I was strongly encouraged to do

0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.240
<v Speaker 2>so by multiple people. It was Sion. Rattle was my

0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:50.040
<v Speaker 2>friend Ellen Gilbert.

0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:52.639
<v Speaker 1>It's a bit interesting how people have you know, I mean,

0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:55.560
<v Speaker 1>I'm dramatizing. It's like someone taps the mother around the

0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:58.600
<v Speaker 1>shoulder and says, come with me when they go. He

0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:02.200
<v Speaker 1>really keeps time better than anybody out there for the something.

0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:04.840
<v Speaker 1>They see some obviously some indicator, and they go, we'd

0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:08.000
<v Speaker 1>like them to come and take some conducting lessons. So

0:23:08.119 --> 0:23:10.680
<v Speaker 1>what is it? What do they see in you? What

0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:11.280
<v Speaker 1>are you doing?

0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.520
<v Speaker 2>Well? My path to becoming a conductor was not linear,

0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:16.919
<v Speaker 2>Let's put it that way. It was mainly a windy

0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:20.719
<v Speaker 2>path because I still missplaying the violin. I loved it

0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:23.320
<v Speaker 2>so much I could not imagine I couldn't bear the

0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.439
<v Speaker 2>thought of putting the violin aside for any other reason,

0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:29.760
<v Speaker 2>and certainly not to be standing up without my violin.

0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:32.440
<v Speaker 2>That was very scary in the beginning. You know, It's

0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:35.199
<v Speaker 2>like my identity, my voice. Let's say I would be

0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:37.440
<v Speaker 2>standing there without my voice. What am I going to

0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:39.560
<v Speaker 2>do standing there in front of all these people? What

0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:42.359
<v Speaker 2>physically what am I going to do? But I'm so

0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:45.240
<v Speaker 2>happy that I was encouraged to do it, and I think,

0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:48.480
<v Speaker 2>you know, the people who encouraged me, they saw a

0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:51.159
<v Speaker 2>great interest and passion in score study. For me. That

0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:53.679
<v Speaker 2>was really the thing that I think where they said, hey,

0:23:53.720 --> 0:23:56.560
<v Speaker 2>wait a second, you what you're doing. I did conducting

0:23:56.920 --> 0:23:59.159
<v Speaker 2>courses in my summertime, in the free time, I did

0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:02.119
<v Speaker 2>conducting master classes. I mean I took conducting classes from

0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:05.080
<v Speaker 2>the age of twelve, conducted my high school orchestra. I

0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:07.600
<v Speaker 2>thought it was easy. I was, I did, oh, yeah,

0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:09.440
<v Speaker 2>this is this is not you know. I thought playing

0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:12.760
<v Speaker 2>from yeah, and I thought the violin was much more difficult.

0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:15.439
<v Speaker 2>But in fact that's not true when you get to

0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:19.359
<v Speaker 2>the highest level, because what is happening between you and

0:24:19.400 --> 0:24:24.280
<v Speaker 2>these great, great, great orchestras is so subtle, and so

0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:27.320
<v Speaker 2>it's such a psychological game that you have to be

0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:31.320
<v Speaker 2>deeply seasoned as a musician. And I'm so happy that

0:24:31.359 --> 0:24:33.800
<v Speaker 2>I waited because all those years of experience as a

0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:39.760
<v Speaker 2>violinist feed my feeling of confidence on the podium and

0:24:39.760 --> 0:24:42.000
<v Speaker 2>my feeling that I actually you know, I mean, I've

0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:44.560
<v Speaker 2>played so much of the repertoire as a violinist in

0:24:44.600 --> 0:24:48.280
<v Speaker 2>the orchestra before I ever conducted it. So this is

0:24:48.320 --> 0:24:50.879
<v Speaker 2>a huge, huge thing. And sometimes when I'm preparing to

0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:53.680
<v Speaker 2>go on stage, I do think to myself. I remember

0:24:53.760 --> 0:24:58.399
<v Speaker 2>back to seeing, for example, Sapeca Salinin walking on stage

0:24:58.400 --> 0:25:02.040
<v Speaker 2>in Chicago. I played under his direction in Chicago, saw

0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:05.040
<v Speaker 2>him getting ready to go on stage, and I thought,

0:25:05.840 --> 0:25:07.800
<v Speaker 2>oh my god, I want to do that. I want

0:25:07.840 --> 0:25:10.240
<v Speaker 2>to be that person. And sometimes I get that feeling

0:25:10.280 --> 0:25:12.520
<v Speaker 2>right before I go on stage and I think, yeah,

0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:14.280
<v Speaker 2>I'm doing it.

0:25:15.000 --> 0:25:18.680
<v Speaker 1>When do you begin conducting? So you are the.

0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:20.880
<v Speaker 2>Chief now I'm chief conductor.

0:25:20.600 --> 0:25:23.200
<v Speaker 1>Of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Arquers. You've been doing that

0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:23.800
<v Speaker 1>for how long?

0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:26.840
<v Speaker 2>Since twenty nineteen? So this is my seventh season.

0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:28.960
<v Speaker 1>The seventh season. How did that? Who tapped you on

0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:29.679
<v Speaker 1>the shoulder for that.

0:25:30.400 --> 0:25:33.320
<v Speaker 2>Oh, they came and saw me in a few different places.

0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:36.720
<v Speaker 2>They were sort of hanging around me in a few

0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:39.400
<v Speaker 2>different cities. The general director came to Iceland, he saw

0:25:39.440 --> 0:25:42.479
<v Speaker 2>me in Iceland, he saw me Cologne, and then I

0:25:42.520 --> 0:25:45.000
<v Speaker 2>conducted them. I actually I did one week with them

0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:49.119
<v Speaker 2>back in twenty eighteens Beethoven's seven and Britain for c interludes.

0:25:49.720 --> 0:25:52.040
<v Speaker 2>And the final concert was in the concert about you know,

0:25:52.080 --> 0:25:54.560
<v Speaker 2>you know the red steps and the concert, Well they

0:25:54.560 --> 0:25:59.280
<v Speaker 2>are these There are these ridiculous red carpeted stairs. The

0:25:59.320 --> 0:26:01.359
<v Speaker 2>doors open at the top. You have to walk all

0:26:01.720 --> 0:26:04.000
<v Speaker 2>the way their conductor all the way down these stairs,

0:26:04.760 --> 0:26:07.720
<v Speaker 2>through the orchestra, no, through the orkctra, down down, down,

0:26:07.840 --> 0:26:09.480
<v Speaker 2>and so you know, everyone is kind of waiting to

0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:11.000
<v Speaker 2>see if the conductor is going to trip on their

0:26:11.000 --> 0:26:13.920
<v Speaker 2>way down the stairs. So I walked after the performance

0:26:13.960 --> 0:26:16.160
<v Speaker 2>was over, walked up the red stairs, up up up

0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:19.440
<v Speaker 2>into the dressing room, sat down on the sofa. They

0:26:19.480 --> 0:26:21.800
<v Speaker 2>closed the door and they said, you want to be

0:26:21.800 --> 0:26:24.720
<v Speaker 2>our chief conductor after one week with the orchestra.

0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:26.680
<v Speaker 1>So that you passed the test. You made it downstairs.

0:26:26.840 --> 0:26:30.040
<v Speaker 2>It was so real, but that hardly ever exactly. They

0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:32.040
<v Speaker 2>were like, wow, she really she really knew how to

0:26:32.080 --> 0:26:33.080
<v Speaker 2>do those stairs.

0:26:33.680 --> 0:26:35.359
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, looking good.

0:26:36.000 --> 0:26:38.680
<v Speaker 2>I passed the test. But I mean that that's extremely

0:26:38.760 --> 0:26:42.200
<v Speaker 2>rare in this business. Normally, orchestras are very careful about

0:26:42.280 --> 0:26:45.439
<v Speaker 2>choosing their next music director. They you know, wait a

0:26:45.480 --> 0:26:47.439
<v Speaker 2>long time that they needs to be somebody. They've had

0:26:47.520 --> 0:26:49.720
<v Speaker 2>multiple visits, and you know it needs to be the

0:26:49.760 --> 0:26:52.960
<v Speaker 2>right person more than just musically. But this was a

0:26:53.000 --> 0:26:56.199
<v Speaker 2>situation where they'd been looking for a while and the

0:26:56.280 --> 0:26:59.679
<v Speaker 2>chemistry between us was so electric and so fun and

0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:04.640
<v Speaker 2>so warm, and it just was so clear that we

0:27:05.119 --> 0:27:08.520
<v Speaker 2>had something really unusual. And so they offered me the position,

0:27:08.680 --> 0:27:12.159
<v Speaker 2>and I think two weeks later I said okay.

0:27:11.960 --> 0:27:13.359
<v Speaker 1>And you guest conducted them before.

0:27:13.960 --> 0:27:17.280
<v Speaker 2>This was the one and only guest connecting experience that

0:27:17.320 --> 0:27:17.960
<v Speaker 2>I had with them.

0:27:18.000 --> 0:27:20.000
<v Speaker 1>It was really, I mean literally conductor, and they gave

0:27:20.000 --> 0:27:20.400
<v Speaker 1>you the job.

0:27:20.720 --> 0:27:22.879
<v Speaker 2>You literally we were together for five days and they

0:27:22.920 --> 0:27:25.080
<v Speaker 2>gave me the job, which is a big vote of

0:27:25.720 --> 0:27:26.280
<v Speaker 2>it's a risk.

0:27:26.359 --> 0:27:29.520
<v Speaker 1>Also now the ensemble itself, you can feel when it's

0:27:29.560 --> 0:27:31.680
<v Speaker 1>going well, and you can feel when there's like it's

0:27:31.680 --> 0:27:33.080
<v Speaker 1>not as good as you'd like it to be.

0:27:33.560 --> 0:27:35.880
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, you can read it on people's face. It's

0:27:35.880 --> 0:27:37.639
<v Speaker 2>just the same way as when you're sitting across the

0:27:37.680 --> 0:27:40.200
<v Speaker 2>table from somebody you know, having a meal or something.

0:27:40.240 --> 0:27:41.600
<v Speaker 2>You know, you either get along with them. It's like

0:27:41.640 --> 0:27:44.080
<v Speaker 2>being on a date date. It's like being on a

0:27:44.119 --> 0:27:47.560
<v Speaker 2>date with eighty people. So you know, but sometimes you

0:27:47.640 --> 0:27:49.800
<v Speaker 2>think the worst thing as a conductor is if you

0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:52.720
<v Speaker 2>think it's going great and then the orchestra doesn't invite

0:27:52.760 --> 0:27:53.160
<v Speaker 2>you back to.

0:27:53.119 --> 0:27:56.400
<v Speaker 1>The orchestra, communicate to the maestro if they have complaints.

0:27:56.480 --> 0:27:58.960
<v Speaker 1>What's the method in the average ensemble.

0:27:59.080 --> 0:28:01.960
<v Speaker 2>Oh, I wish there were more communication. I really do,

0:28:02.000 --> 0:28:04.639
<v Speaker 2>because I think sometimes people are afraid to talk to

0:28:04.680 --> 0:28:07.000
<v Speaker 2>the conductor. They're afraid to say anything, or they assume

0:28:07.040 --> 0:28:09.480
<v Speaker 2>that the conductor is sort of a prepackaged, ready to go,

0:28:09.800 --> 0:28:13.520
<v Speaker 2>inflexible entity that you know, we either like them or

0:28:13.560 --> 0:28:16.000
<v Speaker 2>we don't, or the way that there's chemistry or there isn't.

0:28:16.359 --> 0:28:19.000
<v Speaker 2>But actually, you know, the ideal thing with conductors is

0:28:19.040 --> 0:28:22.879
<v Speaker 2>that we all continue to grow and improve and learn

0:28:23.080 --> 0:28:25.520
<v Speaker 2>as we go through our life as a conductor. I mean,

0:28:25.560 --> 0:28:28.280
<v Speaker 2>I'm forty four, Blomshed is ninety six, so hopefully I

0:28:28.320 --> 0:28:30.680
<v Speaker 2>have another fifty years ahead of me. I would love

0:28:30.720 --> 0:28:33.960
<v Speaker 2>to think that I do have another fifty years to

0:28:34.080 --> 0:28:36.680
<v Speaker 2>keep on doing this, to keep learning, to keep doing concerts,

0:28:36.680 --> 0:28:38.280
<v Speaker 2>to keep you know, how many times am I going

0:28:38.320 --> 0:28:40.479
<v Speaker 2>to be able to do mall or five in the

0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:43.280
<v Speaker 2>next fifty years? A lot? So my mall ar five

0:28:43.320 --> 0:28:47.440
<v Speaker 2>will be drastically different in thirty years than it is

0:28:47.520 --> 0:28:51.080
<v Speaker 2>right now. And I think if orchestras you know, want

0:28:51.080 --> 0:28:52.920
<v Speaker 2>to have a healthy relationship with a conductor, I think

0:28:52.920 --> 0:28:55.080
<v Speaker 2>it's you know, it would be great to have a

0:28:55.080 --> 0:28:58.720
<v Speaker 2>little bit more communication. But it doesn't happen often. I'm

0:28:58.720 --> 0:29:00.880
<v Speaker 2>not sure why, and it's something that bothers me about

0:29:00.880 --> 0:29:03.400
<v Speaker 2>the profession. For sure, it was one of the reasons

0:29:03.400 --> 0:29:05.600
<v Speaker 2>that I was afraid to become a conductor. I mean,

0:29:05.600 --> 0:29:07.880
<v Speaker 2>I have my friends in Chicago saying to me, don't

0:29:07.920 --> 0:29:10.480
<v Speaker 2>go to the dark side. You're such a great violinist,

0:29:10.560 --> 0:29:12.320
<v Speaker 2>don't you know, don't go to the dark side. Oh no,

0:29:12.360 --> 0:29:13.520
<v Speaker 2>You're going to become the enemy.

0:29:14.360 --> 0:29:15.440
<v Speaker 1>Is there some perception of that?

0:29:15.640 --> 0:29:18.040
<v Speaker 2>I think that there is a little bit of well,

0:29:18.080 --> 0:29:21.760
<v Speaker 2>the conductor becomes the scapegoat for whatever has not gone

0:29:21.760 --> 0:29:22.240
<v Speaker 2>well or.

0:29:22.200 --> 0:29:24.680
<v Speaker 1>Whatever is the conductor I think is suspended in a

0:29:24.680 --> 0:29:26.320
<v Speaker 1>weird space between the management and.

0:29:27.040 --> 0:29:29.959
<v Speaker 2>Very weird, very weird. And also what I find strange

0:29:29.960 --> 0:29:32.920
<v Speaker 2>about the profession. And this is a positive thing, but

0:29:33.040 --> 0:29:36.480
<v Speaker 2>I get very attached to people, and I get very

0:29:36.520 --> 0:29:40.000
<v Speaker 2>attached to musicians and orchestras especially. You know, you're very

0:29:40.120 --> 0:29:42.440
<v Speaker 2>vulnerable up there. You're looking at each other's eyes, you're

0:29:42.480 --> 0:29:46.240
<v Speaker 2>breathing together, You're playing very emotional music makes you want

0:29:46.280 --> 0:29:48.280
<v Speaker 2>to cry, that makes you think about your children and

0:29:48.320 --> 0:29:51.080
<v Speaker 2>your parents and people who've passed away. I mean this music,

0:29:51.120 --> 0:29:52.720
<v Speaker 2>as you know as an audience.

0:29:52.280 --> 0:29:54.320
<v Speaker 1>Member, it shattering.

0:29:54.440 --> 0:29:59.360
<v Speaker 2>It is it goes extremely deep, maybe deeper than anything

0:29:59.360 --> 0:30:01.840
<v Speaker 2>else that I can think of, certainly deeper than words

0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:05.320
<v Speaker 2>or reading a book or you know. I mean, for me,

0:30:05.400 --> 0:30:07.400
<v Speaker 2>it goes to a completely different level of sort of

0:30:07.760 --> 0:30:10.920
<v Speaker 2>inter emotion and connecting with other people. And so you

0:30:11.040 --> 0:30:14.480
<v Speaker 2>have this experience with this group of people and I'm there,

0:30:14.600 --> 0:30:17.400
<v Speaker 2>let's say for five six days. We might have two

0:30:17.480 --> 0:30:20.360
<v Speaker 2>to four concerts together, and then I leave and I

0:30:20.360 --> 0:30:22.160
<v Speaker 2>don't see them for a year.

0:30:23.040 --> 0:30:25.440
<v Speaker 1>Now, you are a mother, You have two kids are

0:30:25.480 --> 0:30:28.200
<v Speaker 1>how old again, four and two? Four and two? So

0:30:28.240 --> 0:30:30.880
<v Speaker 1>these are fresh fresh children there, fresh out of the oven.

0:30:31.840 --> 0:30:32.800
<v Speaker 1>And your husband is.

0:30:32.760 --> 0:30:36.720
<v Speaker 2>A he My husband is from Germany. He's not a musician.

0:30:36.760 --> 0:30:39.160
<v Speaker 2>He plays the guitar very well and he knows everything

0:30:39.200 --> 0:30:40.920
<v Speaker 2>about rock and jazz.

0:30:41.280 --> 0:30:42.360
<v Speaker 1>And what does he do for a living.

0:30:42.640 --> 0:30:46.760
<v Speaker 2>He is a philosopher of epistemology and artificial intelligence at

0:30:46.760 --> 0:30:54.560
<v Speaker 2>the University Amsterdam. So he's an idea AI. He's he's

0:30:54.560 --> 0:30:56.800
<v Speaker 2>written articles on authorship and chatchy.

0:30:56.840 --> 0:30:59.840
<v Speaker 1>Where did you meet him? You never take your stuff outside?

0:31:00.040 --> 0:31:04.360
<v Speaker 2>Exactly? It's good question. It was luck. It was pure luck.

0:31:04.440 --> 0:31:06.400
<v Speaker 2>I mean really, we come from two complete different worlds.

0:31:06.520 --> 0:31:08.720
<v Speaker 2>We met in Luxembourg. I was conducting an opera in

0:31:08.800 --> 0:31:12.040
<v Speaker 2>Luxembourg and he was briefly working for the concert hall

0:31:12.520 --> 0:31:14.440
<v Speaker 2>doing digital media. This is before he went in.

0:31:14.400 --> 0:31:15.800
<v Speaker 1>Too philosophy his lucky day.

0:31:16.080 --> 0:31:19.440
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, he was in between careers and it was true luck.

0:31:19.920 --> 0:31:23.239
<v Speaker 1>Now when you travel, is he daddy at home when

0:31:23.240 --> 0:31:24.800
<v Speaker 1>you're on because you're on the road a lot.

0:31:27.240 --> 0:31:30.480
<v Speaker 2>Yes. When they were tiny babies, I took them everywhere

0:31:30.520 --> 0:31:33.560
<v Speaker 2>with me and we all traveled as a family. And

0:31:33.600 --> 0:31:35.920
<v Speaker 2>I'm very lucky that I have a spouse who does

0:31:35.920 --> 0:31:38.480
<v Speaker 2>something that's where he you know, he's the flexible one.

0:31:38.560 --> 0:31:40.560
<v Speaker 2>He can be remote, Yeah, he can be remote. He

0:31:40.680 --> 0:31:43.720
<v Speaker 2>you know, his schedule sort of bends around around the traveling.

0:31:44.240 --> 0:31:46.720
<v Speaker 2>Now my son is starting to go to school. We

0:31:46.760 --> 0:31:50.080
<v Speaker 2>live in Amsterdam, so they started school of four. I

0:31:50.200 --> 0:31:52.320
<v Speaker 2>like it. Yeah, you know, I ride my bike everywhere

0:31:52.360 --> 0:31:55.720
<v Speaker 2>and in the rain, but you know, it's it's a

0:31:55.800 --> 0:31:58.880
<v Speaker 2>very charming city. I appreciate life there. I appreciate the

0:31:58.920 --> 0:32:02.440
<v Speaker 2>convenience to the airport. That's for a conductor very important,

0:32:02.600 --> 0:32:04.400
<v Speaker 2>right just getting in and out. I can get to

0:32:04.440 --> 0:32:06.840
<v Speaker 2>Berlin in an hour, London and an hour Stockholm in

0:32:06.840 --> 0:32:09.480
<v Speaker 2>an our Paris on the train, the high speed train.

0:32:09.960 --> 0:32:13.200
<v Speaker 2>So it's convenient and it works, and it's a work

0:32:13.200 --> 0:32:17.000
<v Speaker 2>in progress. I mean, balancing this lifestyle with little kids

0:32:17.080 --> 0:32:19.400
<v Speaker 2>is I have a lot of conductor friends who've done it.

0:32:19.440 --> 0:32:22.600
<v Speaker 2>Alan Gilbert has three kids, so he's been a really

0:32:22.840 --> 0:32:27.480
<v Speaker 2>amazing friend to talk to about just balancing quality time

0:32:27.520 --> 0:32:30.600
<v Speaker 2>with them when you're home with then you know, sometimes

0:32:30.640 --> 0:32:32.040
<v Speaker 2>being away.

0:32:32.720 --> 0:32:36.840
<v Speaker 1>Now I'm assuming that you're vast understanding and your wealth

0:32:36.880 --> 0:32:41.280
<v Speaker 1>of studying all these different musical pieces. I'm assuming you

0:32:41.360 --> 0:32:42.760
<v Speaker 1>have to have some of you like more than other.

0:32:43.000 --> 0:32:45.480
<v Speaker 1>When that comes up on the program for the coming

0:32:45.520 --> 0:32:46.720
<v Speaker 1>year or two and you're going to go out you

0:32:46.760 --> 0:32:49.080
<v Speaker 1>see there and go ooh, you know one of my favorites.

0:32:48.800 --> 0:32:52.520
<v Speaker 2>There are there are well generally, whatever I'm studying in

0:32:52.560 --> 0:32:55.280
<v Speaker 2>the moment is my favorite thing on earth. Good answer,

0:32:56.040 --> 0:32:58.920
<v Speaker 2>it really is. It happens because I go in completely

0:32:58.960 --> 0:33:01.280
<v Speaker 2>in that world and then you justcover you rediscover it

0:33:01.320 --> 0:33:05.200
<v Speaker 2>and you think, how how did this guy write this?

0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:07.600
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I say this guy, it's most of the time.

0:33:07.800 --> 0:33:08.000
<v Speaker 1>Man.

0:33:08.480 --> 0:33:11.960
<v Speaker 2>There are fabulous female composers, but far there are fewer

0:33:12.240 --> 0:33:15.560
<v Speaker 2>in number. But I think I've never been a composer.

0:33:16.320 --> 0:33:18.160
<v Speaker 2>I think it's a good exercise, but I don't have

0:33:18.200 --> 0:33:20.520
<v Speaker 2>that drive or that I don't have like it's.

0:33:20.440 --> 0:33:21.920
<v Speaker 1>One when it comes up on the roster to think

0:33:22.040 --> 0:33:23.600
<v Speaker 1>ooh oh.

0:33:23.240 --> 0:33:26.000
<v Speaker 2>Well, I mean speaks to you. I would say, I

0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:29.400
<v Speaker 2>love opera and I'm doing more and more opera. My

0:33:29.520 --> 0:33:32.240
<v Speaker 2>absolute I think it's safe to say all time favorite

0:33:32.240 --> 0:33:37.000
<v Speaker 2>piece pretty much is Tristan and Isolda from by Rick Harvagner.

0:33:37.480 --> 0:33:41.120
<v Speaker 2>You know, it's is long and expensive to put on

0:33:41.120 --> 0:33:43.440
<v Speaker 2>a production, so it's it's hard to come by. You know,

0:33:43.480 --> 0:33:45.760
<v Speaker 2>you don't you don't just get offered every season that

0:33:45.800 --> 0:33:47.520
<v Speaker 2>trists On and is Olda. This is a this is

0:33:47.520 --> 0:33:51.360
<v Speaker 2>a piece that is, it's a big undertaking for any

0:33:51.400 --> 0:33:54.400
<v Speaker 2>opera house or any you know, theater anywhere in the world.

0:33:54.920 --> 0:33:58.760
<v Speaker 2>But the music is just it's unlike anything else. And

0:33:58.800 --> 0:34:01.200
<v Speaker 2>I think that that piece all so changed the face

0:34:01.240 --> 0:34:03.520
<v Speaker 2>of classical music. For example, last week with the San

0:34:03.560 --> 0:34:06.920
<v Speaker 2>Francisco Symphony, I did a piece by Sibelius. I love Sibelius.

0:34:07.240 --> 0:34:09.920
<v Speaker 2>I did lemon kinan for legends from the Kalevala, or

0:34:10.040 --> 0:34:13.080
<v Speaker 2>sometimes it's called lemon Kin and Sweet. And this is

0:34:13.120 --> 0:34:15.880
<v Speaker 2>a big, long, fifty minute work that the most famous

0:34:15.880 --> 0:34:18.120
<v Speaker 2>movement is the swan of Towinella, which has a big

0:34:18.120 --> 0:34:21.160
<v Speaker 2>English horn solo that's in that. So that's the one

0:34:21.200 --> 0:34:24.399
<v Speaker 2>that's often played as a separate piece. But Sibelius had

0:34:24.400 --> 0:34:27.480
<v Speaker 2>been in Byroid before he wrote all this. He was Wagner,

0:34:27.680 --> 0:34:32.239
<v Speaker 2>he had wagner itis, He was completely immersed in the

0:34:32.280 --> 0:34:37.000
<v Speaker 2>whole Byroid world. It is often extracted as an individual,

0:34:37.080 --> 0:34:40.640
<v Speaker 2>sort of ten eleven minute long tone poem, but in

0:34:40.680 --> 0:34:42.919
<v Speaker 2>fact it works so well as part of this sort

0:34:42.920 --> 0:34:46.359
<v Speaker 2>of larger suite that comes out of various stories from

0:34:46.400 --> 0:34:50.600
<v Speaker 2>the Kalavala, this Finnish mythological thing. But Sibelius wanted to

0:34:50.600 --> 0:34:53.080
<v Speaker 2>write an opera because he had had so much Wagner

0:34:53.120 --> 0:34:55.800
<v Speaker 2>on the brain, and he thought about writing an opera

0:34:56.200 --> 0:34:59.040
<v Speaker 2>and then realized that actually, in the end he would

0:34:59.120 --> 0:35:00.960
<v Speaker 2>never be able to do it. Anything like Tristan and

0:35:01.040 --> 0:35:04.080
<v Speaker 2>is Olda just wasn't gonna happen. And his thing was

0:35:04.120 --> 0:35:07.200
<v Speaker 2>sort of tone poems and nature painting. So he stuck

0:35:07.200 --> 0:35:09.719
<v Speaker 2>with that, and he he never wrote an opera. He

0:35:09.800 --> 0:35:13.080
<v Speaker 2>ended up just he wrote for voice, beautiful, beautiful, like

0:35:13.200 --> 0:35:17.120
<v Speaker 2>one otar, this unbelievable, very enchanting piece for soprano or extra.

0:35:17.440 --> 0:35:20.280
<v Speaker 2>But he didn't write a large scale opera like Wagner.

0:35:20.440 --> 0:35:23.479
<v Speaker 2>But Sibelius wrote this incredible music that has his own,

0:35:23.560 --> 0:35:25.880
<v Speaker 2>you know, the finish landscape and this, you know, I

0:35:26.040 --> 0:35:30.560
<v Speaker 2>see sort of otherworldly sounds that are unlike any other composer.

0:35:30.640 --> 0:35:34.560
<v Speaker 2>I love Sibelius's music every time I'm in that world. Four,

0:35:34.960 --> 0:35:37.919
<v Speaker 2>Oh my god, four is amazing. I can't believe, you know, four,

0:35:37.920 --> 0:35:43.120
<v Speaker 2>because four is really not not often done. It's quite difficult. Seven, five,

0:35:43.320 --> 0:35:45.920
<v Speaker 2>I mean, he wrote all these tone poems, Poyola's Daughter

0:35:46.040 --> 0:35:51.200
<v Speaker 2>for example. Unbelievable. It's unbelievable music, a little bit minimalistic.

0:35:51.880 --> 0:35:54.120
<v Speaker 2>I think John Adams for example, who I love John

0:35:54.120 --> 0:35:56.040
<v Speaker 2>Adams music. I think he you know, he sort of

0:35:56.960 --> 0:35:58.879
<v Speaker 2>must have been influenced by a little bit these sort

0:35:58.880 --> 0:36:00.920
<v Speaker 2>of repetitive figures that go, you got to go do

0:36:00.960 --> 0:36:03.040
<v Speaker 2>go go do, go, go, go go. They go over

0:36:03.080 --> 0:36:04.360
<v Speaker 2>and over again throughout the piece.

0:36:04.840 --> 0:36:08.360
<v Speaker 1>What I pray in terms of my relationship with the

0:36:08.480 --> 0:36:10.279
<v Speaker 1>film and what I want to try over the next

0:36:10.320 --> 0:36:13.960
<v Speaker 1>several years too try to extend and strengthen, is to

0:36:14.000 --> 0:36:18.000
<v Speaker 1>bring the next audience into the space. It's latent learning.

0:36:18.239 --> 0:36:21.680
<v Speaker 2>It's really rare. I feel like when I think about

0:36:21.719 --> 0:36:27.680
<v Speaker 2>you and your whole career as an actor, how dedicated

0:36:27.719 --> 0:36:30.040
<v Speaker 2>you are to classical music and to the New York Philharmonic.

0:36:30.360 --> 0:36:34.600
<v Speaker 2>You're on the board, you support in multiple ways. This

0:36:34.760 --> 0:36:37.480
<v Speaker 2>is huge, and this is rare, and I think that

0:36:37.640 --> 0:36:41.440
<v Speaker 2>is one of the most important things going forward. I mean,

0:36:41.520 --> 0:36:46.120
<v Speaker 2>you know, private support is thankfully a tradition in the

0:36:46.200 --> 0:36:48.200
<v Speaker 2>United States, not so much in Europe. And they need

0:36:48.239 --> 0:36:51.080
<v Speaker 2>to get on the boat now because you know, there

0:36:51.080 --> 0:36:55.320
<v Speaker 2>are major arts funding cuts in a lot of places. Berlin,

0:36:55.760 --> 0:37:00.840
<v Speaker 2>certainly in the Netherlands, the UK, London has had huge

0:37:00.920 --> 0:37:04.040
<v Speaker 2>arts funding cuts lately. And I think this idea of

0:37:04.080 --> 0:37:08.400
<v Speaker 2>private support and of reaching across to other fields outside

0:37:08.480 --> 0:37:11.640
<v Speaker 2>of this tiny world of classical music. You know, to

0:37:11.719 --> 0:37:14.680
<v Speaker 2>people like you who are who are in the film industry,

0:37:14.680 --> 0:37:18.799
<v Speaker 2>who are actors, who are producers. This is crucial, you know,

0:37:18.880 --> 0:37:19.839
<v Speaker 2>for our survival.

0:37:24.080 --> 0:37:29.680
<v Speaker 1>Conductor and violinist Carina Canilucus, if you're enjoying this conversation,

0:37:30.239 --> 0:37:32.759
<v Speaker 1>tell a friend and they short of follow Here's the

0:37:32.800 --> 0:37:38.000
<v Speaker 1>thing on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify or wherever you get

0:37:38.040 --> 0:37:43.000
<v Speaker 1>your podcasts. When we come back, Canilucus tells the story

0:37:43.280 --> 0:37:47.880
<v Speaker 1>of emailing her childhood inspiration, Mikhail Borishnikoff, and how it

0:37:48.000 --> 0:38:10.640
<v Speaker 1>led to meeting him in person at her show. I'm

0:38:10.640 --> 0:38:29.640
<v Speaker 1>Alec Baldwin and this is here's the thing. This is

0:38:29.680 --> 0:38:35.239
<v Speaker 1>the New York Philharmonic performing Death and Transfiguration by Regard Strauss,

0:38:35.440 --> 0:38:39.640
<v Speaker 1>conducted by Kermina Canalocas. My thanks to the New York

0:38:39.680 --> 0:38:45.239
<v Speaker 1>Philharmonic for generously providing this archive recording from twenty twenty four.

0:39:20.920 --> 0:39:24.480
<v Speaker 1>Canelacus began training to be a violinist when she was

0:39:24.520 --> 0:39:29.800
<v Speaker 1>a child, surrounded by a family of musicians. Having studied

0:39:29.800 --> 0:39:33.120
<v Speaker 1>at some of the top of music conservatories, I was

0:39:33.200 --> 0:39:36.120
<v Speaker 1>curious who she looked up to for inspiration when she

0:39:36.280 --> 0:39:38.200
<v Speaker 1>was first starting out.

0:39:38.480 --> 0:39:42.080
<v Speaker 2>You know who I was obsessed with was Barishnikoff, Mikhail Bershnikoff,

0:39:42.440 --> 0:39:44.440
<v Speaker 2>so much so that I was talking to a friend

0:39:44.600 --> 0:39:46.319
<v Speaker 2>when I so we met when I conducted the neuro

0:39:46.360 --> 0:39:47.360
<v Speaker 2>Filmonic in February.

0:39:47.600 --> 0:39:48.839
<v Speaker 1>So what did you do?

0:39:49.239 --> 0:39:52.279
<v Speaker 2>This was a w C Lamaier program and the Sara

0:39:52.360 --> 0:39:54.520
<v Speaker 2>Ajo and then you came back stage afterwards and you

0:39:54.560 --> 0:39:57.560
<v Speaker 2>were so so kind. So that same I think, I

0:39:57.600 --> 0:39:59.000
<v Speaker 2>think it wasn't the same night you were. There was

0:39:59.040 --> 0:40:03.000
<v Speaker 2>another night. So I had a friend I was saying, oh, Borishnakoff, la,

0:40:03.040 --> 0:40:04.680
<v Speaker 2>and she said, you know he lives here in New York.

0:40:04.719 --> 0:40:06.600
<v Speaker 2>You should just write to him. And I said, no,

0:40:06.680 --> 0:40:09.040
<v Speaker 2>I could never do that, you know, no, come on,

0:40:09.320 --> 0:40:12.760
<v Speaker 2>So I wrote an email to Mikhyle Berishnikoff and I said,

0:40:12.800 --> 0:40:17.120
<v Speaker 2>you know you're my biggest inspiration of my life. I

0:40:17.200 --> 0:40:20.960
<v Speaker 2>watched your Nutcracker religiously every year as a child. Very

0:40:21.000 --> 0:40:26.240
<v Speaker 2>emotional message. His wife Lisa wrote me back three days

0:40:26.280 --> 0:40:29.239
<v Speaker 2>later and she said, we're coming to a show. They come,

0:40:29.400 --> 0:40:33.759
<v Speaker 2>They came and I met him. It was unbelievable. Was

0:40:34.320 --> 0:40:37.000
<v Speaker 2>it was emotional for me because I mean, you know

0:40:37.120 --> 0:40:40.120
<v Speaker 2>he's standing there and he's an older man now and

0:40:40.320 --> 0:40:43.840
<v Speaker 2>he has children my age. I mean, it's not the

0:40:43.840 --> 0:40:47.040
<v Speaker 2>same thing as if I would meet him. And yesterday

0:40:47.040 --> 0:40:49.600
<v Speaker 2>he made the Nutcracker video. You know, it was like

0:40:49.680 --> 0:40:53.120
<v Speaker 2>meeting someone who has lived this whole unbelievable life in

0:40:53.160 --> 0:40:54.960
<v Speaker 2>the arts and especially New York. And there's the New

0:40:55.040 --> 0:40:56.640
<v Speaker 2>York connection. I mean, this is my home, this is

0:40:56.640 --> 0:40:59.520
<v Speaker 2>my hometown. I was born and raised here in the city,

0:41:00.080 --> 0:41:02.759
<v Speaker 2>and he has made this his home for most of

0:41:02.760 --> 0:41:05.840
<v Speaker 2>his life. And he's such a sort of an integral

0:41:05.880 --> 0:41:07.879
<v Speaker 2>part of the New York art scene, and he has

0:41:07.920 --> 0:41:09.160
<v Speaker 2>his art.

0:41:09.200 --> 0:41:12.680
<v Speaker 1>Paul Newman had his cancer camp of many cancer camps

0:41:12.719 --> 0:41:16.160
<v Speaker 1>around and the Mothership is up in Connecticut. One year

0:41:16.200 --> 0:41:17.800
<v Speaker 1>we go and there's all these celebrities who are invited

0:41:17.800 --> 0:41:19.400
<v Speaker 1>to come and do this camp. Arret. They do a

0:41:19.480 --> 0:41:22.640
<v Speaker 1>show and it's a horrible show. It's the worst show

0:41:22.719 --> 0:41:26.399
<v Speaker 1>you've ever seen. Newman prided himself the worst thing you've

0:41:26.480 --> 0:41:29.279
<v Speaker 1>ever seen in your life. And one time, Parishia Cough

0:41:29.280 --> 0:41:31.240
<v Speaker 1>comes and he's sitting in a chair out in the woods,

0:41:31.280 --> 0:41:35.400
<v Speaker 1>like off the stage door, smoking a cigarette and I

0:41:35.480 --> 0:41:36.799
<v Speaker 1>go to say hi to him, and he gets up

0:41:36.800 --> 0:41:38.400
<v Speaker 1>and he hugs me, and I'm like, I said, look

0:41:38.400 --> 0:41:39.719
<v Speaker 1>at him. I'm like, you know, you're not even a

0:41:39.800 --> 0:41:44.200
<v Speaker 1>human being. You're not true. That would do you too.

0:41:44.320 --> 0:41:45.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's not real.

0:41:45.760 --> 0:41:46.320
<v Speaker 1>It's true.

0:41:46.400 --> 0:41:47.160
<v Speaker 2>It's so true.

0:41:47.800 --> 0:41:50.160
<v Speaker 1>What's the piece you haven't conducted that you'd like to conduct?

0:41:50.560 --> 0:41:54.800
<v Speaker 2>I would say the other three Ring Cycle opera. So

0:41:54.840 --> 0:41:58.680
<v Speaker 2>I've conducted Siegfried, which is the third of the four

0:41:58.760 --> 0:42:03.600
<v Speaker 2>Ring Cycle operas. I've also conducted the first act of Devalkyra,

0:42:03.680 --> 0:42:07.399
<v Speaker 2>but I have not yet done Demrong And I would

0:42:07.480 --> 0:42:09.480
<v Speaker 2>love to do good good to Demongong and and I

0:42:09.480 --> 0:42:16.759
<v Speaker 2>would love to do an entire fully staged Ring Cycle productions. Well,

0:42:16.800 --> 0:42:19.080
<v Speaker 2>it's a bit about sixteen hours of music total.

0:42:19.160 --> 0:42:19.359
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:42:21.160 --> 0:42:25.359
<v Speaker 2>Normally these days opera houses do one per season over

0:42:25.400 --> 0:42:32.120
<v Speaker 2>four years. However you can have it depends the whole thing. No,

0:42:32.760 --> 0:42:35.840
<v Speaker 2>rarely merely that would be that would be insanity that

0:42:35.920 --> 0:42:36.800
<v Speaker 2>What about live.

0:42:36.640 --> 0:42:39.240
<v Speaker 1>To picture with films? Do you do that over there? No?

0:42:39.520 --> 0:42:41.600
<v Speaker 2>I have not done that. There are people who are

0:42:41.600 --> 0:42:43.680
<v Speaker 2>really really good at that kind of thing, And I

0:42:43.719 --> 0:42:45.440
<v Speaker 2>don't think that's necessarily my I.

0:42:45.400 --> 0:42:47.799
<v Speaker 1>Don't think it's a string. I don't want to explore it.

0:42:47.719 --> 0:42:50.520
<v Speaker 2>If it's a movie that I love that I'm passionate about. Absolutely,

0:42:50.520 --> 0:42:53.719
<v Speaker 2>Why not it was a film? Oh yeah, sure, I

0:42:53.760 --> 0:42:56.319
<v Speaker 2>mean that would be amazing. I think, you know, a

0:42:56.360 --> 0:42:59.360
<v Speaker 2>lot of that music is really incredible, like Miklos Rosha,

0:42:59.640 --> 0:43:01.840
<v Speaker 2>you know, the those guys who came to California from Germany.

0:43:01.840 --> 0:43:05.520
<v Speaker 2>Of course, unbelievable music. The score is Spellbound, for example,

0:43:05.600 --> 0:43:08.560
<v Speaker 2>this is unbelieva. There's even a piano concerto from the

0:43:08.600 --> 0:43:11.040
<v Speaker 2>spell Bound score which which I have conducted, and it

0:43:11.120 --> 0:43:12.239
<v Speaker 2>was really really fun.

0:43:12.480 --> 0:43:16.840
<v Speaker 1>Now talk about was opera in the windshield throwout or

0:43:16.920 --> 0:43:17.880
<v Speaker 1>that's something you acquired.

0:43:18.400 --> 0:43:21.440
<v Speaker 2>I will say that I have always loved opera since

0:43:21.480 --> 0:43:23.920
<v Speaker 2>I was a little kid. With my father, we had

0:43:23.960 --> 0:43:27.200
<v Speaker 2>a VHS tape of Lennoz Dificero the Marriage of Figuo

0:43:27.880 --> 0:43:30.960
<v Speaker 2>and you know the Carabino when he jumps out the

0:43:31.000 --> 0:43:33.520
<v Speaker 2>window and he has to hide. I thought it was

0:43:33.560 --> 0:43:35.560
<v Speaker 2>the greatest thing I'd ever seen in my life. I mean,

0:43:35.560 --> 0:43:38.400
<v Speaker 2>I was obsessed with the music, the whole thing, the

0:43:38.440 --> 0:43:42.200
<v Speaker 2>whole thing that people were singing a reality scene from

0:43:42.360 --> 0:43:46.000
<v Speaker 2>life that they were singing it. I thought it was unbelievable.

0:43:46.640 --> 0:43:49.000
<v Speaker 2>But then you know, you become a violinist, you go

0:43:49.040 --> 0:43:52.120
<v Speaker 2>through this conservatory world and you had to play as

0:43:52.160 --> 0:43:54.640
<v Speaker 2>one of your classes in school in the opera orchestra

0:43:55.360 --> 0:43:58.480
<v Speaker 2>without knowing anything about what was going on on stage.

0:43:58.800 --> 0:44:00.800
<v Speaker 2>Nobody would tell you. So if you didn't go to

0:44:00.880 --> 0:44:02.920
<v Speaker 2>the library, there was no you know, you couldn't just

0:44:03.120 --> 0:44:06.040
<v Speaker 2>there was no Wi FI. When I was eighteen, you

0:44:06.080 --> 0:44:08.520
<v Speaker 2>had to really seek. I didn't do that. I didn't

0:44:08.560 --> 0:44:10.399
<v Speaker 2>go and find it. You know, you had your life.

0:44:10.440 --> 0:44:11.680
<v Speaker 2>You had to practice, you had to go to the

0:44:11.680 --> 0:44:14.319
<v Speaker 2>next class and do the next thing. It bugged me

0:44:14.520 --> 0:44:16.360
<v Speaker 2>that I didn't know what was going on in stage,

0:44:16.360 --> 0:44:18.520
<v Speaker 2>that I didn't have any contact, And so I made

0:44:18.520 --> 0:44:21.239
<v Speaker 2>a point then of sort of going out of my

0:44:21.360 --> 0:44:25.120
<v Speaker 2>way to discover, not as a violinist, but as an outsider,

0:44:25.160 --> 0:44:27.680
<v Speaker 2>as a conductor, to discover this world of opera, which

0:44:27.719 --> 0:44:30.440
<v Speaker 2>really is is in a way completely separate from the

0:44:30.480 --> 0:44:33.640
<v Speaker 2>symphonic world in many ways imagine.

0:44:33.320 --> 0:44:35.359
<v Speaker 1>Primarily other than there's singers live.

0:44:35.640 --> 0:44:37.880
<v Speaker 2>So in so many ways, the whole process, you know,

0:44:38.080 --> 0:44:40.200
<v Speaker 2>the whole, the storytelling, the whole, the way you have

0:44:40.239 --> 0:44:42.319
<v Speaker 2>to conduct when you conduct an opera, you first of all,

0:44:42.320 --> 0:44:44.120
<v Speaker 2>it's not all about you. You know that people make

0:44:44.120 --> 0:44:46.160
<v Speaker 2>a big fuss over the conductor. You get on stage

0:44:46.200 --> 0:44:49.040
<v Speaker 2>and everyone's looking at you and James Levon everything you know,

0:44:49.080 --> 0:44:52.200
<v Speaker 2>But when you're in the pit, you're mostly hidden from view.

0:44:52.360 --> 0:44:54.400
<v Speaker 2>People see your shoulders in the top of your head.

0:44:54.840 --> 0:44:58.200
<v Speaker 2>The main focus is on the stage, the singers, and

0:44:58.360 --> 0:45:01.200
<v Speaker 2>I love that functional role. I love to be more

0:45:01.280 --> 0:45:03.600
<v Speaker 2>part sort of part of the part of the team.

0:45:03.800 --> 0:45:06.880
<v Speaker 2>I love that. I love to be I don't like

0:45:06.920 --> 0:45:08.719
<v Speaker 2>a lot of fuss over.

0:45:09.600 --> 0:45:09.839
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:45:09.880 --> 0:45:12.600
<v Speaker 2>No, it's too much attention on the conductor. But it

0:45:12.680 --> 0:45:14.799
<v Speaker 2>really bugs me, so I like to be that. I

0:45:14.800 --> 0:45:21.960
<v Speaker 2>also I am constantly saying, what have I done to myself? Yeah,

0:45:22.000 --> 0:45:25.239
<v Speaker 2>but it's a completely different process. Singers, conductor. You're there

0:45:25.280 --> 0:45:28.120
<v Speaker 2>for weeks. You're in one place for weeks. You're in

0:45:28.160 --> 0:45:31.800
<v Speaker 2>a room with a pianist and the director and you're blocking,

0:45:31.840 --> 0:45:34.120
<v Speaker 2>and you're especially if it's a new production, you're figuring out,

0:45:34.200 --> 0:45:37.000
<v Speaker 2>you know, what makes sense and how can this singer

0:45:37.080 --> 0:45:39.920
<v Speaker 2>sing something in a way that is convincing, bring out

0:45:39.960 --> 0:45:41.919
<v Speaker 2>the text, bring out the meaning of the text. While

0:45:42.000 --> 0:45:44.920
<v Speaker 2>do sometimes doing ridiculous things physically running around I have

0:45:44.960 --> 0:45:46.879
<v Speaker 2>to wear knee pads half the time and doing all

0:45:46.880 --> 0:45:50.720
<v Speaker 2>sorts of things on stage that are extra musical things

0:45:51.480 --> 0:45:53.920
<v Speaker 2>I love. I love to dance as a kid, you know.

0:45:54.000 --> 0:45:57.520
<v Speaker 2>I like all the different elements of art. You know

0:45:57.640 --> 0:46:00.520
<v Speaker 2>a little bit more chan the way.

0:46:00.840 --> 0:46:02.319
<v Speaker 1>Trying to stay the way you are now till your

0:46:02.440 --> 0:46:03.200
<v Speaker 1>ninety six.

0:46:03.080 --> 0:46:05.359
<v Speaker 2>Don Boomstead, thanks.

0:46:15.440 --> 0:46:20.359
<v Speaker 1>My thanks to conductor and violinist Karina Canalakas. I'll leave

0:46:20.400 --> 0:46:26.040
<v Speaker 1>you with Karina conducting the London Philharmonic performing Tchaikowsky's Symphony

0:46:26.200 --> 0:46:29.920
<v Speaker 1>Number five. I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the thing is brought

0:46:29.920 --> 0:47:13.600
<v Speaker 1>to you by iHeart Radio Man.