Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing
Speaker 1: from iHeart Radio. Energy, charisma, fire and unmistakable hair. These
Speaker 1: are just a few of the words to describe the
Speaker 1: mesmerizing stage presence of Venezuelan conductor Raphael Piire. This is
Speaker 1: pi Are conducting Mahler's Symphony Number five with the Montreal
Speaker 1: Symphony Orchestra. He first gained attention as the winner of
Speaker 1: Denmark's twenty twelve Malco International Conducting Competition. Since then, the
Speaker 1: forty three year old has conducted many of the world's
Speaker 1: pre eminent orchestras, including London, Boston, Chicago, New York and
Speaker 1: la He was also principal conductor of the Castleton Festival
Speaker 1: in Virginia and led the Ulster Orchestra of Northern Ireland.
Speaker 1: Piari has been the music director of the San Diego
Speaker 1: Symphony since twenty nineteen, and this is his first year
Speaker 1: as music director of the Montreal Symphony, positions he currently
Speaker 1: holds simultaneously. Piare's road to such prestige began at Venezuela's
Speaker 1: fabled El Sistema, a music education programme whose illustrious alumni
Speaker 1: include Gustavo Dudamel, the newly appointed music director of the
Speaker 1: New York Pho Harmonic. I wanted to know how El
Speaker 1: Systema began and how Pirai found his.
Speaker 2: Way to it. Well, the Systema started this wonderful program
Speaker 2: that doctor jos Antonio Breok created in Venezuela back in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five. And the whole idea is that the
Speaker 2: music should be part of the education, and that music
Speaker 2: is a rite and not a privilege. So we should
Speaker 2: be able to access to music, and we have that.
Speaker 2: One of the things of system is that actually you
Speaker 2: just go to one of the nucleus, so they call
Speaker 2: the nucleus all of these different you cannot say conservatory
Speaker 2: because there are some of them that they are mainly
Speaker 2: bare bones. So it depends, that's what we call them nucleus.
Speaker 2: It depends where the part of the city they are.
Speaker 2: And they give you the instrument, they will give you
Speaker 2: the teachers. You just need to show up. But you
Speaker 2: start playing an instrument and at the same time you
Speaker 2: start playing in an orchestra, so you are always part
Speaker 2: of a bigger kind of community. So since the very
Speaker 2: beginning is that the let's say the unorthodox part that
Speaker 2: it's you already start playing your instrument and you immediately
Speaker 2: start playing in a symphony orchestra right away. So that
Speaker 2: that's the part that let's say it's not as normal
Speaker 2: and the rest of the world.
Speaker 1: But it's not a music school like Curtis or Manness.
Speaker 1: It's not a school it's granting you a degree. It's
Speaker 1: more of an academy.
Speaker 2: Well that's why they call it nucleus, because it's just
Speaker 2: you will not get a degree. Of course, then you
Speaker 2: could go to school and everything altogether, but it is
Speaker 2: actually a place that they will be teaching music. You
Speaker 2: just need to appear that they will give you the instrument,
Speaker 2: they will give you to the teachers, and you will
Speaker 2: start playing an orchestra. The idea is you don't have
Speaker 2: to be under primages for everybody. But of course a
Speaker 2: big am is trying to be for the underprivileged people
Speaker 2: that they might be poor, and the whole idea is
Speaker 2: that somebody, just because it's poor, it should not have
Speaker 2: a poor education. So they always bring into a system
Speaker 2: of people from everywhere in the world, from Manhattan Music Juliar,
Speaker 2: Civeelious Academy, Berlin Pharamonic to try to go and teach
Speaker 2: until do master classes for any of the students there.
Speaker 1: Now, you, when you were in your performing career, you
Speaker 1: played the French horn, correct, that is correct? And who
Speaker 1: chose the French horn? You or someone chose it for you?
Speaker 2: Well, I think the French hole shows me somehow, because
Speaker 2: my brother, he was playing in the orchestra already. My
Speaker 2: brother is eight years my senior. He was playing a basoon.
Speaker 2: But you know, he did his things his room and
Speaker 2: I did mine. And then was one day I approached
Speaker 2: his room and he was listening to something and that
Speaker 2: caught my attention. He asked me, do you like I
Speaker 2: said yes, So he said, I'm going to take you
Speaker 2: to the orchestra tomorrow. And then I went there and
Speaker 2: I started. Many months later, I found out that what
Speaker 2: he was listening was the eighteen twelve overture, and what
Speaker 2: caught my attention was the Marseilles theme, and it was
Speaker 2: the horn sound that caught my attention, and I went
Speaker 2: into this nuclear the conductor of the orchestra. He was
Speaker 2: not only the conductor of the orchestra, but also the
Speaker 2: teacher of trumpet, trombone, French horn and tuba. His name
Speaker 2: was Antoine Duhamel and he gave me this, yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: and he gave me this bronze, thin, brassy thing and
Speaker 2: told me blow. I did and it sounds and that's
Speaker 2: how I started playing the French horn.
Speaker 1: That's amazing, that's amazing. How long were you ad SYSTEMA? Oh?
Speaker 2: Well, I like to say that I'm still part of it.
Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, we started since nineteen ninety four to
Speaker 2: this day pretty much. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And from there do you go to a formal music school?
Speaker 2: Yeah? In Caracas, do you get your instrument and you
Speaker 2: wanted to get better and better? Then I moved to
Speaker 2: Karracas because I was part of that generation when Gustavo
Speaker 2: was also part. We started with the National Child then Orchestra.
Speaker 2: Then it was the National Youth Orchestra, and then Cemon
Speaker 2: Bolivar Youth Orchestra and Simon Bolivar Orchestra. And in Karrakas
Speaker 2: we go to a proper university. But the thing was
Speaker 2: that because the orchestra was getting a lot of tours
Speaker 2: and a lot of things, so we kind of need
Speaker 2: to do things a little bit differently. In my case,
Speaker 2: when I started conducting that there was a path that
Speaker 2: my strawberry will kind of opened the door for me.
Speaker 2: I got one on one classes, so I got all
Speaker 2: of the things. But instead of having a full semester
Speaker 2: and going every day, I just have very focused on
Speaker 2: immersion class of six seven hours one on one to
Speaker 2: try to get all of this because I had to keep,
Speaker 2: you know, rehearsing and doing things.
Speaker 1: It sounds like the classical world is like college football.
Speaker 1: You know, they're going to help you get through your
Speaker 1: grades because you're such a great quarterback.
Speaker 2: Something like that. A little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a great French horn player, so we're going
Speaker 1: to take care of everything for you. You just keep playing
Speaker 1: that horn. Now, you just keep loving those notes and
Speaker 1: we're going to take care of your grades.
Speaker 2: Something like that. Yeah, you could say that, let's support
Speaker 2: it that way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but now when you're there, when you are at
Speaker 1: Simone Bolivar, you're playing principal horn for Simone Bolivar between
Speaker 1: two thousand and one and twenty twelve of your touring
Speaker 1: and you're recording, and you were around some of course
Speaker 1: these titans of the classical repertoire in terms of music directors.
Speaker 1: You're around Abado, who I worship I mean I worshiped
Speaker 1: no more than Abat Mozelle, who I worship. Rattle, I
Speaker 1: don't know, but I love it. Mensinopoli, of course, is
Speaker 1: a great legend. And when you're around them, and when
Speaker 1: you're in that world and you're performing, when does someone
Speaker 1: tap you on the shoulder and say, come with me
Speaker 1: and they want to start to talk about you picking
Speaker 1: up a baton? Who first suggests that to you?
Speaker 2: When? And where? Well? With him? The very first one
Speaker 2: that actually talked to me about it. It was actually
Speaker 2: my Strabreo. He was the very first one. I got
Speaker 2: very inspired by Giuseppe Sinopoli. He did a tour with
Speaker 2: the nationality An Orchestra and I just I mean, we
Speaker 2: were one hundred and fifty kids playing Riency overture from
Speaker 2: Wagner and he did not speak Spanish and then he
Speaker 2: changed the sound of the orchestra within second. Now that
Speaker 2: really impressed me and said, I would like to do
Speaker 2: that one day when my hair is all white, you know,
Speaker 2: and all I will do that. But then with Maestro
Speaker 2: Antonio bre who showed me the path and started having this,
Speaker 2: and then at the same time Maestra Bado was coming,
Speaker 2: Mazelle was coming, Rattle was going into Venezuela, so I
Speaker 2: can't kind of look at the one on one thing.
Speaker 2: And at the same time, Gustava and I were very
Speaker 2: good friends. Mustavo was already doing all of this conducting
Speaker 2: and I was I was his first home, so I
Speaker 2: was very supportive of him. Looking in the orchestra, okay,
Speaker 2: I make sure that the horn section is always going
Speaker 2: to be on top phone for the concerts with Gustavo,
Speaker 2: So it was kind of an organic thing to be
Speaker 2: going through. But at the same time, when I was
Speaker 2: sitting in the orchestra, it was like a college kind
Speaker 2: of experience. I was just getting all of these things
Speaker 2: from all of these amazing conductors, and those words getting
Speaker 2: in my head somehow, all of the information how they
Speaker 2: work with the orchestra.
Speaker 1: So the first time you step on a podium with
Speaker 1: a baton in your hand, or without one for that matter,
Speaker 1: is when.
Speaker 2: The very first one. It could have been already with
Speaker 2: a brass enseamble because I was with a brass quintet
Speaker 2: and we used to teach kids. We go into different
Speaker 2: cities in the country, and we arrived on a Thursday,
Speaker 2: we play a concert, teach Friday, Saturday, and on Sunday,
Speaker 2: we put a little brass and sample together. So that
Speaker 2: was the first time that without a button I did something.
Speaker 2: And then for real in front of an orchestra I
Speaker 2: think was around two thousand seven, I think too. It
Speaker 2: was the youth Orchestra of Marakaivo and it was a
Speaker 2: master class in conducting with the South Korean conductor Zunquak
Speaker 2: was dictating that and during that thing, he picked who
Speaker 2: was going to do which part of the concert, and
Speaker 2: he decided that I was going to actually close the
Speaker 2: master class with the last movement of Chaikovs the Fifth Symphony.
Speaker 1: Now, just to get back to the horn for one second.
Speaker 1: Did it come naturally that French horn to you or
Speaker 1: was it something that you had to work extra hard on?
Speaker 2: Well, the French horn, it's a very ungrateful instrument, and
Speaker 2: any ranch home player would agree with me. We love
Speaker 2: the instrument, but sometimes it just gets you butt to
Speaker 2: earth in the most unlikely places or moment when you
Speaker 2: thinker on the top of the world, you have a crack.
Speaker 2: But actually with the French one, I think that it
Speaker 2: was it was a wonderful instrument that it was very
Speaker 2: nice fitted for me and I always had that love,
Speaker 2: sometimes hate relationship, but mostly love.
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to put the cards on the table here.
Speaker 1: I went to go see you, and then there at
Speaker 1: Carnegie Hall and my wife or someone said to me,
Speaker 1: what was Piari like on the podium? And I said,
Speaker 1: he had the athleticism of Dodomel and even yup because
Speaker 1: von Swaden is very very hopping around the podium, he's
Speaker 1: very active from the waist down, I said, PIORI reminds
Speaker 1: me of Dudemel from the waist down, and he reminds
Speaker 1: me of Dutois from the waist up. He's very elegant.
Speaker 1: He's athletic and elegant at the same moment. At the
Speaker 1: same time, he's very very he's very very powerful, even
Speaker 1: convulsive what he wants to and then he's pulling it
Speaker 1: back dramatically and he's in complete control of his body there,
Speaker 1: and there's an exuberance and there's a spasmodic quality to
Speaker 1: his body only when needed. And then because I mean,
Speaker 1: I was to was my favorite, and I was friends
Speaker 1: with Charlie and Chantale, they were dear friends of mine.
Speaker 1: And I watched you up there and I thought, is
Speaker 1: this your style, that this is what came out of you.
Speaker 1: Did you model yourself after somebody? Was somebody your inspiration?
Speaker 2: No, not really, I think. I mean, I still don't
Speaker 2: know how I look like, and I don't like to
Speaker 2: look at bitio of me.
Speaker 3: My god, that's terrible, but you should watch it because
Speaker 3: it's fabulous.
Speaker 2: It's really facinally thank you, thank you for that. But
Speaker 2: in reality, no, I think that was one of the
Speaker 2: things that my mentor, Antonio Breo said, like, look, you
Speaker 2: just get enough information and the body will find its
Speaker 2: way to express itself what you wanted to do with music.
Speaker 2: I will not know what will be my style at all.
Speaker 2: I do have to say that, together with Gootabo, we
Speaker 2: used to watch videos of Carlos Kleiber and of course
Speaker 2: of Cloud or a Bado as well, because they're just amazing,
Speaker 2: fantastic conductors. But no, I do not try to shape
Speaker 2: or do any kind of movement on purpose or conscious like.
Speaker 2: It's just what my body likes to do. It's like
Speaker 2: my hair, you know, it has a life on it's own.
Speaker 2: There's nothing I can do about it. Whenever it goes
Speaker 2: one way, it's like okay, fine, Well.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say I think that they should rearrange
Speaker 1: the stage because it's tough to see some of the
Speaker 1: performers over your hair. They should change the seating plan.
Speaker 2: I hope they've allowed.
Speaker 1: I hope they have factored your hair and the height
Speaker 1: of your hair into the seating plan. But anyway, now,
Speaker 1: all these legends, I didn't meet all of them. I
Speaker 1: met Moselle when he was just leaving New York. Charlie,
Speaker 1: I knew Eschenbach. I mean, I met a bunch of
Speaker 1: these people. Barren Boym. You know, the contemporaries are the
Speaker 1: ones that are just cresting now into retirement. I met
Speaker 1: so many of them. And when I say that Charlie
Speaker 1: is my favorite, I should say he's among my favorites
Speaker 1: because I love Mozelle as well. Now, you went to Castleton.
Speaker 1: I went down there and did a program. Did Linda
Speaker 1: is his wife? Absolutely so did Linda. Mizelle was gone,
Speaker 1: and she invited me to come down there to the
Speaker 1: Virginia countryside and do some program down there with one
Speaker 1: of her sons and try. I forget what it was.
Speaker 1: It was a kind of an odd little program, but
Speaker 1: I was very admiring of what she was doing. You
Speaker 1: went down there. How often? How many trips did you
Speaker 1: make to Castleton.
Speaker 2: Well, it's started because the thing with Castleton Mozille. When
Speaker 2: I won the Malco competition into Soutum twelve males from
Speaker 2: Moselle was actually the chairman of the jury. And one
Speaker 2: of the things that it happened by winning the competition
Speaker 2: is that you were going to get a little bit
Speaker 2: like a tutor, kind of tutelage under Moselle. So I
Speaker 2: remember that. It was very funny because the night of
Speaker 2: the gala we did the final, I was announced that
Speaker 2: I was the winner. It's already one in the morning,
Speaker 2: after the dner with this whole thing, and I had
Speaker 2: to catch a plane back to going back to Venezuela,
Speaker 2: and I was like, well, my flight is at six,
Speaker 2: so I need to go. Maestro, thank you very much
Speaker 2: for everything. It's like, no, no, no, you do not
Speaker 2: think that you're going to get rid of me that easily.
Speaker 2: You will come to now a Castleton on July. And
Speaker 2: on July seventh, I this is himself talking. I am
Speaker 2: going to conduct Beethoven nine and I want you to
Speaker 2: open the concert and conduct Leonora number three. I will
Speaker 2: send you my escore and I'll see you there. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, myself tells you that what you're going to do. Yeah,
Speaker 2: of course I went there and it was fantastic. The
Speaker 2: stayed over there and all of the program that he
Speaker 2: was putting on there together, it was amazing. I did that.
Speaker 2: I conduct his emity score. His score it has metrono
Speaker 2: marking fingers and everything altogether. And there was a part
Speaker 2: of me that I was a little bit in shock
Speaker 2: because I thought, like he expect me to do all
Speaker 2: of his things in there or not, I don't know,
Speaker 2: and I will just I will go with my god
Speaker 2: feeling and I will do how I listen to this music.
Speaker 2: So I got his score, but I did my time post,
Speaker 2: I did my thing, and there was no complaint at
Speaker 2: all whatsoever. He actually was waiting for me there with
Speaker 2: the his aren't white open and treat me like I
Speaker 2: was like his grandson or something. And he was so
Speaker 2: so supper loved the absolutely so, I mean all of
Speaker 2: those things that people might think that he was cold
Speaker 2: or whatever, that's they never really get to meeting. He
Speaker 2: was so so warm. And it was funny because what
Speaker 2: you'll hear me conduct in Carnelie Hall was mather Vive
Speaker 2: my first time in Castleton. We were talking. I said,
Speaker 2: do you love Maler's like yes, and do you do
Speaker 2: the fifth Infinite?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: Myself, this is one of my this is one of
Speaker 2: my pieces. Like, well, then you have to come next
Speaker 2: year and do malor fifth, which I did in two
Speaker 2: Sound thirteen, and then the year after that, in twenty fourteen,
Speaker 2: we were going to do a concert together, split concert,
Speaker 2: and I was due to travel there on a month
Speaker 2: they and he passed away on a Sunday.
Speaker 1: Maestro Rafael Piire. If you enjoy conversations with gifted conductors,
Speaker 1: check out my episode with Pavo Jervy.
Speaker 4: I have two girls right now who they're very talented,
Speaker 4: but they don't know what am I going to do
Speaker 4: in life? I never had ever that question because I
Speaker 4: wanted to not only to be a musician, I wanted
Speaker 4: to be a conductor.
Speaker 2: Why because my father was a conductor. I loved my father.
Speaker 4: I think he was having a lot of fun and
Speaker 4: we're very close to this day.
Speaker 2: So it was done.
Speaker 4: It was a done deal. I wanted to be a
Speaker 4: conductor and I never ever wanted to be anything else ever.
Speaker 1: To hear more of my conversation with Pavo Yervi go
Speaker 1: to Here's the Thing dot org. After the break, Rafael
Speaker 1: PII tells us how he shapes a music program and
Speaker 1: uses it to take the audience on a journey. I'm
Speaker 1: Alec bald when and you're listening to Here's the Thing.
Speaker 1: This is Rafael Piari conducting Schulstakovich's Symphony Number eleven with
Speaker 1: the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Raphael Piari has had
Speaker 1: a meteoric rise since he won first prize at Denmark's
Speaker 1: Malco International Conducting Competition in twenty twelve. I wanted to
Speaker 1: know how one judges something as misunderstood as conducting in
Speaker 1: the first place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, you know, conducting is a little
Speaker 2: bit like a voodu scene, so having the competition is
Speaker 2: a little bit kind of exchange. But I remember my
Speaker 2: time with Malco. We were forty eight participant during that
Speaker 2: time and it was going to be through ten days.
Speaker 2: I remember my only goal it was that maybe I
Speaker 2: will not get eliminated in the first round, because if
Speaker 2: I passed to the second round, the competition was going
Speaker 2: to pay for my hotel. So that was my main
Speaker 2: goal in the whole thing. I came from Venezuela, and
Speaker 2: it's like, I hope I don't get eliminated in the
Speaker 2: first round. But I mean it was kind of never recking.
Speaker 2: I remember the first round it was about five minutes
Speaker 2: different and four completely round with different repertoire the whole thing.
Speaker 2: There was one of the round that Marselle said like,
Speaker 2: do not say one word. It is seven minutes with
Speaker 2: three different pieces. Show everything with your hands. Then the
Speaker 2: third round is like actually with one you see rehearse,
Speaker 2: I mean, not be all of the different participants. Then
Speaker 2: the fourth round we have a piece that it was
Speaker 2: written for the competition and we only got score a
Speaker 2: month before. And then it was the final. So it
Speaker 2: was completely different, different, very different kind of experience. And
Speaker 2: you have this amazing orchestra that the Neish radio, and
Speaker 2: they will be you're in front of them for a
Speaker 2: certain amount of time and they will just.
Speaker 1: React to what you do or play what the same
Speaker 1: orchestra that's being conducted by all forty eight people.
Speaker 2: Yep. And the report to us it was the pull
Speaker 2: of music. It was really really really wide. I mean
Speaker 2: I remember it ran from Malor seven beth Oven four
Speaker 2: Brams for Bartow Concerto for Orchestra for Jack seven. I
Speaker 2: mean the amount of music was and the conductor, the
Speaker 2: resident composer for that, it was Christos Pendetski, so he
Speaker 2: wrote a piece especially for that. We actually have to
Speaker 2: premiere in front of everybody. If you made it that
Speaker 2: far in the competition.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, soon thereafter you go to Ulster.
Speaker 2: Correct, that's correct. Yes.
Speaker 1: Now, if I were to say, in some overly simplified way,
Speaker 1: what would be culturally and climatologically the opposite of Venezuela,
Speaker 1: the answer would be Ulster.
Speaker 2: You can say that easily.
Speaker 1: That what happens to Raphael Payari when he shows up
Speaker 1: in the north of Ireland and you're there for five years?
Speaker 2: Correct?
Speaker 1: Obviously you leave and travel and gets conduct and do
Speaker 1: other things. But what was it like to Because I
Speaker 1: want you to describe to me the same with Ulster
Speaker 1: as with San Diego, and that's when you arrive. What's
Speaker 1: the vibe there? What's the audience?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean it was the first time I went there.
Speaker 2: The orchestra was fantastic and we have an immedium connection.
Speaker 2: And the thing is that the audience as well, there
Speaker 2: are so welcoming and so long, very very much. So
Speaker 2: it was I remember I went there for a concert
Speaker 2: to just a Covich piano concerto, opening with rabel Tombo
Speaker 2: cop and then ending with Firebird Suite, and the conture
Speaker 2: was absolutely great. And I remember we have the dinner
Speaker 2: after the concert and I sat down, you know, okay,
Speaker 2: it's time to have a stake, let's have a drink.
Speaker 2: And then the intendent of the orchestra I said like, ah,
Speaker 2: what do you think if you are going to become
Speaker 2: a chief conductor? So I thought that she was joking,
Speaker 2: you know, and it's like, okay, yeah, why not, but okay,
Speaker 2: let's eat, and this is crazy. Two days later they
Speaker 2: actually called my agent and asked and they offered. It
Speaker 2: was real, the whole thing. And then I came back
Speaker 2: and I said that, yeah, why not. I mean, the
Speaker 2: connection with the orchestra was great and the audience was fantastic. However,
Speaker 2: coming from Venezuela, I already have an accent in English,
Speaker 2: but their accent is also very hard to understand the
Speaker 2: way they have it. But it was just fantastic to
Speaker 2: see this very rainy gray sky all the time, and
Speaker 2: I find it really wonderful. I come from Porto la
Speaker 2: Cruz and we have sun three hundred and sixty five
Speaker 2: there year, so I was fine with having.
Speaker 3: Some gray in the sky. Another of rain, Ireland. I
Speaker 3: shot a movie in Belfast about three years ago. I
Speaker 3: had never been there before when we went to the
Speaker 3: south and I went up to the north for the
Speaker 3: first time, and.
Speaker 2: I loved it. It's dreary, but it's poetically dreary.
Speaker 1: It's really very, very very beautiful.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, And the green with the amount of water
Speaker 2: they have the green, it has a particular kind of
Speaker 2: sys that is different from everywhere else. It's just wonderful.
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to ask the same thing about Ulster,
Speaker 1: which is you're the music director. Correct, yes, you're the
Speaker 1: music director there. But when you go to Ulster, when
Speaker 1: you go to San Diego and you're growing and your
Speaker 1: experiences are growing, and then when you arrive in Montreal
Speaker 1: and they're not going to give the keys to that
Speaker 1: car to just anybody, you know, you really really are
Speaker 1: at the big time. Now, what is your involvement in
Speaker 1: selecting the program. I'm on the board of the Fill
Speaker 1: here in New York. They have a music committee, and
Speaker 1: you know, they want to have discussions with the executive
Speaker 1: director and people in the committee and members of the
Speaker 1: staff and the maestro about what's going to be played.
Speaker 1: How much input do you have, Let's start with San
Speaker 1: Diego when you go down there, how much input do
Speaker 1: you have to the program?
Speaker 2: Oh? A lot, because I not only program my programs,
Speaker 2: I also have to overview. Of course, we have a
Speaker 2: team there, a wonderful team. The CEO with San Diego,
Speaker 2: Martha Gilmer. She used to be the artistic program of
Speaker 2: Chicago Symphony for thirty five years, so she is also
Speaker 2: has the Shorty yeah exactly. She went with Shorty with
Speaker 2: bar and boint with high thing with bulets with all
Speaker 2: of them, and motive, and so she had all of
Speaker 2: this experience. We also have our artistic team altogether, and
Speaker 2: we just see it. But the whole thing is, I
Speaker 2: don't like to just program my program for the sake
Speaker 2: of programming.
Speaker 1: When you see my program my weeks, the ones you're conducting, yeah, the.
Speaker 2: One that I'm conducting, But it's actually who how are
Speaker 2: we taking the audience into this kind of journey and
Speaker 2: this kind of voyage, And it's very important the many
Speaker 2: different things that let's say, the sound that I am
Speaker 2: looking the orchestra to develop more so that this also
Speaker 2: had to do with the report that you have, but
Speaker 2: not everything needs to be about that. We also need
Speaker 2: to be appealing for the audience and the people what
Speaker 2: they are, our supporters that are going to be there.
Speaker 2: So normally what I do is just look at the
Speaker 2: last twenty years, twenty five years, what they have been doing,
Speaker 2: what is lacking, and what this needs to be doing.
Speaker 2: Also as well with what is my core repertoire and
Speaker 2: what I think that the orchestra needs to develop or
Speaker 2: explore or bring back. So yeah, it's a lot, but
Speaker 2: those conversations are really really fun and they are ongoing
Speaker 2: for a long time. I remember the first time with
Speaker 2: San Diego. We started a conversation at ten in the
Speaker 2: morning in Aspen and it ended at seven pm. I
Speaker 2: was even texting math when I was to the airport
Speaker 2: going to another orchestra. How about we do this and this,
Speaker 2: and then we go back and sit again for another
Speaker 2: six hours. Then Martha went to Berlin. We have another
Speaker 2: two days from ten to twelve pm just talking and
Speaker 2: just trying to put the next five years of what
Speaker 2: do we want to do and what do we want
Speaker 2: to orchestra to go and how do we dream and
Speaker 2: make try to have all the things together. So yeah,
Speaker 2: the input is quite big. I have to say.
Speaker 1: Well, also, I'm wondering whether it be in San Diego.
Speaker 1: I know that not all the great ensembles are created
Speaker 1: alike in terms of their funding. Some of them have
Speaker 1: lots of endowments in cash and some of them not
Speaker 1: so much. And I'm assuming that you, as the music director,
Speaker 1: are called upon, especially when you're young and vital like you.
Speaker 1: You know, you're not a blomstat who's ninety two years old.
Speaker 1: They're not going to roll him out for the cocktail
Speaker 1: party maybe before the show. But for a young, energetic
Speaker 1: guy like you, are you pressed upon to participate in
Speaker 1: development and fundraising with the organization?
Speaker 2: Well, I think it is very important, of course, because
Speaker 2: the phone raising what is the phone raising for to
Speaker 2: be able to make the dreams that we have happen?
Speaker 2: So sometimes we have some things. But I have to
Speaker 2: say that they are very smart how the way they
Speaker 2: do it. They don't do it too much, and they
Speaker 2: do it in a way to use that relationship. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, now when you're in San Diego, it's not one
Speaker 1: of the major venues use but they have a great,
Speaker 1: great tradition down there, don't they.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, indeed. And one of the things that is
Speaker 2: wonderful with San Diego is that I'm arriving into this
Speaker 2: period of time for the orchestra and the city that
Speaker 2: is actually having like a like a big push. It's
Speaker 2: a wonderful time to happen. I mean, we just opened
Speaker 2: this beautiful outdoor venue, the Raady Sheil, and it's raady
Speaker 2: yeah yeah, and it's by the bay. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: San Diego has one of the best climates in the
Speaker 2: whole world. And then you have this amazing shell surrounded
Speaker 2: by water with this ridiculously bull sky and then from
Speaker 2: the stage you could actually see Mexico. I mean, come on,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean this is this is something that
Speaker 2: is amazing. Dinner after the show, right yeah, yeah, immediately,
Speaker 2: and you could have that with maybe a little bit
Speaker 2: of the quilla or not, but that was that's up
Speaker 2: to you.
Speaker 1: I think you deserve anything you want, quite frankly.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you. And then you have this and
Speaker 2: it's not only about that it's beautiful, but actually on
Speaker 2: stage they put the state of their sound system, so
Speaker 2: the orchestra could really hear each other very well, and
Speaker 2: then that is projected into the lawn for the people
Speaker 2: to have an immersive experience as you will be in
Speaker 2: an indoor hole. So it's fantastic and the orchestra is
Speaker 2: playing wonderfully. And now we're about to open reopen because
Speaker 2: our whole has been into renovation and the orchestra is
Speaker 2: sounding great. Well, let me ask you this.
Speaker 1: When you signed on for San Diego, did they tell
Speaker 1: you that Rady was on the on the drawing board?
Speaker 1: You knew that was coming.
Speaker 2: No, I did not. I was already Martha's plan happening
Speaker 2: with this. But I mean when I arrived there and
Speaker 2: they showed me the plans, it was amazing. And this
Speaker 2: is one of the most amazing things. We have a
Speaker 2: wonderful one of the patrons there, when I was very
Speaker 2: fairly new in there, he asked me what the orchestra needed,
Speaker 2: and I said, like the hole that we're playing in
Speaker 2: its own work. Because the musicians it will be better.
Speaker 2: They will even the orchestra. WI was going to a
Speaker 2: different stut of if you have a Libit Burtter hole,
Speaker 2: and he brought some people actually the architects and an
Speaker 2: accoustician that did Geffen Hole. They are the one doing
Speaker 2: the renovation in our hole and we're going to be
Speaker 2: opening in November. So this is where this is in
Speaker 2: San Diego. So you're still working with them.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, are you in the transition phase? Now? Are
Speaker 1: you doing in that and you in that scene where
Speaker 1: you're slowly exiting San Diego to go to Montreal.
Speaker 2: No, not at all, actually because.
Speaker 1: Both at the same time.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: You are the actual music director, both simultaneously.
Speaker 2: Yep, yeah, yeah, this is my first I just extended
Speaker 2: my contract in San Diego for four years, and this
Speaker 2: is my first year in San Diego, and this is
Speaker 2: my first year in Montreal for my content in Montreal.
Speaker 2: My first country in Montreal is start for five years. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You don't really like to have time off, do you?
Speaker 2: Well? I mean, I'm.
Speaker 1: Joking up to now an important question for my listeners,
Speaker 1: because of course I've been to Spack with Charlie. I've
Speaker 1: then to tangle Wood countless times. I've been to Ravinia,
Speaker 1: Hollywood Bowler obviously. I mean, I've spent to some of
Speaker 1: the outdoor venues that are really, really beautiful. Well, if
Speaker 1: you're not in Carnegie Hall, if you're not in Separence Hall,
Speaker 1: if you're not in one of the great halls around
Speaker 1: the world and you're outside, what adjustments do you need
Speaker 1: to make in your work?
Speaker 2: Well, it depends. Sometimes there are things depending how is
Speaker 2: the outdoor venue. There are some of them that they
Speaker 2: have a wonderful setup. And this is for Instagware. San
Speaker 2: Diego is absolutely world World War class because now our
Speaker 2: door venue there has the mayor sound system on stage,
Speaker 2: so we actually play on stage as if we were
Speaker 2: in an indoor venue. We do exactly the same. We
Speaker 2: could go into the softer dynamic to the loudest and
Speaker 2: provosts and yeah, because then they actually get that into
Speaker 2: the mics and that is what's coming out on the lawn,
Speaker 2: so they got it right. Yeah. Absolutely, it's amazing. You'll
Speaker 2: forget that you are outdoors until all of us a
Speaker 2: sudden there's a helicopter going by. Or are party bold right?
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, Maestro Raphael Piari, if you're enjoying
Speaker 1: this episode, don't keep it to yourself, Tell a friend
Speaker 1: and be sure to follow us on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. When we return,
Speaker 1: Raphael Paiari shares how a good pairing with an orchestra
Speaker 1: is like falling in love. I'm Alec Baldwin and this
Speaker 1: is here's the thing. This is more of the San
Speaker 1: Diego Symphony performing Shostakovich's Symphony Number eleven in G minor,
Speaker 1: conducted by my guest today, Maestro Rafael PIII. Between his
Speaker 1: music director position with the San Diego Symphony and constant
Speaker 1: travel across the globe working with the world's greatest orchestras,
Speaker 1: Rafael Piari's schedule is typically jam packed. When the Montreal
Speaker 1: Symphony came calling amidst an already hectic time in Piari's career,
Speaker 1: I was curious how the pairing came to be.
Speaker 2: Well, it was kind of funny, let's say, because I
Speaker 2: had a concert with them in September twentuthan eighteen. I
Speaker 2: had a concert with them. I wasn't bided as a
Speaker 2: just guest conductor. You know. Maybe my manager was aware
Speaker 2: that they were looking for a music director. I was not.
Speaker 2: I just went there to make music to one of
Speaker 2: the world class orchestra and I was very happy that
Speaker 2: I was going to do that. And it's very funny
Speaker 2: because I few months back, I was just announced in
Speaker 2: San Diego. So I went to Montreal my first week
Speaker 2: with them, and when I finished, I flew to San
Speaker 2: Diego to do the press conference of what was going
Speaker 2: to be my first season. It was fairly at the
Speaker 2: very beginning of their search. The chemistry with the orchestra
Speaker 2: was phenomenal. I remember we did a program of schombervcletten Acht,
Speaker 2: mox Art biolin Concerto number three with their concert master
Speaker 2: as a soloist, and then Beethoven number three. That was
Speaker 2: a program we did that. It was great, audience was fantastic.
Speaker 2: I left, I went to San Diego. Then I have
Speaker 2: I was still in Belfast. I went to do something.
Speaker 2: They actually, the people from Montreal came to Belfast to
Speaker 2: visit me and they said that they actually wanted me
Speaker 2: to come back in July if I would accept and
Speaker 2: do that, because the orchestra really liked me and they
Speaker 2: really want me to be again again. And like sure, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean of course in July. Actually, I was happened
Speaker 2: to be free and I went with them and to
Speaker 2: do some Tchaikovski and some more and the connection with
Speaker 2: the orchestra is you got even bigger and it was
Speaker 2: even better. And then they they were still in their
Speaker 2: process and I was just about to start my tenure
Speaker 2: of MEWSIC director in San Diego, so starting that they
Speaker 2: went to some of the concerts and then they started
Speaker 2: talking to me a little bit more serious, like do
Speaker 2: you see you think that it would be a good
Speaker 2: idea for you to come back and slid Before I
Speaker 2: do any of that, I need to see what the
Speaker 2: orchestra has been doing in the last twenty five years
Speaker 2: and things like that, you know. But then COVID hit
Speaker 2: and they I think I was considered, but they were
Speaker 2: not finished in their process. And then during COVID times
Speaker 2: by the end in November, they asked me and said like, look,
Speaker 2: the orchestra has voted. You're the one that wants to
Speaker 2: take this. But no one knew this was embargo and
Speaker 2: I had to go and please come, you are going
Speaker 2: to do a concert that was program before a concert
Speaker 2: I needed to do with them in January twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: but I had to do fourteen days of quarantine because
Speaker 2: of it was COVID time, and I went there. The
Speaker 2: orchestra had no idea what was going on because everything
Speaker 2: was secretive. And then they did over Zoom they called
Speaker 2: the orchestra. But that was on January sixth of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one, so the world in this side was kind
Speaker 2: of going through a rumble, and in there they were
Speaker 2: about to get a new lockdown. So the orchestra was
Speaker 2: a little bit afraid that that meeting was going to
Speaker 2: be to give some bad news. And actually when they
Speaker 2: said that it was made, the whole thing changed, and
Speaker 2: then we start having rehearsal and we did concert that
Speaker 2: weekend and then it was a lockdown. But I was
Speaker 2: already there for fourteen days, so we can go for
Speaker 2: the next ten days. It was like when you get
Speaker 2: to know somebody and you'll fall in love on the
Speaker 2: first time. That kind of happens.
Speaker 1: Now once you'd assume maybe, or I'm going to assume
Speaker 1: that when you become the music director of something like Montreal,
Speaker 1: you don't come walking in there and meet them on
Speaker 1: the first day. You've guests conducted there before.
Speaker 2: Correct, Yet you have a bit.
Speaker 1: Of a sense and a feel for them and they
Speaker 1: for you, so it's not like a blind date when
Speaker 1: you show up there to become the boss. You've been
Speaker 1: around them and you got a taste of how they
Speaker 1: do things with the various ensembles that you have been
Speaker 1: the director of or you've guest conducted. Someone once told
Speaker 1: me violin's violin, and everybody that has a chair in
Speaker 1: a major symphony orchestra who plays the violin among the
Speaker 1: greatest violin players in the world. But for you, I'm
Speaker 1: wondering for you, did you have a prejudice? Did you
Speaker 1: have a leaning because of you being a French horn player?
Speaker 1: Do you listen more acutely to the horns.
Speaker 2: Not particularly altro. When I go into an orchestra, especially
Speaker 2: for the first time, it's all about let's see how
Speaker 2: the sound of the orchestra reacts to my beat, and
Speaker 2: let's see what we can do together. And it depends.
Speaker 2: Every orchestra has a specificity and that there's something that
Speaker 2: is different and with everybody. And yet it will be
Speaker 2: see how with the chemistry that would happen on the stage,
Speaker 2: how much it could be bent. Or it's like a
Speaker 2: dancer party. You know how much how fast you can
Speaker 2: do and how you can go from one place to
Speaker 2: the other, make a twirl, And it's just all about
Speaker 2: that kind of trust happening. But I will not say
Speaker 2: that I will only hear the horns, but I do
Speaker 2: understand them and I know that being a solo horn myself,
Speaker 2: I know that we never want to crack an oe,
Speaker 2: so I know what is in there. And there's many
Speaker 2: conductors in the past that will give the evil eye
Speaker 2: to the honk when something would happen, and I know
Speaker 2: that's not what you're aiming for. You do they literally
Speaker 2: give the evil eye? Oh my god, there's a clip
Speaker 2: of Carboom doing beth Oven seven and there's a crack
Speaker 2: in the horn and he just looked at the guy
Speaker 2: and just like it's terrible. Look up YouTube car Bomb
Speaker 2: Bethoven seven. It's crazy, and that happened in the past.
Speaker 2: Whenever I go to an orchestra, and if the orchestra
Speaker 2: happen to know that I'm a French one player, they
Speaker 2: know that I'm actually supported and I am rooting for them.
Speaker 2: I know the other way around.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm wondering in the time we have left
Speaker 1: in someone in your position, when you're a conductor, is
Speaker 1: there a path that you seek to improve? Do you
Speaker 1: seek to change in the work you do in acting?
Speaker 1: What happens with young actors is they work too hard.
Speaker 1: They try to find ways to put even inappropriate levels
Speaker 1: of emotion just to demonstrate that they can do that.
Speaker 1: It's like, it's almost like juggling. I want to make
Speaker 1: sure you know, I want you to be very clear
Speaker 1: that I can juggle. And what's happening as you go
Speaker 1: along is you economize and economize and economize, and you
Speaker 1: do less and less and less, and it's more effective.
Speaker 1: But my point is is that for you and someone
Speaker 1: in your occupation and your profession, are there ways you
Speaker 1: seek to improve? What do you want to improve?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well everything you know in music. This is one
Speaker 2: of the amazing things, as you know as well with acting,
Speaker 2: is that no text is the same, even when you
Speaker 2: have from one place to the other. The same thing
Speaker 2: happened with all of the music of these amazing composers.
Speaker 2: So of course you could always dig a little bit,
Speaker 2: you know, deeper and deeper. And at the same time,
Speaker 2: one of the things that it cannot be is that
Speaker 2: there are sometimes a report to it that you might
Speaker 2: not be able to understand or do justice if you
Speaker 2: attack it too early or too young on it, because
Speaker 2: you will want to sell like, yeah, I can't do this,
Speaker 2: but yeah, but that's it. Actually, what you're actually achieving
Speaker 2: from this amazing piece of music is actually what it is,
Speaker 2: or is just the surface of it. So all the
Speaker 2: time we want to keep improving. And the conducting career
Speaker 2: is a marathon. You cannot think about as the one
Speaker 2: hundred meters kind of career because then you will be done.
Speaker 2: You have to really keep going.
Speaker 1: Into one short time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and like plumped that. Look he's now ninety two
Speaker 2: and eighty four. I think it's ninety six actually, and
Speaker 2: he's still doing it.
Speaker 1: It's very old, you know, I mean yeah, but I
Speaker 1: mean all the different styles. I mean like Gere Kiev
Speaker 1: and that twitchy hand of his. You see everybody in
Speaker 1: their style. Who's in front of the beat and who's
Speaker 1: on the beat right right? I mean I come out
Speaker 1: here and I'd say if I was a conductor, I
Speaker 1: would find the difficult to be ahead of the beat.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have you need to know the sheet
Speaker 1: music and be able to beat.
Speaker 2: Music very well.
Speaker 1: And then I and I watch conductors who are ahead
Speaker 1: of the beat, and I watch conductors who.
Speaker 2: Played to the beat. What's the difference.
Speaker 1: Why do they choose one or the other.
Speaker 2: Well, what do you do? What do you prefer? Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: the thing is that depends on the orchestra, because there
Speaker 2: are orchestra that even though you are showing the beat,
Speaker 2: the sound comes a little bit later. So if you
Speaker 2: try to adapt the beat to that, the orchestra will
Speaker 2: keep being a little bit later and never nothing is
Speaker 2: going to really move. So that is why sometimes you
Speaker 2: see that the conductor is actually ahead of the beat
Speaker 2: and it's just because the orchestra tried to do them. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they will play, they will have like an inn orhythm.
Speaker 1: Now, much to my surprise to know this, I went
Speaker 1: to go see Lisa wild or Steeen performing at Kevin
Speaker 1: Hall the other day and I just learned, this is
Speaker 1: your wife.
Speaker 2: That is correct.
Speaker 1: And she just told me when we I think somebody
Speaker 1: who's a friend of hers, because it's all one big
Speaker 1: family backstage there, and someone there from New York was
Speaker 1: telling Lisa, and I think she said she just had
Speaker 1: the baby five months ago. No, well now a year ago,
Speaker 1: years ago?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's correct. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the two of you are waving goodbye to each
Speaker 1: other and kissing each other go by in airports, all
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: How does that work a little bit? Well, we have
Speaker 2: what we call marriage schedule meetings that we actually see
Speaker 2: it with our schedule and we put things together and
Speaker 2: try to see because we have a rule we do
Speaker 2: not want to be apart from each other more than
Speaker 2: two weeks at a time. That is how we might have. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and sometimes you have to break it, but we try
Speaker 2: to make it. If we are going to break it,
Speaker 2: it will be like every eighteen month or two years
Speaker 2: or something like that that we maybe will break it
Speaker 2: that way. And we just tried to put everything like this.
Speaker 2: And we have two daughters now, I mean the latest
Speaker 2: one is one year old and our oldest is actually
Speaker 2: seven years old.
Speaker 1: I was one of the people at the Philharmonic years
Speaker 1: ago because I've been doing this with him for a
Speaker 1: while now. I've been on the board and I've been
Speaker 1: their announcer on public radio for years. And you know,
Speaker 1: eventually we presented because I was very excited about the
Speaker 1: Live to Picture movie program. And our program is called
Speaker 1: the Art of the Score. It's been enormously successful. It's
Speaker 1: a real money maker for them. I'm wondering, have you
Speaker 1: done any live to picture up there?
Speaker 2: I have not but in San Diego, I mean not myself,
Speaker 2: but we do program it. Actually, yes, well.
Speaker 1: I want to do Live to Picture with you. I'm
Speaker 1: going to come up to Montreal.
Speaker 2: We'll do Live to Picture. Sounds good absolutely, San Diego
Speaker 2: and Montreal both.
Speaker 1: Let me just finish by saying beyond thank you and
Speaker 1: beyond thank you from giving us some of your very
Speaker 1: very limited free time. I just want to say that
Speaker 1: when I saw you there at Carnegie Hall and I said,
Speaker 1: this guy is the next great conductor in the ensemble universe.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I mean you lit the place on fire. Everybody with
Speaker 1: nuts supplauding. They loved you. They loved the piece, and
Speaker 1: your energy and variet and your passion and your discipline.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have everything just coming together in this
Speaker 1: unique package. Everything isn't anybody like you out there right now,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, You're very kind.
Speaker 1: My thanks to conductor and music director Rafael Piire. We
Speaker 1: leave you with the adageetto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony. Rafael
Speaker 1: Piari conducts the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Speaker 4: D English