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Read on to discover which instruments our famous maestros would play in the conductors’ orchestra…<\/p>
Orchestral conductors. They\u2019re better paid than their players, they get to take bows both before and after a performance, and they enjoy the lion\u2019s share of the applause. They\u2019re the ones that choose the repertoire, call the shots in rehearsal, smile for the cameras and flirt with the star soloists. It\u2019s an exalted, enviable position, for sure. But how exactly did they all get there?<\/p>
The answer is not straightforward, as there is no set path. Most conductors will have undergone some sort of training, though that is not always the case. And while many will have previously mastered another musical skill to a very high level, there are those who had their sights set on the baton from the outset \u2013 the likes of Semyon Bychkov<\/a><\/strong>, Yakov Kreizberg<\/a><\/strong> and Mirga Gra\u017einyt\u0117-Tyla all studied conducting from their early teens. Others, meanwhile, did once have instrumental dreams, only to have them shattered. We can only guess at how Seiji Ozawa<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s piano career might have panned out had he not broken two fingers playing rugby.<\/p> The piano<\/a><\/strong>, in fact, seems to be the most frequent route into conducting \u2013 from acclaimed concert performers to former opera house r\u00e9p\u00e9titeurs, there are fistfuls of them. And a few organists, too, including those three knights of the Proms<\/a><\/strong>, Henry Wood<\/a><\/strong>, Malcolm Sargent<\/a><\/strong> and Andrew Davis<\/a><\/strong>. Perhaps it\u2019s a power thing?<\/p> Occasionally, you\u2019ll find a former singer up on the orchestral podium \u2013 erstwhile countertenor<\/a><\/strong> Juanjo Mena and contralto<\/a><\/strong> Nathalie Stutzmann both fit that description \u2013 while JoAnn Falletta<\/a><\/strong> previously excelled as a classical guitarist. And then there was Gilbert Kaplan who, with no significant musical experience at all, instead had the benefit of being filthy rich, a fortune amassed in publishing enabling him to pay his way to conducting Mahler<\/a><\/strong> symphonies.\u00a0<\/p> Concerto soloists and chamber music<\/a><\/strong>ians also often make their way into conducting. And, finally, there are those who started off in the ranks of the orchestra. One such example was violinist Karina Canellakis. \u2018I had great bouts of inspiration [for conducting] when I was playing in big orchestras in Berlin and Chicago,\u2019 she says. \u2018I thought it was really fascinating and would study scores on the side. But I also really loved performing as a violinist, so there was no reason for me to do anything different. It was only as I approached my 30th birthday that I decided that if I didn\u2019t give it my all, I might regret it.\u2019<\/p> No regrets, then, from Canellakis, who has since gone on to become the first woman ever to conduct the First Night of the Proms<\/a><\/strong>. But while she made a fairly traditional journey from the front desks of the violins to the podium, other leading baton-wavers have come from all parts of the orchestra. In fact, if one were to put together an orchestra out of instrumentalists-turned-conductors, dead or alive, you\u2019d quickly have a fairly handy ensemble. Here are just some of the well-known names who might feature in it\u2026<\/p> One could quite easily fill both first and second violin sections with well-known conductors who used to wield the fiddle in earnest \u2013 as well as Karina Canellakis, among the many names up for selection are Bernard Haitink<\/a><\/strong>, Eugene Ormandy, Marin Alsop<\/a><\/strong>, Neville Marriner<\/a><\/strong>, Sakari Oramo<\/a><\/strong>, John Storg\u00e5rds\u2026 It\u2019s clearly a natural step.<\/p> And, as Oramo, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra<\/a><\/strong>, explains, in some instances a violinist\u2019s work as a conductor begins even before they\u2019ve ever picked up a baton. \u2018As a concertmaster (leader), if the conductor happens to be not very good,\u2019 he says, \u2018you have to be able to take over the situation and rescue whatever is possible.\u2019 Ouch.<\/p> Orchestral players love nothing better than a joke about the viola<\/a><\/strong>s. (\u2018How can you tell when a violist is playing out of tune? The bow is moving!\u2019 etc.) What better way for violists to get even, then, than to put their instrument in the case, seize the baton and take charge? Among those to have done so is Pierre Monteux, who in 1910 played the viola in the first performance of Stravinsky<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s The Firebird<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, then three years later conducted the now-famous premiere of the same composer\u2019s The Rite of Spring<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0<\/p> Arturo Toscanini<\/a><\/strong>, who played in the premiere of Verdi<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Otello<\/em>, John Barbirolli, Nikolaus Harnoncourt<\/a><\/strong>, Susanna M\u00e4lkki, Han-Na Chang and Klaus M\u00e4kel\u00e4<\/a><\/strong> are just some of the cellists who decided that the conducting life was for them.<\/p> Just 16 when he picked up his first pay cheque as a cellist in the Queen\u2019s Hall Orchestra in 1916, Barbirolli also enjoyed the spotlight as a concerto soloist, as, many years later, did Chang. Harnoncourt, meanwhile, took a different option, heading from the ranks of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra to explore the world of period-instrument playing with his own Concentus Musicus Wien.<\/p> Like his equally wealthy close contemporary Thomas Beecham<\/a><\/strong>, Serge Koussevitsky was able to kickstart his conducting career by dipping into the family\u00a0kitty, hiring the Berlin Philharmonic<\/a><\/strong> and pianist Sergei Rachmaninov<\/a><\/strong>, no less, to make his debut on the rostrum in 1908. To be fair, by that stage, the future music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra had done the hard yards as a double bassist, firstly with the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and then as an acclaimed soloist. Joining him in our conductors\u2019 orchestra is Zubin Mehta, who began his career in the double bass section of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.\u00a0<\/p> Long before wowing audiences in opera houses and concert halls across the globe \u2013 in 1980, he was the first non-Briton to conduct the Last Night of the Proms<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Charles Mackerras<\/a><\/strong> could be found in the wind section of the ABC Sydney Orchestra, playing under Malcolm Sargent. And when, in 1947, the Australian moved to England, his first job was as an oboist at Sadler\u2019s Wells Theatre. Other conductors previously seen pursing their lips and playing an A for the orchestra to tune up to include Douglas Boyd and Edo de Waart.<\/p> Who better for Thierry Fischer, as principal flautist<\/a><\/strong> of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, to learn the art of conducting from than Claudio Abbado? And it was through the great Italian\u2019s personal guidance that Fischer then took his first steps onto the podium, later rising to positions including principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Meanwhile, if today\u2019s London concert-goers feel they recognise conductor Jaime Mart\u00edn from somewhere, it could well be from the Spaniard\u2019s time as principal flautist of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St Martin the Fields and London Philharmonic Orchestra.<\/p> Colin Davis<\/a><\/strong> reached posts such as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra<\/a><\/strong> the hard way. Ineligible for the conducting class at the Royal College of Music<\/a><\/strong> due to his lack of ability as a pianist, he instead specialised in the clarinet<\/a><\/strong>. An early career playing in the band of the Life Guards then followed before, slowly but surely, a succession of freelance gigs as a conductor led to more permanent positions. In comparison, fellow clarinettist Osmo V\u00e4nsk\u00e4 had it easy: principal clarinet with the Helsinki Philharmonic, conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy, and then a string of posts such as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. \u00a0<\/p>
The piano… the most frequent route to conducting<\/h3>
Former orchestral players who take to the podium<\/h3>
The conductors’ orchestra… the string section<\/h2>
Violin<\/h3>
Viola<\/h3>
Cello<\/h3>
Double bass<\/h3>
The conductors’ orchestra… the woodwind section<\/h2>
Oboe\/Cor Anglais<\/h3>
Flute\/Piccolo<\/h3>
Clarinet<\/h3>