MAESTRO IN THE BULLPEN: ARTISTIC ADVISER PETER OUNDJIAN BRINGS CREATIVITY, NEW FESTIVAL
By Mark Stryker – free press music writer
Detroit Free Press, United States
June 17 2007
Here are some of the things Peter Oundjian did during a week in Detroit
in May other than lead the Detroit Symphony Orchestra through four
rehearsals and three concerts:
He drove artistic planning sessions for 2008-09. He joined the jury
for bass auditions. He attended a fund-raising dinner for gilded
DSO donors. He taped a program at WRCJ-FM (90.9). He met with a
violinist to talk about young Armenian musicians. He sat in on a
marketing meeting about the DSO’s ambitious 8 Days in June Festival,
which begins its maiden voyage Thursday.
Rumors that he found time to eat lunch are unconfirmed.
The DSO wasn’t looking for a figurehead or a rent-a-maestro when it
hired Oundjian as principal guest conductor and artistic adviser last
summer. The orchestra needed an artistic leader and collaborative
spirit to jump-start its creative imagination and fill the void left
during the prolonged search for a successor to music director Neeme
Jarvi, who stepped down in 2005.
That’s what it found in Oundjian (UN-jen), the affable 51-year-old
conductor of the Toronto Symphony.
Born in Toronto and raised in England, Oundjian has risen swiftly up
the conducting ladder since a hand injury forced him to give up his
post as first violinist with the Tokyo String Quartet in 1995. His
sparkling appearances reveal a growing rapport with the DSO, and his
willingness to dig into the gritty details of the orchestra’s everyday
life is providing a stabilizing rudder during a challenging transition.
"It’s been such a successful partnership," says DSO president Anne
Parsons. "Peter has the capacity to give us the time and energy and it
works nicely with his work in Toronto. He brings an artistic focus,
he helps the orchestra with personnel issues, and he’s someone I can
just bounce ideas off of. An artistic partner is really important to
my decisions."
8 Days in June, which buzzes with a multiplicity of styles and
contemporary flair, is the most pronounced example of Oundjian’s
impact. Under the umbrella of "Creation and Conflict," the festival
will put on 12 events between Thursday and June 28 at the Max M.
Fisher Music Center. Orchestral concerts, chamber music, solo piano,
jazz, film and spoken-word events all reflect the theme of music
rooted in troubled times, interpersonal conflict or periods of great
artistic ferment.
Several members of the artistic staff contributed key ideas, but it
was Oundjian who spearheaded the overall conception and theme and
devised the four DSO concerts, beginning with Thursday’s pairing of
two blockbusters revolutionary in their day — Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 5 and Igor Stravinsky’s "The Rite of Spring."
Oundjian and the DSO also will play concerts devoted to music
written in the wake of 9/11; Stravinsky’s "A Soldier’s Tale," with
an acerbic 1993 text by Kurt Vonnegut, and the Symphony No. 11 by
Dmitri Shostakovich.
Other performers include Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz
Orchestra; pianist Christopher O’Riley, who will play music by the
rock band Radiohead, and hip-hop artist Chuck D, who will lecture on
"Race, Rap, Reality and Technology."
"We are committed to forging ahead here," Oundjian says. "We are not
in neutral."
Seeking new listeners
The idea for an annual festival grew out of the DSO’s desire to
broaden its audience in a substantive way that furthers its core
artistic mission. The festival takes advantage of the flexibility
of the Max, whose smaller performance spaces like the Music Box are
ideal for cutting edge programs.
Oundjian says the festival brings the DSO closer to contemporary
culture without resorting to empty crossover.
"We’re also taking a large step in terms of using the facility, and
we’re responding just at the right time to an amazing revival of an
area of the city that was frightening 20 years ago, even 10 years ago,"
he says.
With a $250,000 budget for guest artists and production costs, the
festival is expensive, but the DSO cobbled together public and private
support to cover the bills. Comerica gave $150,000; the rest is coming
from patrons Maxine and Stuart Frankel and part of a $400,000 Ford
Foundation grant earmarked for all of the DSO’s summer activities.
A second 8 Days in June is planned for 2008. In the long run, Parsons
said the festival could be a magnet for philanthropic support that,
coupled with ticket sales, could help the DSO reverse the tide of red
ink every summer. The DSO loses more money at this time of year than
any other because programs don’t generate enough income to cover the
huge weekly cost of running the orchestra.
The DSO is not unique in turning to Oundjian as a temporary solution to
a music director vacancy. Both the Philadelphia Orchestra and Chicago
Symphony hired interim leaders recently. Oundjian’s two-year deal ends
in 2008. He’ll lead four weeks next season. Parsons and Oundjian said
they were discussing extending the contract — no surprise given the
slow pace of the DSO search.
It is unlikely Oundjian will morph into a full-time candidate. His
Toronto contract runs through 2012 and contains an exclusivity clause
preventing him from taking the title of music director with another
North American orchestra. Still, he is quick to note that he is in
touch with the DSO several times a week — sometimes every day —
by phone or e-mail.
"I don’t care what my title is, I’m going to do the best job I can
possibly do artistically," Oundjian says in his light British accent.
"And I’ll do it for longer if they need me."
A second career
Oundjian took an unusual route to the podium. He studied violin
and conducting at Juilliard, joining the Tokyo String Quartet in
1981. He thrived for more than a decade, before developing a painful
neurological ailment called focal dystonia that caused his fingers
to lose their independence.
By 1995, Oundjian had no choice but to quit. A friendship with
conductor, pianist and composer Andre Previn helped Oundjian land his
first big opportunities with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York.
His studied musicianship and personal charisma won him friends as
he learned the ropes, and soon he was landing repeat engagements
with ensembles like the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has helped lead
a revival of the financially troubled Toronto Symphony since he took
the reins in 2004.
He first guest conducted the DSO at Meadow Brook in 2001 and at
Orchestra Hall in 2003, and has returned nearly every year since.
"He’s a super musical guy, and he brings out the musicianship in us,"
says principal second violinist Geoffrey Applegate.
While some players think he talks a little too much in rehearsal,
his genial personality wears well on the stage and off. He charms
audiences, too.
During a concert last month, a sticky piano key forced soloist Yefim
Bronfman to stop in the middle of a Rachmaninoff concerto one night.
While the DSO’s technician dismantled the Steinway onstage, Oundjian
charmed the crowd with his wit: "Ladies and gentleman," he says,
"it’s a girl."
Oundjian’s peculiar career trajectory has kept him from obsessing
over his resume. The first act of his career with the Tokyo quartet
started at the top, literally with a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall.
"Having never worried about building a career, I don’t think that way
now," he says. "I just want to be as fine an artist as I can possibly
be and I want to do that with people I feel comfortable with and
stimulated by. It’s about environment for me."