LEONARD TURNEVICIUS
HPO conductor Gemma New expands her horizons
It’s been a summer of unicorns and rainbows for Gemma New.
For the second summer in a row, the New Zealand-born New, music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and resident conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, is a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer academy for advanced musical study, in Massachusetts’ Berkshire Hills.
Tanglewood has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Back in 1940, then-BSO music director Serge Koussevitzky founded the Berkshire Music Center, later renamed the Tanglewood Music Center, where young orchestral musicians could hone their craft under the tutelage of BSO musicians and invited guests, a practice that has continued to this day. This summer’s TMC Orchestra is comprised of 107 fellows, most of them students from top American conservatories. New was one of two conducting fellows selected for the academy.
“I went for a week last year and got an idea of what’s involved,” New told The Spec when reached recently by phone in Tanglewood. “I thought it would be really beneficial to my artistic growth to come, and so that’s why I applied.”
New applied last fall, her requisite video samples featuring performance footage from the HPO’s Sept. 23 “Russian Celebrations” season opener as well as rehearsal footage shot with another orchestra.
New’s five-week schedule at Tanglewood doesn’t leave much time to stroll about the Berkshires. She says there are at least two programs a week, if not more, and each program would be regularly shared between the two conducting fellows with the main piece handled either by Stefan Asbury, the TMC’s British-born conducting program head, or a guest conductor.
“Throughout the week, during the rehearsals, conductors are coming to mentor us,” said New, who also received a visit from four HPO supporters who made the trek to Tanglewood. “We get lots of detailed advice and just go really deep into the music and make it really wonderful. I think the information I’ve been given here I can use for other styles and other repertoire.”
In addition to Asbury, New has worked with British composerconductor Thomas Adès, and has had a master-class with pianist Emanuel Ax on Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5” and a master-class on Beethoven’s symphonies with BSO music director Andris Nelsons.
“Andris is coming back for the last two weeks of the festival,” said New.
“We’re doing two programs with him again. So, that’s three weeks with him. It’s just been so wonderful.”
New also got to work with the distinguished 91-year-old, Massachusetts-born, Swedish-raised conductor Herbert Blomstedt, Among Gemma New’s Tanglewood highlights: getting tips from distinguished 91-year-old, Massachusettsborn, Swedish-raised conductor Herbert Blomstedt. “He’s got so much energy. He goes into so much detail.”
who back in 1953 won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize at the Berkshire Music Center.
“Herbert Blomstedt is incredible,” gushed New. “He’s got so much energy. He goes into so much detail and spoke to all of us, the orchestra and the conductors. We went phrase by phrase, and the way he explained music was captivating. The (daily twoand-a-half-hour) rehearsals were full. And then he’d talk to us a little bit afterwards, as well, about certain points in the score that he wanted to share. Really mind blowing. He’s so committed and it (the July 16 concert) came off with just a beautiful performance. I’m in awe of him.”
The main work on that July 16 bill in Ozawa Hall was Brahms’ “Fourth Symphony,” a rather profound work that even experienced conductors approach with
some trepidation. In working with the fellows, Blomstedt shared some insider tips on problem areas in the Brahms and how to deal with them.
“He would explain the issue and then how to solve the problem whereas a lot of conductors, I mean, you know, in reality you don’t really have time to do that in a professional setting, but just having that thought process explained to us will help us to be able to problem-solve in the future,” said New.
On July 25, New returned to Chicago to lead the Grant Park Orchestra before an outdoor audience she estimated at 18,000, including a couple of HPO supporters who flew in for the concert. On Tuesday, Aug. 14, she was on tap to lead the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in some Mendelssohn, Elgar, and
Schubert.
The TMC Orchestra’s final stand-alone concert is this Sunday afternoon, a Leonard Bernstein memorial concert, yet another tip of the hat to his centenary.
Next summer, New is planning to participate in the newly established extension of the TMC’s 2018 conducting fellowship, a multi-week residency in Leipzig, Germany, in June 2019 working with Nelsons and the Mendelssohn-Orchesterakademie.
Ah, unicorns and rainbows. Perpetual bliss. What every summer ought to be.