GEMMA NEW The conductor
When Gemma New talks about music she talks about the energy, the power, the beauty of it. Button-down, dulcet-toned, straight-talking, with an American lilt hinting at her decade spent Stateside, she ignites and gesticulates like she’s on the podium as she discusses her work.
Classical music is the universal language, she says. ‘‘It’s the language of emotion and dreams, and all of us, no matter where we are born or what our genetic makeup is, feel the pulse and the energy and the beauty of music, and our mood is changed by that. It unites people with that sympathetic vibration.’’
New, back in Aotearoa from her San Diego base for a series of concerts with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, is getting her own good vibes from performing to a live audience again after months of a Covid-induced musical coma.
Conducting before live audiences in Wellington and Auckland has been utterly uplifting, she says. It’s that beat before she performs, as the audience takes its seat, when the usher finally gives her the nod to walk on stage, that is themost tense and anticipatory.
When she walks on to that stage she is released. ‘‘I love the fact I am not alone. I’m not facing the audience, I’m facing my colleagues, and I love them, and I am inspired by them and I’m excited by what’s about to happen.
‘‘There’s an incredible energy from the crowd that strengthens us. It makes it a profound experience. We perform music because we have a message of peace. We want to emotionally move our audience.
‘‘I felt such a joy and warmth being able to have a live audience in New Zealand. I can’t wait for the rest of the world to have that again.’’
Who knows when that will be. It must be a bit depressing seeing ‘‘cancelled’’ in bold capital letters beside various scheduled concerts – the orchestras of Montreal, Denver, Seattle, San Diego, all waiting in the wings. The first concert outside New Zealand that looks like it could go ahead is in Bilbao, Spain, in mid-march.
Covid has hit her industry hard. Her last concert before the world shut down was in March. ‘‘Orchestras like to plan one-two years in advance but with Covid, it’s hard to plan for the future when we don’t know how 2021-22 is going to pan out.’’
In a pre-covid world, New usually travels most of the year, leaping between her orchestra families – the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Canada, where she is music director, the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, where she is resident conductor, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra fulfilling her role as principal guest conductor.
She has conducted myriad orchestras in her decade-long career, from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National orchestras to the Lunar Ensemble, which she directs and was formed from fellow students when she was doing her masters in orchestral conducting course at the Peabody Institute, part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
New’s mighty career ascent might have looked like a foregone conclusion if you look back to her early school life.
She first picked up the baton at a teacher’s farewell concert at Samuel Marsden Collegiate in Wellington. She had a natural ability at the podium. Buoyed by this, she started an orchestra for the smaller children at the school, the focus and discipline that would lead to bigger things already evident.
Meanwhile, she learned the bassoon, the violin, the piano. She played in five school ensembles.
Roy Tankersley was head of music at marsden when New was a student. He came to see her concertwith the NZSO in November, along with a class of Marsden students. New was tickled.
Tankersley says conducting was her calling. Her ability, her way of communicating and extracting the best from her musicians was evident, even back then, he says.
‘‘She was very precise, very sharp and thoroughly musical. She conducted with her whole self. Shewas so naturally connected to the music and the musicians.’’
Growing up in the Wellington suburb of Karori, music has always been a part of New’s life. Hers was amusical household. Her mother, Kim New, plays violin with the Wellington Chamber Orchestra. Her paternal grandmother also played.
Her grandparents had amassive jazz collection that was always on the turntable. The radio dial was fixed on Concert Fm at home.
Even now she’ll put on some choral music in her downtime. Rock and pop have never really been her thing. Brahms is a tonic for relaxing. Baroque is like a meditation.
At 12 she was part of Wellington Youth Sinfonietta and played under three very different conductors. She recalled becoming fascinated by how different each conductor could be.
She played in all the local youth orchestras in Wellington. The Michael Fowler Centre, where she worked as an usher, became her spiritual home.
‘‘I was always inspired by the musicians, the soloists, the conductors. They were my heroes. I loved music and I loved the concept of the orchestra, playing in one and listening to one.
‘‘The orchestra provides something very special – nourishment for the soul. It helps us grow as human beings.’’
She knew from a young age that she wanted to be a part of that. ‘‘I remember thinking when I was 22 and leaving the country to study, I’m going to go away and I’ll come back one day and conduct the NZSO.’’
She started a double degree in music and science at Victoria University, later transferring her music degree to the University of Canterbury and graduating with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance. She completed a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Peabody Institute.
Baltimore was like a two-year boot camp. ‘‘I had two tutors who taught completely opposite schools of conducting. It meant I could create a toolbox and I could pull out what I wanted when I needed it.’’
Of her own style, she says she’s pretty physical. ‘‘I like to connect with my whole body, though I try to be centred. I use breath, and I amvery clear with my gestures. I believe it’s a very two-way street with the musicians.’’
For the past decade she has based herself in the United States. The 33-year-old lives in downtown San Diego with her boyfriend John, a pianist with the San Diego and San Francisco Symphony orchestras. They met at college in Baltimore.
New lights up when she talks about John, her ‘‘rock’’. They both travel a lot, but try to make it home each week when they are on the road and they call each other like teenagers every day.
Pre-covid, it was not unusual for her to be in four cities in one week. When she’s on the road she times her day meticulously. Every minute is planned. Working till late at night, getting up early for red-eye flights, she is a study in regimented organisation. ‘‘I want to make sure I have enough time to complete everything because there’s a lot to do in the day. I don’t want to forget my shoes!’’
There is no time for pre-concert jitters.
‘‘I don’t think that fear helps with conducting and performing,’’ she says pragmatically. ‘‘I decided that very early on.
‘‘As a conductor you have to bewell prepared, knowledgeable about the score, and to know how you’re going to bring things together, what interpretation you are going to choose. If you go in with your best attitude and your best foot forward it will be a very good experience.’’
New, who for her performances wears tailormade jackets by Call & Response, designers of Prince’s outfits, is gearing up for her appointment with the NZSO in wellington tonight to conduct
Messiah. It’ll be bitter-sweet because it’s her last gig with the orchestra before she heads back to the States.
True to form, she’s well organised. She knows the score inside out. By 7.15pm she’ll be in the zone and ready to feel the pulse. Psyched up, shoes on.
‘‘The orchestra provides ... nourishment for the soul.’’