RPS MUSIC AWARDS 2017
On 9 May, the classical music world gathered in east London for the annual Royal Philharmonic Society Awards for live music. We reveal the winners
CONDUCTOR Richard Farnes
‘I’ll always remember the first time I went to Opera North,’ says Richard Farnes. ‘It was a terribly expensive train.’ The then-student pianist had gone up to Leeds to audition as a répétiteur for a panel including Opera North’s music director Paul Daniel. ‘At the end of my ten-minute audition they said “You play very nicely, but we don’t really need anyone here at the moment.” I walked out thinking, “what a waste of money!”’
But when Farnes, a graduate of King’s College, Cambridge, applied to study at the National Opera Studio shortly afterwards, Opera North offered to contribute to his course fees. Later, he was appointed as assistant on an Opera North production of Britten’s Gloriana, a successful run which led to regular performances with the company. In 2004, he was appointed music director. ‘Years later, I suddenly realised that going up to Leeds for that ten-minute interview was one of the most worthwhile times I’ve spent money on a train fare in my life.’
Now, after 12 years at the helm of Opera North, Farnes has won the 2017 Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor Award.
The formidable shortlist included the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s new music director Mirga Grazˇinyte˙-tyla and outgoing chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Donald Runnicles, but the RPS jury said Farnes’s ‘tireless and selfeffacing musical leadership’ made him the clear winner.
Farnes’s long stint at Opera North is unusual. Conductors today frequently hold musical directorships in more than one country while guest conducting for any number of additional orchestras. But this wasn’t Farnes’s plan. ‘I never wanted to be one of those people who travel around from country to country, never seeing anyone again,’ he says. ‘I was always much more interested in being part of a company.’
The RPS Awards jury paid tribute to the ‘magnificent climax’ of Farnes’s time with the company: his universally praised production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, which played out over his final five years with the company – with a final complete Ring last year – and which was filmed for broadcast on BBC Four and BBC iplayer. It received huge critical acclaim, demonstrating to the RPS jury that Farnes is ‘one of the finest Wagnerian interpreters of our time,’ as well as winning an award in its own right (see right). But if you’d told Farnes 12 years ago that he’d end his time at Opera North with Wagner’s epic opera cycle, he wouldn’t have believed you. ‘I couldn’t have imagined doing it,’ he says, ‘and probably wouldn’t have if certain circumstances hadn’t nudged us towards it.’
Just after he took up the role of music director, Opera North’s main home – the Leeds Grand Theatre – was closed for refurbishment. ‘We were determined that no one was going to be laid off during this period,’ says Farnes, ‘so we had to find ways of presenting operas we could do elsewhere. And that’s where the idea of concert operas started.’
‘There are lots of people at Opera North I count as good friends’
In this concert format, Opera North was able to tackle repertoire it may never have considered in the Leeds Grand Theatre. One thing led to another. ‘We often performed at the Sage Gateshead,’ says Farnes, ‘a beautiful concert hall with wonderful acoustics. They approached us and said “We’d like to do something really big.” Having just performed Strauss’s Salome – which is written for a huge orchestra – it became clear that we were talking about Wagner.’
Limited by space and finances, Opera North’s only extravagance in staging the epic cycle was in hiring lighting designer and director Peter Mumford. ‘The orchestra had to be on stage because we were in concert halls,’ says Farnes, ‘so we had to make a virtue of it. Peter would light different sections of the orchestra as they played to really highlight the music.’ Costume was concert dress, with only a small number of props to delineate who was a god, nymph or mortal. ‘In a way,’ says Farnes, ‘having this highly visible orchestra and performing the operas in such an unencumbered way was Wagner’s vision: to put the music at the centre of the drama.’
Farnes is eager to share the credit for his success at Opera North. ‘The management team have such high aspirations for the company, despite the limited budget they work with and the constraints of the spaces we work in. There are lots of people in the organisation who I now count as good friends, and it has been a pleasure to work with people I know and trust for so many years.’
So what next for Opera North’s former music director? ‘I’m very lucky,’ says Farnes, ‘because I’m able to be quite picky about what I do. I’m returning to organisations I’ve worked with before, like Glyndebourne and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, but I want to make sure I’ve got plenty of time with my family in between.’ Does he have a wishlist of works he’s yet to conduct? ‘I’ve never had my sights set on particular repertoire –
I’ve always been quite eclectic in my approach. I tend to think whatever I’m working on at the time is the best piece of music ever written! It’s a very satisfying way to work.’
Interview by Elinor Cooper
Listen to the RPS Music Awards on Radio 3 at 7.30pm on 14 May. Opera North’s Ring cycle is available on BBC iplayer until 22 August 2017