ESO’s Eddins mulls career change
Conductor may practise Chinese medicine
There was much speculation this winter over the future of Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s musical director Bill Eddins, whose contract was to expire next month. A popular conductor with Winspear audiences, who have responded to his exuberant stage presence, Eddins ended that speculation in February when he was reappointed for another twoyear term.
We spoke recently about the orchestra and his future.
Eddins talks passionately about music of all kinds, and is, as one might expect, a good raconteur. But he also has an introspective side, pondering problems more deeply than his stage persona might suggest. “I am a surprisingly private person,” he said, one who prefers to avoid crowds, which would explain his relative absence from a wider Edmonton society.
It was not, he said, a difficult decision to renew the contract, and he considers himself fortunate to work here. “When I compare myself to some of my colleagues, I get to walk into the Winspear, compared to some of the barns my colleagues have to play in. The orchestra’s in pretty good shape, and sounds pretty good.”
A two-year extension is somewhat unusual, and was not his choice, but it might well fit into his longterm plans. He turns 50 in December, and is thinking about change.
One reason he’s pondering a new direction is the fact that often the actual musicmaking gets lost in the bureaucracy of the classical music world. “The making of music is just the most glorious thing. The business of music impedes that. For me, it’s utterly frustrating.”
He promised himself long ago that he would eventually get out of the business. He has been studying Chinese medicine for some time, and is seriously considering it as a second career. “I would be much happier not subject to the vagaries of the business of music any longer,” he said.
Eddins, a pianist, has built a studio for chamber music recitals and recordings in his Minneapolis house, that he could use to practise Chinese medicine. “Four and five years down the road, if I spend most of my time working on people’s backs, and recording and doing recitals ... it’s a life change. I don’t know whether it’s a mid-life crisis, but it’s a life change.”
In the meantime, he’s rightly proud of the new and unfamiliar repertoire he has introduced to Edmonton audiences.
“What I like the most is that people don’t talk about individual pieces, but they talk about the experience. The experience of being with your fellow people, and hearing a fine orchestra in a fine hall, this is where people have seemed to connect, and for me that’s been utterly successful.
“We want people to have the opportunity to enjoy themselves, that we are a welcoming organization for all and sundry. Some of the music isn’t going to be for everybody, but that’s the nature of life. I just want people to enjoy music.”
He sees the orchestra as an institution that should be addressing social needs as well as musical ones. He decries the downsizing of music education, and hopes that the Winspear’s planned expansion and the Tommy Banks Institute for Musical Creativity will help offset that.
But, he said, it’s not just a question of education. “Orchestras need to expand beyond being a performing group, and this is difficult. They need to be musical generators, a musical hub, for people who have a more personal interest in music.”
That includes adults as well as students. “There are people who would really like to be more actively involved in music, whether it’s learning instruments, learning about music, or creating music themselves, or being part of institutional things that relate to music. It’s a very grey zone, but for any orchestra to remain viable today, it’s still true. There is that untapped potential of all those people who did not receive the musical education or experiences they wanted.”
He sees music as a tool to broaden horizons, especially in a city that is geographically so far from other centres. “The ability to see beyond one’s own borders, whether physical, mental, sociological, linguistic, whatever, is a critical thing for any person to develop. This is one of the best things about music. The best music forces you to think beyond your boundaries.”
When asked what work he would particularly like to perform with the orchestra, if and when he does decide to leave for the lure of Chinese medicine, Eddins is quiet for a while. His answer may surprise you — not his beloved Gershwin, not even a piece of American modernism, but Bach’s Mass in B Minor. On closer reading, perhaps that’s not so surprising. It’s a work that appears big and bold, but is actually deeply personal — much like Bill Eddins himself.