Tania Miller: Maestra back for Rachmaninoff
During her 14-year run as music director of the Victoria Symphony, conductor Tania Miller prided herself on being prepared, on knowing what lay ahead for the orchestra months, even years, in advance.
Now, with Miller returning to Victoria for her first regularseason symphony appearance since her departure, the Vancouver maestra said she feels almost like a ship without a rudder.
Miller, 48, departed the symphony in 2017 for uncharted waters as a guest conductor for hire, with little in the way of a long-term plan. Now based in Vancouver, she is enjoying the newfound freedom immensely.
“When you’re a music director, you are always thinking two years in advance, which never gives you a chance to make any changes,” Miller said. “I don’t know what will happen next, but I’m allowing myself the chance to not know, to see what is meant to emerge. For once, I’m living in the present. And I love it.”
She is back in Victoria for tonight’s stint with the symphony, conducting an all-Rachmaninoff program that includes Piano Concerto No. 4, featuring pianist Alain Lefèvre.
Her return has been embraced by symphony supporters, who have scooped up all the available tickets, pushing the Royal Theatre performance (which also includes Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2) to sellout status well before showtime.
“It has been 16 years since I conducted it last,” Miller said of the Russian composer’s very popular 1907 symphony.
“And I’ve never conducted it in Victoria. It’s a piece that was always there as a wish, to find the right moment.
“It’s an enormous undertaking, but it’s so rich with melodies that everybody knows. When you hear the symphony, virtually every melody is known and loved by audiences.”
Miller stepped away from the Victoria Symphony after a decade and a half in May, vacating a position that has been filled with verve by Danish conductor Christian Kluxen. Miller could feel Kluxen’s positive impact on the symphony from the moment she stepped on stage during rehearsals, which is a good thing for the city and her former orchestra members, she said.
“It feels good to have given the orchestra and Christian lots of space to be who they are now. Already it’s a different orchestra. It’s bound to be different and fresh, and I’m happy for the orchestra. We all need to get new wings once in a while and be moving in new directions. Otherwise, it’s hard to see what’s really there.”
The change of scenery was also beneficial for Miller, who lives in Vancouver with her husband and two sons. Her schedule is less hectic than it was during her time in Victoria, Miller said, but she has not been off the road entirely, taking turns as guest conductor for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Royal Conservatory Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and L’Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal.
Orchestras in Ottawa, New Brunswick and Vancouver will be under her baton in coming months as well.
Miller was happy to return to her native Saskatchewan as guest conductor for the Saskatoon Symphony in January, which put her back into contact with some of her former students.
Prior to arriving in Victoria in 2003, she was music teacher for students in the Outlook school district near Saskatoon.
“Well before I went into conductor training, I was a music teacher for four years. It has been years since I was back in that area to conduct, and I had all these people who were once students coming out. It reminded me that the Victoria Symphony was one amazing era in my life, but being a teacher during that period was another amazing era.”
Miller does not rule out the possibility of returning to teaching.
“Teaching at a university level, or any level, is certainly something I’d love to do. But I just don’t know yet. I’m trying not to let myself decide too early. I just want to see where it goes.”