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James Conlon at the May Festival: 35 Years Young

Mary Ellyn Hutton
Posted: Apr 24, 2014 - 3:39:08 PM in news_2014

james_conlon__credit_dan_steinberg_for_la_opera_4.jpg
James Conlon (photo by Dan Steinberg)
“Amazing” is how James Conlon describes his 35 years with the Cincinnati May Festival, being celebrated this season.

“It’s amazing on two levels. One, I can’t believe I’ve been anywhere for 35 years -- the time flies by – and I just absolutely feel lucky that our destinies stumbled over each other that long ago.”

It was in 1978 that the then 28-year-old Conlon first conducted at the May Festival. He was named music director in 1979, succeeding James Levine. No matter what other commitments he has had over the years, he has always kept the May Festival “in reserve,” he said. “It was always non-negotiable that I would keep the Festival.”

What kept him coming back?

“Love,” he said. “Everything – the tradition, the hall (historic Music Hall, built for the May Festival in 1877), the repertory (choral-orchestral). The repertory is the reason I took the job in the first place. And that doesn’t change. I love it. You don’t get tired of that repertory.”

The May Festival has maintained its “core mission, which is to be a classical music defender of the choral repertory,” Conlon said. “There were times when, ‘Well, why don’t you do popular stuff?’ and we’ve maintained that, which was very important to me. I know it’s important to a lot of people, but you know these waves come and go and we’ve maintained that in a hard world.”

Conlon was in Cincinnati earlier this month to rehearse for the 93rd May Festival, May 7-18 (founded in 1873, the May Festival was biennial until 1967). He spoke of this year’s event, which will include a performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall May 9, and of his very busy career.

The big news at the 2014 May Festival, in addition to celebrating Conlon’s 35th anniversary, is the revival of R. Nathaniel Dett’s oratorio “The Ordering of Moses.” Premiered at the 1937 May Festival under music director Eugene Goossens, it will be a New York premiere.

“It represents part of our tradition to present new music. In the case of Dett as an African-American composer, the story of the premiere is very dramatic and needs to be re-told. It shows us a piece of history. Also, how far we’ve come.”

The 1937 premiere at Music Hall was broadcast live nationwide on NBC radio. However, it was interrupted three-quarters of the way through due to, in the words of the announcer, “previous commitments.” The remainder of the hour allocated for the broadcast consisted of organ music. The termination, in fact, had been prompted by objections from callers to the network. Dett’s work, which received critical acclaim from both New York and Cincinnati reviewers, was repeated at the 1956 May Festival under Thor Johnson.

Conlon describes “The Ordering of Moses” as “an oratorio in the oratorio tradition, with a taste of what you might expect from being American and African-American (listen for echoes of the spiritual “Go Down Moses” at the beginning). It was not crossover -- that’s important to understand. Crossover came into the world in the last few decades, primarily as a commercial idea. This is not that. He was a classical composer.”

Also on the 2014 May Festival roster are John Adams’ “Harmonium,” Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s cantata “Ode to Joy,” Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”), all to be led by Conlon. Director of Choruses Robert Porco and May Festival Youth Chorus director James Bagwell will lead works by Dett, Aaron Copland, William Dawson, Moses Hogan, Undine Moore, Jake Runestad, Virgil Thomson and Eric Whitacre on the annual concert at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington May 11.

Because of the Carnegie Hall date – a Friday night -- the Festival will have a different shape this year. Opening night falls on a Wednesday at Music Hall, with the traditional concert at Covington’s Cathedral Basilica the following Sunday. The second weekend of the Festival will comprise concerts on Friday and Saturday, with a repeat of the Saturday concert on Sunday (a matinee), all at Music Hall. As in years past, there will be pre-concert recitals by Festival artists before each Music Hall concert (free to concert ticket holders).

Programmatically speaking, a fascinating pairing will be that of Beethoven’s Ninth and the Tchaikovsky cantata, which, like the finale of the Beethoven, utilizes Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.” Tchaikovsky’s work (about 20 minutes long) was written for his graduation from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It is never performed, said Conlon, who only learned about it from tenor John Aler a few years ago. “I decided that the next time we did the Beethoven Ninth we ought to do it.

“You will recognize the seeds of what you will love -- in other words, you will hear it in embryonic form. There are certain gestures and characteristics, which, when you hear it, you go, ‘Oh, there’s the “Nutcracker,” or Tchaikovsky’s way of symphonic writing.’ There are some beautiful lyric moments where you say, ‘OK, there’s the operas.’

“I’m not advertising a lost masterpiece,” Conlon added. “I’m just saying this is fun. We should know it’s there.”

Conlon remains one of the busiest musicians imaginable, with his hand in writing, lecturing and teaching, in addition to serving as music director of the Los Angeles Opera and the Ravinia Festival (summer home of the Chicago Symphony). In Los Angeles, he just completed a year-long celebration of composer Benjamin Britten. “I collaborated with all the universities, USC (University of Southern California), UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) and the Colburn School. I gave three lectures at UCLA on Britten.” Conlon also wrote articles about Britten for Opera News and the Hudson Review. In October, he led Britten’s opera “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He also writes an occasional blog for www.musicalamerica.com.

With the Britten celebration over – the finale was his opera “Billy Budd” in March for LA Opera – Conlon confesses he is “sad.”

“I sort of miss it. It was a great experience.” He will conduct one more Britten opera, “The Prodigal Son” in Rome in June, “but most of it is behind.”

Conlon also heads the newly-established Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. Announced in December, the Initiative is dedicated to the performance, advocacy and dissemination of music suppressed during the Nazi era in Europe and includes an annual one-semester seminar which can be audited by the general public at no cost (information at www.colburnschool.edu/adultstudies). The Initiative is part of Conlon’s ongoing commitment to bringing to light works banned by the Third Reich. In furtherance of that goal he created the OREL Foundation in 2008. For information, including an invaluable source of biographies, complete works and scholarly articles about relevant composers, visit www.orelfoundation.org.

In a wider sense, Conlon is an advocate for classical music in general. “I think that the potential for re-establishing classical music in our lives in America is still great. I remember when it was normal in schools. Everybody did it. It was taken for granted. People are losing it now because they never got interested in the first place. There was nobody there to start them. I find it incredible that when you bring students into the hall, they are enthusiastic. We bring thousands through our door in LA and you should see them. These are kids in normal neighborhood schools.”

“We had teenagers who went to ‘Götterdämmerung’ (Wagner) as their first opera. Can you imagine a 17-year-old going to his first opera and having it be ‘Götterdämmerung’ and then being excited about it and writing? It’s not impossible to do. We who believe in classical music have to take the reins back because nobody is going to do it anymore.”

The 2014 Cincinnati May Festival

May 7. 8 p.m. Music Hall, Cincinnati. John Adams, “Harmonium.” R. Nathaniel Dett, “The Ordering of Moses.” Latonia Moore, soprano. Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzo-soprano. Rodrick Dixon, tenor. Donnie Ray Albert, baritone. May Festival Chorus (Robert Porco, director). Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. James Conlon, conductor. Pre-concert recital, Rodrick Dixon.

May 9. 7:30 p.m. Carnegie Hall, New York City. John Adams, “Harmonium.” R. Nathaniel Dett, “The Ordering of Moses.” Latonia Moore, soprano. Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzo-soprano. Rodrick Dixon, tenor. Donnie Ray Albert, baritone. May Festival Chorus (Robert Porco, director). Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. James Conlon, conductor.

May 11. 8 p.m. Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington, Kentucky. “We Shall Walk Through the Valley (arr. Undine Moore). R. Nathaniel Dett, “Ave Maria.” “I Wan’ to be Ready” (arr. William Dawson). Jake Runestad, “I Will Life Mine Eyes.” Aaron Copland, Four Motets for Chorus. Eric Whitacre, “Lux Aurumque.” Four Hymns from the Old South (arr. Virgil Thomson). Three Spirituals (arr. Moses Hogan). May Festival Chamber Choir (Robert Porco, director). May Festival Youth Chorus (James Bagwell, director). Robert Porco and James Bagwell, conductors.

May 16. 8 p.m. Music Hall, Cincinnati. Tchaikovsky, “Ode to Joy” Cantata. Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”). Erin Wall, soprano. Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano. Brandon Jovanovich, tenor. Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass. May Festival Chorus (Robert Porco, director). May Festival Youth Chorus (James Bagwell, director). James Conlon, conductor. Pre-concert recital, Amanda Woodbury, soprano.

May 17. 8 p.m. Music Hall, Cincinnati. Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”). Erin Wall, Tracy Cox and Amanda Woodbury, sopranos. Sara Murphy and Ronnita Nicole Miller, mezzo-sopranos. Brandon Jovanovich, tenor. James Johnson, baritone. Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass. May Festival Chorus (Robert Porco, director). Nashville Symphony Chorus (Kelly Corcoran, director). Cincinnati Children’s Choir (Robyn Lana, director). Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. James Conlon, conductor. Pre-concert recital, Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass.

May 18. 2 p.m. Music Hall, Cincinnati. “Encore! Ode to Joy.” Tchaikovsky, “Ode to Joy” Cantata. Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”). Erin Wall, soprano. Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano. Brandon Jovanovich, tenor. Kristinn Sigmundsson, bass. May Festival Chorus (Robert Porco, director). May Festival Youth Chorus (James Bagwell, director). James Conlon, conductor. Pre-concert recital, Sara Murphy, mezzo-soprano.

Subscriptions are $63-$339 for a three concert package, May 7, 16 and 17.

Prices for a Festival Pass -- flexible use vouchers, good for any four admissions May 7, 16, 17 and/or 18 -- are $198 and $253. Admission to the the Basilica concert is $40. Group rates are available. For information and tickets, visit www.mayfestival.com/festival.html