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Andreas Delfs conducts Phoenix Symphony

Andreas Delfs has very strong opinions on the running of an orchestra at what he sees as “a very particular crossroads” for classical music.

His distinct approach to programming was instrumental in the rise to prominence of the Milwaukee Symphony, where the German-born Delfs is now conductor laureate after serving as music director and conductor from 1996 to 2009.

And when he checked in from Ithaca, N.Y., Delfs gave a pretty clear picture of what Phoenix could expect if this week’s stint as guest conductor led to a more permanent position with the symphony, peppering his conversation with words such as courage, experimental and adventuresome.

Here’s Delfs, who conducts a program that features Anne Akiko Meyers on Barber’s Violin Concertoand Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in addition to Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor.

Question: Could you talk about the program you’re presenting here in Phoenix?

Answer: It’s a great program because it will give me a wonderful opportunity to check on the chemistry with the orchestra and the music-making. But it’s very atypical for the programs I normally make. I’m not a big fan of standard program making. The formula of overture, concerto, symphony is a little tired for me. But I was happy to do what they requested, and they hired a wonderful violinist for the first two pieces, so it’s one of those rare opportunities where you hear not one but two concerti, the Bach double concerto and the Barber violin concerto. Then, I had my choice of symphonies in the second half, and I chose Brahms because that simply is my favorite symphony in the world.

Q: What makes that your favorite?

A: It’s one of these total pieces, you know? These pieces that encompass every human emotion. It really takes you on a journey from postulating a kind of problem in the first movement to finding a beautiful satisfying solution in the last movement. Why do we go to concerts? To feel better about ourselves and feel good about the potential of mankind. In a good performance of this piece, you leave the concert hall and you know humanity has potential.

Q: How do you approach the programming of concerts?

A: I like to surprise people. I like to dazzle people. I like people to not always know what to expect. So while a number of programs certainly should be the proven formula — a lovely overture, a solo concerto and a symphony — I feel there need to be a lot of other ways to entertain an audience.

I love to string pieces together that tell a story and not worry so much about whether they have three movements or four. I love to involve other art forms. I’m working with a Broadway director and a Broadway light designer to create concerts that are visually quite challenging and different. I love to do opera. I sometimes like to do a concert of only solo concerti.

I just did a concert in Denmark, and my soloist was an accordion player who was also a mime. You can see it on YouTube. It was a world premiere of a new piece, and it was quite interesting — an unusual solo instrument, a new piece and the way this guy presented the piece was very much down my alley, which was not to just sit there on your tails and deliver it but really sell it to the audience in a way that is memorable and visually enticing. What I’m saying is I love to do this program and it’s great, but my programs are a little more adventuresome than that.

Q: When you’re programming, do you see your audience as the traditional symphony audience?

A: There is a reason there is so much Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak in concert programs around the world. I don’t question that. I’m talking about the juxtaposition of those pieces, how they are presented, the flow of the program, the extramusical means that bring this music closer to the audience.

We’re at a very particular crossroads in classical music right now, so my emphasis is on how can we experiment with the presentation of the music that we love and that we know is beloved by the audience? Does it always have to be Mozart overture, a Beethoven piano concerto, intermission, Tchaikovsky symphony? Or is there maybe another way to present Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky in a programming setting that tells more of a story, that is spiritually much more connecting with the audience, that, in one word, is memorable?

Q: You mentioned classical music being at a very particular crossroads.

A: Why is it that we as an art form, compared to museums and theater groups, ballet groups and so forth, are so stubbornly holding onto a very small slice of the repertory? What orchestras around the world perform is mostly between Mozart and Shostakovich. That’s what? Less than 200 years of music history. What’s with all the other stuff?

Also, it’s 12 composers that probably make up 90 percent of the repertory around the world. Is it because the others are not good? Or is it because we simply don’t deliver these pieces to an audience that might not be as familiar with them as Beethoven and Brahms in a way that resonates?

An orchestra can only flourish if it understands and passionately loves the community in which it works. It needs to build a very strong bond of trust so that you can experiment with new things.

When I started in Milwaukee, the relations between the community and orchestra were broken. It came out of a long period of only negative news and infighting and bickering, kind of a dark cloud. So when I started there, that was my goal and I did it, beginning with building a trust between the orchestra and the community. And then, I started giving them the unexpected.

Of course, they had the annual program and knew what I was planning. But they never quite knew what surprise would await them each week. That was good. It took it from kind of a gray institution to a very colorful, successful institution.

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