Kerr: Also, just acting as a conductor’s second set of ears. A lot of times a conductor has so many things to think about that he just doesn’t notice certain things: discrepancies in the ensemble of what the orchestra’s doing, or tempi, or just little things: strokes, notes, intonation. Other things I’ve done: I was on the artistic committee of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam for about six out of the ten years I was there. I’d meet with donors and board members, and I did educational outreach concerts, photo shoots, meet-and-greets with concertgoers, question-and-answer sessions, fundraisers. Bendix-Balgley: Something I think about
is, how can I best lead this music and act as a conduit between conductor and orchestra? What kind of physical movements— or no movements? What’s too much and what’s too little? It should be clear to other people in the orchestra what I’m doing: not distracting with too much movement, but also not so restrained that you would need a microscope to see what’s going on. I also think a concertmaster has an important role when there’s a guest conductor working with the orchestra. The orchestra has a particular sound and character and way of playing, and that can go very well with a guest conductor, and also it can go not so well. As a concertmaster, you have a very important obligation to stand up for what the orchestra’s doing, and if there are problems, then you’re sort of in charge. There was a concert I played with a very good orchestra and a very good conductor, and in the concerto part, the conductor and the soloist were obviously not on the same page. At that point I sort of had to make a call of what am I going to do here, because people are looking to me as concertmaster. They can see it’s not working out, they can see that the brass are not really playing with the solo piano. So they’re looking for something to grab onto and I had to make a call: am I going to go with the soloist, or with the conductor? That’s a situation that can come up when you’re working with a conductor that you don’t usually work with, not the music director. Niles: Who did you go with? Bendix-Balgley: In that case, I went with
the pianist. Musically it seemed like the americanorchestras.org
right thing to do at that point. But it was not exactly comfortable, because I’m right in between them, and I have to choose a side and go with it and really stick to it. Maybe if it were a different situation, if the soloist didn’t seem completely reliable in their tempi or something like that, I would have gone with the conductor. Kerr: I’ve been asked to lead
“As a concertmaster, you have a very important obligation to stand up for what the orchestra’s doing, and if there are problems, you’re in charge.” —Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Noah BendixBalgley
sectionals, which are incredibly uncomfortable in the sense that nobody really likes them! I would never actually volunteer to do it, but I’ve been asked to do it by the sections themselves. That makes it a heck of a lot easier, to be honest. You’re always straddling that fence: you are a colleague, but you’re also the leader. If you straddle too much to one side, it’s always precarious. I like the even balance of just being able to stay on the fence and not fall to either side too much.
Niles: What happens when you fall to one side or the other? Let’s say you’re too diplomatic. Kerr: Too diplomatic, and people can walk on you or you get put into uncomfortable situations in disputes. Too much of a diva, and you lose your section. People won’t want to play for you because they feel that you’re arrogant or have too much of an opinion of yourself or that you’re too distanced. So it’s a very fine balance that one has to maintain. You can’t please everybody. If you’re a good people person, you can maintain that balance. You have to like people and understand people and know how you would want to be treated in a situation. Generally, the Golden Rule is a good idea! Niles: Have any of you had to participate in
things like union negotiations? Iwasaki: In Portland [at the Oregon Symphony], in my four years they had at least two different negotiating periods. Like Alex said earlier, you’re straddling between musician and management, and you have to be careful of how vocal you are about some things. In a lot of orchestras, it’s common for the concertmaster to be written out of
the collective bargaining agreement. So when it comes down to the nitty-gritty details of negotiating a contract, I think it’s better for the concertmaster to kind of stay out of it.
Niles: Have you ever had to do anything unusual in your capacity as concertmaster, something that you may not have expected in the job description? Kerr: There was one time I had to lead a wind sectional— on tour I was asked to work on intonation of the winds. It was an incredible experience. I conducted a sectional on Brahms’s First Symphony, and we went through all the intonation spots and it was really a lot of fun. The weirdest things I’ve ever done: I crooned at a Concertgebouw Orchestra Jazz fundraiser—we had a jazz orchestra made up of people in the orchestra, and so I sang some jazz standards. Also, I dressed up as Elvis for a Cincinnati Pops PBS Halloween special. It was a John Schneider/Tom Wopat/Dukes of Hazzard extravaganza night. They had me performing as Elvis, playing the Danse Macabre of Saint-Saëns, over Elvis’s grave. The thing is, I was kind of fat, Vegas Elvis, because I’m kind of a big guy, but I was bigger back then. You’d have to see it to believe it; it’s embarrassing.
Coucheron: I haven’t dressed up as Elvis yet, but I did play Halloween concerts dressed up as a Viking. I got a really cool costume with the Viking horns—the whole outfit. I came out on stage with my bow representing my sword, and I do think it brought a laugh to a lot of people. Iwasaki: Aside from doing all the meetand-greets and interviews, when I was in Portland, the conductor, Carlos Kalmar, and I kind of bonded over cooking. One year during our big orchestra gala event, they had a silent auction and auctioned off a dinner cooked by the conductor and the concertmaster for eight guests. One night we did an all-Austrian meal, a different night we did salmon wrapped in kale—we always do something really extravagant. It
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