As music director for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), the French-born conductor has been inviting each individual he meets to expertise the orchestra for themselves.
Literally.
Denève all the time carries enterprise playing cards. Whenever he meets somebody who professes to be of the “classical music is not for me” mindset, he arms them a enterprise card, inviting them to change it on the Powell Hall field workplace for 2 free tickets to a live performance.
“Classical music is cool,” Denève says assuredly. “You know why? Because all of the younger musicians love this music. I feel there are a variety of methods to create a rapport with the viewers — extra heat, cool, hip — and that is taking place. I feel it is a matter of getting folks come and seeing that they find it irresistible.”
The 51-year-old conductor now has a brand new alternative to form the subsequent technology of classical performers and listeners on the New World Symphony (NWS) in Miami, the place he took the helm as creative director final October. Denève is simply the second individual to carry the function, which Michael Tilson Thomas famously occupied since cofounding the orchestra in 1987. Last yr, Tilson Thomas stepped down from the function after disclosing that he’d been identified with an aggressive type of mind most cancers.
Denève could be very a lot conscious of the void he has been requested to fill, however he is equally dedicated to an method of “do not repair what’s not damaged.”
“[NWS] is an unbelievable establishment that has delivered crazily good things through the years, and the brand new corridor is an unbelievable legacy,” he says. “My function is for positive to proceed that, however I’m my very own self. I’ve my very own priorities and positively have a variety of concepts, and so much has to do with the repertoire we play.”
The great thing about the New World Symphony is the function it performs in growing the subsequent technology of classical musicians. The establishment is sort of a conservatory the place candidates bear a rigorous audition course of, with solely a handful of proficient musicians chosen yearly to affix this system. Many NWS alums will go on to affix famend orchestras throughout the globe.
A younger expertise pool additionally helps NWS showcase a younger visage of classical music to the group. And whereas the orchestra performs conventional reveals that command increased ticket costs, it additionally repeatedly levels free performances and occasions the place admission is $15 to $20. For those that do not wish to fork over $155 to see a full orchestral live performance, there’s all the time the choice to carry a blanket, sit exterior within the SoundScape Park, and benefit from the simulcast on the New World Center’s Wallcast display screen in actual time — totally free. (NWS not too long ago launched a cell Wallcast that has popped up in areas like CityPlace Doral.)
“I find it irresistible. I’m an enormous fan,” Denève says of the Wallcast. “I used to be so blown away once I did my first live performance with the Wallcast. I went exterior when my fellow conductor was conducting one piece of this system, and I simply went exterior simply to expertise how it’s. It is exclusive, and because of [the city’s] climate, you are able to do it fairly often.”
Along with lifting boundaries to entry, Denève desires audiences to comprehend that classical music is much more various in types than most individuals give it credit score. With three centuries of music, types can vary from baroque items to modern avant-garde compositions. Many persons are additionally unaware of how orchestras have helped form standard tradition. From John Williams’ rating for the Star Wars franchise with the London Symphony Orchestra to the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra symphonic suites of the Dragon Quest online game soundtrack, orchestras have added pomp and circumstance to our collective cultural reminiscence.
“The large mission is to make classical music extra accessible and make folks know that it is for them,” Denève reiterates. “People generally do not know the way a lot it might attain their lives and the way it may be a companion to therapeutic.”
Denève has no instant plans to maneuver to South Florida full-time — he simply moved to St. Louis from Brussels final summer time. In addition to main NWS, he’ll proceed as SLSO’s music director and begin his tenure as principal visitor conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic this yr.
“Conductors are an odd group. They are world vacationers on a regular basis,” he explains. “So proper now, I’ll have my residence in St. Louis and have my second residence in Florida like many individuals do.”
That mentioned, he is trying ahead to spending much more time in Miami.
“It’s a dream come true,” he says. “You can have this superb heart and make music in South Beach and profit from a spot that’s world-renowned for being enjoyable, cool, and thrilling.”