Juanjo Mena to conduct from 'home' at BBC Phil concert
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The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Courtesy of Vincero
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra Chief Conductor Juanjo Mena / Courtesy of Vincero
By Kwon Ji-youn
The BBC Philharmonic is a British broadcasting symphony orchestra, but under Spaniard Juanjo Mena’s baton, it is known to have taken on a distinct Latin color.
According to Mena, the pride and sentiment any conductor in the world feels about his home country is likely to be expressed when he’s conducting music from “home.”
“Spanish music has precise rhythms, and the color of the woodwinds must be warm, with a more dynamic contrast,” the maestro said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times.
“The BBC Phil is more open to this Spanish music now, and its capacity to work on these different colors has increased. The orchestra’s approach to the music is impressive.”
Mena and the BBC Phil will visit Seoul on Oct. 21 for the first time in seven years with an exquisite program that includes Britten’s “Simple Symphony,” Sibelius’ “Violin Concerto” and Schubert’s “Great Symphony.” The orchestra will be accompanied by violinist Viktoria Mullova.
“I have worked with Viktoria Mullova before ― she played Mendelssohn in Bilbao with me many years ago,” Mena said. “She has a great understanding of the depth of the music and styles, a very refined sound and she knows the Sibelius concerto well. I’m looking forward to listening to her interpretation.”
The BBC Phil, one of six British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) performing groups, is a radio orchestra, which means it is employed by a network to provide programming for shows broadcast over the airwaves. “That the BBC Phil is a broadcasting orchestra is apparent in the way they rehearse and their approach in general,” Mena said.
“The microphones are live so much of the time, whether it’s in a public concert, in CD recording sessions for record company Chandos or for a studio recording at our home in MediaCity, where even though there may be only 250 people in the audience, there are thousands listening throughout the world,” Mena said. “Therefore, there must be great discipline in the orchestra’s approach.”
Since Mena took up the directorship of the BBC Phil in 2011, the orchestra has undergone some major changes.
“It’s inevitable that the sound of an orchestra will change from one conductor to another ― we do have the capacity to change sounds immediately ― and of course the repertoire we perform has an effect on this, too,” he said. “In the five years that I have been chief conductor of the orchestra, I am sure the musicians have become more conscious of thephrasing I like, and I have encouraged them to think more about the structure of the harmonic progressions. The orchestra breathes better together as a whole, which results in the audience breathing with them.”
Mena has been heavily influenced by maestro Sergiu Celibidache, a Romanian conductor and Mena’s teacher.
“I was amazed by Celibidache’s capacity to create a true picture of the sound that any composer wants from his orchestra,” he said. “When you hear his recordings, it feels like a natural balance, but actually it is the result of a lot of precise and detailed work between Celibidache and the orchestra, and it’s this that creates the true picture of what is in the score.”
The BBC Phil’s concert in Seoul will mark Mena’s Korean conducting debut, but he has crossed paths with Korean musicians in the past.
“Although this will be my first performance in Korea, I have many connections with Korean musicians, especially from my work in America,” he said. “I have worked with the pianist Paik Kun-woo and I’m a great admirer of his musicality and human qualities. Hopefully at our concert, I will be able to bring something back from the Korean people, something I will learn from them. I’m as excited as I can be about my Korean debut.”