Classical music trends: changing of the guard
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Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel, 33, is leading a generational transition in conducting. / Courtesy of Credia
Youthful conductors invigorate mainstream venues
By Do Je-hae
There are some noticeable changes in the classical music world this year, particularly in the leadership of major orchestras around the world.
For a long time, musicians and fans have been used to seeing conductors born in the first few decades of the 20th century at the podium. Now, considerably younger conductors, some of whom have just turned 40, are leading a generational transition in the conducting world.
Backtrack, an online classical concert finder, released last week a set of statistics about trends in classical music.
Here are some of the Backtrack’s findings.
Musicians of the Orchestre de Paris perform during the gala opening of the Paris Philharmonie, Thursday. Conductors in their 30s and 40s are becoming a dominating presence at major concert halls. / AP-Yonhap
Surge of youthful conductors
Last year, the classical music community lost two titans in the conducting profession Claudio Abbado, the longtime music director of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Lorin Maazel, former music director of the New York Philharmonic who touched people of the two Koreas with a historic 2008 peace-making concert in Pyongyang.
For many, the year 2014 will be remembered as the end of an era of 20th-century giants. It was also the year that saw the surge of young maestros. Backtrack shows that the average age of the top ten busiest conductors has fallen, with three conductors in their 30s.
Andris Nelsons is leading a boom of youthful music directors at some of the world's foremost orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. The 36-year-old succeeded the ailing maestro James Levine at the Boston Symphony last year.
The Boston Symphony, formerly led by greats like Serge Koussevitzky and Seiji Ozawa, made headlines when it appointed the Lativan a successor to James Levine, more than twice older than Nelsons.
Gustavo Dudamel, one of the most popular conductors on the stage today, is even younger at 33. The music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic is immensely popular, not just in the U.S., but also in Europe. The Venezuelan is one of the first South American conductors to break into mainstream classical music stage.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin, 39, the new music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, one of the oldest orchestras in the U.S. that had formerly been led by legendary conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy. He turned heads with the Philadelphia appointment that has given him a mission to revitalize the orchestra as it makes a comeback from bankruptcy protection.
The world’s most coveted in post in conducting the music directorship of the Berliner Philharmoniker needs to be replaced when Sir Simon Rattle retires.
“Nelsons, Nezet-Seguin and Dudamel as well as Alan Gilbert could be in the running to take the plum post of chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic if the orchestra votes this year,” a Backtrack report said.
Dudamel is widely seen by the European press as a possibility to achieve the pinnacle of the conducting profession in Berlin. Sir Simon Rattle has confirmed that he will not seek to extend his tenure after it expires in 2018.
The trend in hiring young conductors has been steadily emerging in Europe, where 39-year-old Daniel Harding has been leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra since 2003.
Pogramming trends
Backtrack found that orchestras are programming more music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A significant change is that Ravel and Dvorak made it into the top 10 most performed composers. For the first time, Haydn has fallen out of the top 10. Rachmaninov was also performed often.
In the concert hall, Beethoven has five works in the top ten. Rachmaninov rose up the ranks with popular works like the “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” an enchanting work featuring orchestra and piano.
At the Opera House, it seems Italian works are most popular. Of the top ten operas performed in 2014, 8 are sung in Italian, except Bizet’s “Carmen” (French) and Mozart’s “Die Zauberflote” (German). Verdi and Puccini were the most often-performed, and Benjamin Britten had a strong presence.
The Vienna State Opera and The Metropolitan Opera were the world’s two busiest opera houses.
Anniversary composers
Anniversary composer: Many orchestras are programming his works this year to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Finnish composer Sibelius.
The classical music community paid tribute to Richard Strauss last year, whose 150th anniversary of birth provided an occasion for many orchestras to revisit iconic works like Don Juan. His marvelous violin sonatas and songs were also performed.
This year is the 150 anniversary of the birth of Sibelius.
Fans are excited about hearing more Sibelius at the concert hall, with many orchestras planning performances of his works.
The Finnish composer is especially popular among Korean fans for his sole violin concerto and symphonies, but his music is not often-performed by Korean orchestras or musicians.
It remains to be seen how much of his music will be played this year in Korea. The Seoul Philharmonic is planning a series of concerts features Sibelius in the coming weeks.