When the Portland Baroque Orchestra’s artistic director of nearly three decades announced her retirement, the organization began a years-long search for a new leader. Starting this weekend, the three finalists for the job will perform in front of live audiences in a series of concerts to determine who will lead the early music orchestra going forward. Interim Executive Director Dave Pearson and interim Artistic Director John Butt explain why taking the audiences’ opinions into account is an important part of the selection, and what these three finalists will bring to the Portland institution.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. When Monica Huggett, the Portland’s Baroque Orchestra’s artistic director for nearly three decades announced in 2020 that she was going to step down, the organization began a years-long search for a new leader. They are almost there. Starting this weekend, the three finalists for the job will perform in front of audiences in a series of concerts that will help to determine who is going to lead this early music ensemble going forward. Interim Executive Director Dave Pearson and Interim Artistic Director John Butt join me now to talk about the finalists, these concerts and the future of the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Welcome to Think Out Loud.
John Butt: Thank you very much.
Dave Pearson: Thank you, Dave.
Dave Miller: Dave Pearson, to start with, before we get to these finalists, the potential new leader of this ensemble, I think we should start with the reason for the search. The violinist and conductor, musician Monica Huggett, was the artistic director of the orchestra for 27 years. She stepped down officially in the summer of 2021, last summer. What did she mean to the orchestra?
Pearson: As we started looking at this search, looking back at what Monica had accomplished in her 27 years, she had a deep, genuine connection to the audience and really brought an energy to the concerts. And we knew that was key for our next generation, for the leadership, for the artistic director, that they have that quality as well. So we thought, what a better way to find that than to invite the three finalists to conduct a concert of their own.
Miller: John Butt, what did Monica Huggett bring to the Portland Baroque Orchestra musically?
Butt: She was a very lyrical player, still is a very lyrical player and also an extremely good leader. Somebody who doesn’t sort of dictate what everybody should do, but has a wonderful way of actually encouraging people to play, in her way, just through the sound and through the gestures she makes. So she’s a very, very fine musician to get on with and to make ensemble with. Really, absolutely excellent.
Miller: How important is it, Dave Pearson first, that the person who leads this orchestra be a virtuoso, an exemplary soloist in some instrument? I mean, that was or is the case with Monica Huggett, that she was a truly fine violinist, as well as a conductor. Is that necessary for an ensemble like this?
Pearson: In an ensemble like this, we’re bringing in musicians from across the country. So the best of the best are coming in to play these concerts, and as it turns out, all of our finalists are very accomplished in an individual instrument as well, if not more. So it seems to go hand in hand.
Miller: John Butt, how important is that to you? Because it would seem that for leading an orchestra, maybe the most important thing would be the conducting itself, in the shaping of the sound. So how important is it that you have somebody who can also be a soloist?
Butt: In baroque music and in early classical music, quite often the conductor is also leading from a keyboard instrument, or from a string instrument. So it’s the norm in that period of music for the director, as it were, to participate and actually create some of the ensemble, through the way they play chords or the way they lead with the violin. So it is important that they have a complete control of instruments in a way that in later music, the conductor is a bit more separate from the ensemble. I think it is important to be a very high level performer. I suppose being an absolute virtuoso is not absolutely necessary, but it often helps. And it often gives you an extra sort of side to what you’re doing.
Miller: When someone, like in this case, Monica Huggett has been the leader of an organization for so long, for nearly three decades, is there a tension between trying to replace her in some way, and trying to find the right leader going forward, the right person for the next three decades? Dave Pearson, what do you think about that?
Pearson: I think there’s such a legacy that Monica’s going to leave with Portland Baroque Orchestra, with her retirement, that I think all of our candidates coming in have this amazing respect for what she’s accomplished and are the next generation, if you will. How do they take it forward and build on the amazing work that she’s done?
Miller: John Butt, is there a tension in your mind between a version of a new person in this job, who is a replacement for Monica Huggett, as opposed to the right person for the future of the orchestra?
Butt: It is a difficult question, but I think it can be, it can go either way in a certain sense. I mean, somebody who does something similar to Monica is obviously fine, as long as they bring something new with them and somebody who does a rather different style of performance or plays a different instrument, also brings something new, but builds on what she’s done. So I don’t think it really matters, to be honest, which way it goes, because I think whoever you get out of these three excellent people, they will bring their own voice and their own insights into the music and to the culture and also their own way of communicating with the audience. So they will all be continuing the legacy of Monica, but in their own ways.
Miller: Let’s turn to these three finalists. We can go one by one, starting in alphabetical order based on last name. John Butt, who is Aisslinn Nosky?
Butt: She’s one of the finest Baroque violinists in North America, with experience in the east, the very strong east coast scene and also in the Canadian Toronto scene, really very well respected as a virtuoso player, but also as somebody who innovates programs and inspires other people to play. So she’s a real inspiration to musicians of all kinds, but obviously particularly string players. But has a real sort of spark to her, which I think you know, is very much of her own and doesn’t doesn’t duplicate exactly what Monica was like. I suppose you could say that she is the closest to Monica in the sense that she plays the violin and directs from the violin. I think she brings up her own way of doing things.
Miller: You have helpfully provided three clips, one for each of these performers and conductors. We’re gonna hear Aisslinn Nosky playing the first movement of Ysaÿe’s Sonata No. 2 for solo violin. What should we know about this piece before hearing or what should we listen for in Nosky’s playing?
Butt: Ysaÿe was somebody who was very much inspired by Bach and the unaccompanied music of Bach but he was also very keen on the type of virtuosity being developed at the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century. So this will show very much off the technique of this player, but also something of the spark and insight and also the idea of joining together different historical periods and referring back to the baroque, I think it’s something that’s very obvious in this sort of music.
Miller: Alright, let’s have a listen. This is Aisslinn Nosky.
(Violin music)
Miller: Dave Pearson, why is Aisslinn Nosky one of the three finalists, in your eyes?
Pearson: I would say that Aisslinn brings in energy that we saw with Monica as well. We’ve talked a lot about her legacy, but Aisslinn brings her own energy to the stage, she definitely directs while she plays and just seems to captivate the audiences, so she’s definitely one of our finalists.
Miller: Then there is Julian Perkins. Who is he, Dave Pearson, and what should we know about him?
Pearson: Julian is a keyboardist and conductor. He is a technical expert, if you will. And John, I’ll let you build on that if you’d like.
Butt: Yes, Julian plays a clavichord particularly well actually, as well as harpsichord and organ and other instruments, actually.
Miller: And those predated the piano as we know it?
Butt: Exactly, yes, it carried on, clavichord certainly carried on as a tradition until about 1800, has been revived since, but it’s a very delicate, but extremely subtle instrument, and I think it often shows the depths of musicianship with an individual player. Unfortunately, you can’t play it to a very large audience, but I think it is indicative of Julian’s mastery of music, particularly the 17th and 18th centuries. Very, very fine all round musician, with a real enquiring mind. He’s so interested in odd little corners of the repertory and finding them and bringing them to life and making everybody enjoy them. He’s a very inspiring figure.
Miller: Let’s hear him. This is a solo performance by Julian Perkins on harpsichord. The first movement from John Worgan’s Sonata No. 2.
(Harpsichord music)
Miller: That was Julian Perkins on harpsichord. He is one of the three finalists in the running to be the Portland Baroque Orchestra’s next artistic director. All three of these people are conducting performances over the next month. Julian Perkins and Aisslinn Nosky, who we just heard, are each conducting two concerts in November. And Peter Whelan is appearing this weekend. John Butt, who is Peter Whelan?
Butt: Peter Whelan is a remarkable figure, very well known as a solo bassoonist, one of the best historical bassoon players and indeed modern bassoon players around. Really, absolutely outstanding. But in recent years, he’s also cultivated his ability to play the harpsichord and keyboard, which he’s always done, but is doing more and more of and is extremely successful as a conductor, particularly of opera. He works for Irish Opera and also runs his own, a couple of his own groups, Irish Baroque Orchestra and his own Chamber Group, Ensemble Marsyas. So he’s a very broad range of talents and insights.
Miller: Let’s listen to Peter Whelan on bassoon. This is Legion Tillier arranged by Remo.
(Bassoon music)
Miller: Peter Whelan on bassoon. He is the third of the three finalists that we have now talked about. Dave Pearson, what can audiences expect in the series of three concerts starting this weekend?
Pearson: We have the opportunity for the audience to meet and hear from each conductor, an hour before the concert. And then the concert itself, each of them will be performing works that they’ve been building on for the last six months. And all that together, I think it’s important to point out, it’s so easy to get numb to how much media were exposed to, in a day. But hearing each of these world class musicians live, it’s just spectacular. It’s beautiful in an intimate space and it really has an effect, I think that people find it.
Miller: How are you going to be taking in audience feedback?
Pearson: Well everyone, every ticket holder, will get an email and we’ll ask them to complete a survey and then we’ll have surveys as well at each of the performances.
Miller: I understand it’s the board that will make the final decision. So how will they actually be taking into account the various comments, the feedback from audiences?
Pearson: It will weigh heavily on their decision. The board will have to carefully consider all the feedback that they get and kind of balance it all out.
Miller: John Butt, without telling us who your pick might be, do you have one, in your own heart of hearts, an idea for who should lead this orchestra going forward?
Butt: It’s unfair, in a way, because I know two of them pretty well and one of them hardly at all. So I don’t want to bring my own personal things. In fact, I have nothing to do with the actual choice, eventually, because I’m the interim director. So I’m sort of neutral in this regard. So yes, I can sort of think of various strengths from two or three of these people actually that would make them come to the fore. But yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s a broad question really because you have to wind in the different opinions of the musicians, the different opinions of the audience and also what seems good from the sort of corporate point of view, what’s good for the actual organization. So yes, I’ll stay, I’ll stay…
Miller: You’ll stay out of it. John Butt and Dave Pearson, thanks very much.
Butt: Great pleasure.
Pearson: Thank you.
Miller: John Butt is the Interim Artistic Director, Dave Pearson, Interim Executive Director of the Portland Baroque Orchestra.
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