Interview with Carlos Kalmar, Music Director of Oregon Symphony

1. By Samantha Edington
InSymphony: What are you look-
ing forward to for next season?
CK: One thing I’m excited for is
the start of a relationship with our
next artist in residence, Scottish
percussionist Colin Currie. I have
also been waiting quite a while to
finally conduct the piece Veni, veni,
Emmanuel, which is by Scottish
composer James MacMillan. I know
the piece, but I’ve never conducted
it. I would say that in terms of
highlights for next season, it’s very
interesting to see next season’s
conductors because we offer quite a
variety of very interesting people. So,
on one side there is Matthew Halls,
who comes from the baroque music
[world], which gives everybody
an interesting approach overall to
what he has to say to the orchestra.
Then we’ll have Yan Pascal Tortelier,
a colleague of mine, and that is
fascinating because he is at home
with all the greatest orchestras. I am
very proud and happy that another
guest conductor is coming to town,
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.
In terms of conductors on the
other side, Tomás Netopil represents
the young conductors. Also, I’m
very, very proud that we could invite
my colleague, Bob [Robert] Spano,
the music director of the Atlanta
Symphony.Whenitcomestosoloists,
there are going to be some people
thathadabsolutelygreatsuccesswith
us in Oregon. There’s Lang Lang and
Kirill Gerstein, the pianist, has had
great success more than once. There
is going to be—well, Joshua Bell. I
don’t need to describe that wonderful
By Samantha Edington
Digging
Deep
For Carlos Kalmar, so much thought and care
goes into developing a season’s programming that
speaking about it could become what he calls an
“endless story.” But approaching his 13th season
with the orchestra, Kalmar navigates this story
with ease, savoring each moment on the podium.
In next season’s program, the orchestra will offer
up a musical cornucopia that is sure to satisfy the
tastes of all concertgoers—from oboe and harp
solostorarelyheardpiecesbybelovedcomposers.
Kalmar assures that with these selections, he and
the Oregon Symphony Orchestra will have the
chance to “dig deep” into these compositions.
I caught up with Kalmar while he was
conducting in Madrid. He shared his enthusiasm
for new programs and faces we can look forward
to next season.
CarlosKalmaronwhat’snext
for the Oregon Symphony
in the 2015/16 season.
Photo by Renata Kosina
Photo by Renata Kosina

2. 11 | oregon symphony
guy [laughs]. Augustin Hadelich
waswithuswithenormoussuccess.
Simone Lamsma, the Dutch
violinist, was with us in October,
Garrick Ohlssohn is absolutely, like,
no worries there.
We are going to see new
people do interesting pieces. For
example, Natasha Paremski—
young piano beast, I call her. She
is going to play, and this will be
a first for the Oregon Symphony,
the Four Parables for Piano
and Orchestra. I’m very happy
that we are going to have oboe
soloist—his name is Francois
Leleux. I mean, this is Mr. Oboe...
and he plays the Strauss Oboe
Concerto, a piece we’ve never
done before. Also, if you look
out for interesting instruments
as soloists, in the concert that
Yan Pascal is going to conduct,
there will be America’s greatest
harpist Yolanda Kondonassis
here because we wanted to honor
the fact that next season we
commemorate composer Alberto
Ginastera, 100 years. This harp
concerto is a wonderful piece of
music. Benjamin Grosvenor will
join us. He’s one of the absolutely
most mentioned British piano
talents there are. And I’m very
excited that we are going to
finish the season with Mahler
Third Symphony.
InSymphony: Is that a favorite
of yours?
CK: Yes. It fits so nicely as the
season finale. When we construct
programs for the next season, we
actually try to be very balanced, to
have something for everybody so
we can satisfy all these wonderful
audience members who like to
have pieces that they recognize. I
mean, they like their Beethoven.
On the other side of the spectrum,
we want to satisfy the people
that are more adventurous. So,
between those two, let’s call
them extremes, you try to build
an entire season. And at the end
of the season, when everything
is pretty much done, we go over
our notes and compare it to our
old programming—I’m talking
100 years of history, nearly. Then
we discover all these pieces [that]
have never been done by the
Oregon Symphony.
I think the 15/16 season
has so many positive aspects; I
felt the broad spectrum that we
want is satisfied in terms of the
audience. The other thing that I
have to do is balance the season
in such a way that the orchestra
feels challenged and at home at
the same time. We have elevated
the level of our playing very
substantially over a decade now.
If I were to just build the season
and play the same 25 pieces over
and over for the last ten years,
the level of the orchestra would
be stagnant. You need in a season
something that you can dig into,
and that is why there is so much
variety. You even work on what
I call getting deeper, not only
with new pieces. We look at what
Beethoven symphony should
be up next and are absolutely
adamant about the fact that it
should not be me conducting.
The audience has seen me on
the podium with that symphony
twice over 12 years. The orchestra
gets a different point of view, the
audience sees a colleague of mine
in action. It will be a blast.
InSymphony: You were talking
about balance and variety. Is
there an overarching theme or
concept to the programming?
CK: I am more about the pick
and choose. That might sound
a little bit like random, but that
is not the case at all. Building
programs is very tough work
because we are really adamant
to be making sense. Sometimes
it might happen that pieces have
something to do with each other.
Sometimes, it’s just the pieces go
well together. Each program as a
whole is more important than the
whole thing, all 16 concerts under
one roof. Putting everything
under the one topic of nature,
love, whatever you want—that is
not what I am interested in.
InSymphony: Are you looking
for specific soloists and then
pairing them up with music?
CK: Sometimes when we have
the opportunity to work with
great soloists, they happen first.
I was on the podium when we
talked to Joshua Bell, [I] said,
“Hey, Joshua, you need to come
back.” And he said, “Of course
I’m coming back.” So, Joshua
Bell was a starting point, and
then we worked around. The
concert before was the exact
opposite of that—the piece was
first, then the rest. We always
wanted to do Schoenfield, The
Four Parables for Piano and
Orchestra, which nobody knows.
Then we went out and looked
for a soloist who could actually
play it, which is not everybody.
So, I am absolutely delighted
that Natasha [Paremski] said yes.
And then we come back to the
rest of program; so we ended up
with that piece and Planets and
Fireworks.
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