Conducting at the Oregon Bach Festival

Oregon Bach Festival

As soon as I arrived home, I began a three-week period of concentrated study and preparation for the Oregon Bach Festival. Early in 1998, I had applied and was chosen as one of the Masterclass Conductors, to study with the renowned Helmuth Rilling. Those of us chosen for the class came from Poland, Brazil, Japan, China, Canada and the U.S.

This 6-week period, from my personal study at home until the moment I left Eugene heading back home after the festival, was the most intense experience that I can remember. It was a bit of a struggle, simply putting myself in student-mode after 16 years out of that dynamic, but as I became clearer about my specific goal (that of improving my conducting for my particular work at All Saints), the whole process became easier.

Nevertheless, I haven’t been that nervous on the podium in years. That first time, in front of Rilling, took a huge amount of courage. He’s not abusive, but he is musically intimidating and intense. (An example of his brilliance — he conducts everything from memory, even the world premiere at this festival of Penderecki’s hour-long, amazing, complicated, Credo, the final pages of which Rilling did not receive until a few days before the performance!) Believe me, he’s full of spark.

One of the high points in my sessions with Rilling was after I conducted one of the beautiful tenor arias from Haydn’s Creation, when he said in his thick German accent, “You are well-prepared.” It is hard to explain how much those words mean, coming from that man, but trust me, it’s an over-the-top experience.

And then, the following 25 minutes, working from that point of “preparedness”, working deeply into the music — technical conducting problems, body gestures, facial expressions, increasing my repertoire of wrist motions, precision, stylistic interpretation, focusing on what is most important musically at any given moment, interpretation of text.   Well, I could go on. What a “high” experience — passionately, creating beauty.

And, a little perspective to share with you — about a third of the festival orchestra comes from Los Angeles, and I have worked with about 20 of these instrumentalists, for our festivals at All Saints. It became quite clear how privileged we are to have the resources and reputation to contract these musicians several times a year. It was also really wonderful to experience that All Saints is held in such high respect and affection in that musical community.

Organ Practice

I spent the next five weeks at home, and it was such a treat, just to be in my home.

This was a period of rediscovering my passion for practicing the organ. I just love that process of learning music, and spending five hours on the bench every day is bliss. To take those little black dots on the page, written centuries ago, or last year, and working them into my mind and into my hands and feet, and into my soul — talk about spark!

I learned, as if for the first time, how important that time spent with Bach, Mozart, Franck, Duruflé and Messaien is for me. It is, of course, unrealistic for me to practice five hours a day on a regular basis, but since returning from sabbatical, I have been pretty successful about practicing enough to keep that spark lit inside of me.