“Like the rest of us, sometimes conductors think about what else they might have done instead of walking onto a podium with their baton,” write James Bennett II and Max Fine on Tuesday (9/11) at New York classical radio station WQXR. “We asked eleven of them what other career paths they might have taken. Jeri Lynne Johnson: Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra (Philadelphia): I would probably be a professor of religion at a university explaining the iconography of Buddhist thangkas or translating and interpreting some Vedic scripture. JoAnn Falletta: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra: I would have dedicated myself to writing. I am in love with words. Thierry Fischer: Utah Symphony: Explorer. Sarah Ioannides: Symphony Tacoma: I envision myself a neuroscientist. Bernard Labadie: Orchestra of St. Luke’s: Languages have always fascinated me. [But] the other great passion of mine after music: wine…. The easiest and best way to travel the world is in a glass! Xian Zhang: New Jersey Symphony Orchestra: I would still be a pianist, as I was prior to my switch to conducting, or I would be an architect or a literature translator. I love languages.” Poll participants also included Leon Botstein, James Conlon, Jane Glover, Susanna Mälkki, and Francisco Núñez.
Posted September 12, 2018
