Thursday, June 17, 1999
Erich Kunzel pops with enthusiasm
BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Erich Kunzel is his own best publicist. “We just finished a fantastic Cincinnati Pops album of movie blockbusters — 75 minutes of music,” he gushes in rapid-fire delivery, as he kicks back in his office backstage at Music Hall.
It's hard not to react to his enthusiasm. The new album, recorded last week in Music Hall, adds to the three Telarc discs per year that the Pops records. Nearly all have appeared on the Billboard charts; the next to be released in September (Mr. Kunzel's 65th) will be a Disney disc.
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IF YOU GO
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• What: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Erich Kunzel, conductor, Art Garfunkel, vocalist; VoiceBox a cappella group.
• When: 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
• Where: Riverbend
• Tickets: $15-$33; $8 students. 381-3300.
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In his 34 years with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops orchestras, Mr. Kunzel, 64, has become immersed in the life of the city. He is the most visible champion of a new arts campus for the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA), and is one of the few local celebrities to have given a name to Cincinnati Zoo animals: white Bengal tigers Ericha and Popsy.
He spoke to the Enquirer about the Pops' Music Hall season, future plans, and about the search for a music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
The Cincinnati Pops Riverbend season opens Friday.
QUESTION: You and the Pops made your third tour to Japan in October. Are you going to China in 2000?
ANSWER: Hopefully. We are presently negotiating, but nothing is definite. We have a standing invitation to go there. Right now, politically it's a no-no. Whether that will change by October of 2000 is all a question mark.
Q. Pops subscriptions were down this year by 5.6 percent (from 7,100 last season to 6,700 this year). The average Pops subscriber is older than the classical subscriber. How do you plan to build your audience?
A. As retirements are earlier (people now retire in their 50s), that is where we can interest new people. There's more time for leisure. To try to get the younger set is very different. They have dual careers, and need a baby sitter. They won't buy a series of eight.
I'm an experimenter. Two years ago we did a “Plugged In” pops series with Take 6, Peabo Bryson and (saxophonist) David Sanborn. It was a huge success, and attracted a lot of African-Americans. The problem was, we got no more funding for it. When you do a miniseries with higher profile artists, your artistic budget goes up so much.
Q. This is the 30th anniversary of Pops in the Parks, which you have conducted for 29 years (Max Rudolf conducted the first year). What was your original aim with those concerts?
A. The aim was to bring the orchestra to the people who perhaps can't afford coming to Music Hall, and make them realize that this is their orchestra, be proud of it and come. They're outdoor family picnic gatherings where they can listen to the magnificent sounds of their orchestra.
Q. Is the audience different from those who subscribe to the Pops?
A. Yes, generally people who go to the Pops concerts in Music Hall don't go to these. It's a much younger audience.
Q. In what direction are the Cincinnati and other pops orchestras headed as we approach the millennium?
A. In our national and international image, we are very strong. In the '90s, we went three times to the Orient, every other year to Carnegie Hall, made 27 recordings and we've done five PBS specials. I foresee that course remaining as we turn the millennium.
My main summer responsibility is the (Chicago Symphony's) Ravinia Festival (in Highland Park, Ill.), and we continue to have very big houses. Of my other responsibilities (orchestras in Indianapolis, Detroit, Toronto and Naples, Fla.), the pops are very strong. It's interesting that matinees are bringing a lot of people. In Indianapolis, our strongest concert is one we added called a Coffee Concert (matinee).
Q. What is your opinion of CSO programming this year, in which three classical concerts crossed over into the pops and jazz arena?
A. I liked that, because the attendance was the strongest of the season, and a lot of the audience was the younger crowd. So I encouraged that a long time ago, and I'm happy to see that Jesus (Lopez-Cobos) is experimenting like this. As I see the future of orchestras, I think there's a lot more room for this type of experimentation.
Q. How does the leadership of the CSO affect your work?
A. Fortunately, dating back to Max Rudolf, Tommy Schippers and going all the way to Jesus (Lopez-Cobos), I have had music directors who have seen the benefit of what the Pops does.
Q. What qualities would you like to see in the next CSO music director? (Mr. Lopez-Cobos is leaving after the 2000-2001 season.)
A. Someone who keeps the excellence of the orchestra as a fantastic instrument, who picks the very best (musicians) in auditions, who works on intonation and ensemble, and everything that makes a great orchestra.
Number two, I would hope that the music director reaches out to get new audiences, and doesn't think the symphony is a 200-year-old museum piece.
Coupled with that, I would (want) a leader in the community, who has a lot of affection for the Tristate area and would become part of the whole scene here.
Q. Are you helping in the CSO search?
A. They ask my two cents and they get it. That's a given.
CONCERTS IN THE PARKS
All concerts are at 8 p.m.
Aug. 31: Woodland Mound Park, Anderson Township.
Sept. 1: Sharon Woods, Sharonville.
Sept. 2: Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights.
Sept. 3: Procter & Gamble Pavilion, Sawyer Point, with fireworks, downtown.
Sept. 8: Miami Whitewater Forest, with fireworks, Harrison.
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