Sunday, October 17, 1999
Good cultural base here, CCO finalist Yahr says
BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If Barbara Yahr becomes the next music director of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, she will be the first female to head one of the city's prominent musical organizations.
Ms. Yahr, a finalist in the search to replace Keith Lockhart, is known to Cincinnatians for her leadership in Cincinnati Opera's pit (Carmen and Samson and Delilah). She has another Cincinnati tie: for three years, she studied with former Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Max Rudolf in the conducting program at the Curtis Institute of Music. A pianist, she remembers her “audition” for Mr. Rudolf:
“I spent the day with him, and that involved playing the piano and speaking French,” she says. “He wanted to make sure I really spoke French, so we spoke French for a while. At the end of the day, he told me he would take me in the program. I said, "How long a program is it?' and he said, "Well, I'm 82, you know!”' she laughs. She was in an elite group that included conductors Michael Stern, Robert Spano (Brooklyn Philharmonic music director) and Paavo Jarvi, who appeared this weekend with the CSO.
A native of New York, Ms. Yahr, 41, is principal guest conductor with the Munchner Rundfunk (Munich Radio Orchestra). She spent four years as assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Lorin Maazel.
Equally at home with orchestras and opera companies, she led Minnesota Opera's La Cenerentola in 1998, and has guest conducted major orchestras such as the Detroit, National and Pittsburgh symphonies. She will make her debut with the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Japan) this fall.
In this season of conductor-candidates, the audience is invited to rate each conductor as they appear in concert. The Enquirer is asking each candidate the same questions.
Ms. Yahr, who leads Chamber Orchestra concerts today and Monday, spoke from her Manhattan home.
QUESTION: What is the most exciting thing to happen to you recently?
ANSWER: Getting married (to psychiatrist Alex Lerman). We've been married about a year. It was a blind date. He was in a residency program with my brother-in-law.
Musically, I'm very excited to be asked to conduct Tosca in Oklahoma with Tulsa Opera.
Q: In a city with a major orchestra like the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, how does the chamber orchestra fit into the musical scene?
A: One of the things that makes the chamber orchestra such an attractive organization is that Cincinnati is such a musical city. You're not starting from scratch. Your audience is a cultural audience. You just have to carve out a niche. It's a different repertoire, or it's familiar repertoire done in a different way.
Q: What is the most important role of the music director?
A: Every work is its own universe, and the audience gets into that world through the conductor. The music director can be a pathway into that world through their general presence, and the way they make programs and relate to the community and the audience.
Q: What programming ideas do you have?
A: My philosophy is to never make a concert I wouldn't want to go to myself. That includes kiddie concerts. They have to be something you'd pay to go listen to. Keith (Lockhart) does a great job with mixing modern pieces with standard things.
What's a huge mistake is to make a program that sounds very good on paper, but that no one would want to sit through, and it doesn't musically work ... It's not just a few pieces slapped together. It should appeal to people's intelligence, and also be fun to listen to.
Everyone is very nervous about classical music becoming this distant memory. I don't like to be too trendy, but I think you can show people that Jimi Hendrix changed music and so did Beethoven. And also trust the music — it will do the job.
Q: How do you impress your interpretation of the music upon a group of 32 fine musicians?
A: (Laughs.) If you really believe in your ideas, they'll believe in you. Even if they don't like it, they'll do it. You have to feel it in your gut.
Q: Who are some of your favorite composers?
A: Ravel, Barber, Schubert, Sibelius ... I never know what to say to this question! I don't really have a list. When I was 16, I thought Chopin far outweighed Beethoven and Schubert as a composer, so things do change.
Q: How do you view Cincinnati and the Cincinnati arts audience?
A: There's a very good cultural base there. I went to see (Cincinnati Opera's) Jenufa, and I was so impressed by the reaction of the audience. People were going nuts. It was an incredible evening and I thought, these people are excited about this kind of opera production.
They have old traditions, but it's a town that wants to keep music going, and for whom music is important.
Q: Does an organization like the Chamber Orchestra have a responsibility toward educating the public about classical music?
A: In a sense, yes. I only pull back from the word “education” because I don't think we should be in a pedantic business. We're there to make people love going to concerts so it enriches their lives, not so much to teach them. Getting people excited and moved — that's musical education.
Q: What would you like to see in the orchestra's future?
A: It's easy to say more of the same, because Keith has them on an upswing. The orchestra exists because the players want it to. As much as everyone needs leadership and a director, it seems to be a team type of orchestra, and that's important to keep going.
Personally, I think they should do some joint projects with the opera. There are obviously wonderful overlaps in that town, and it would be nice to explore the possibilities.
YAHR FILE
• Age: 41.
• Marital status: Married to Dr. Alex Lerner; two stepchildren, ages 8 and 10.
• Home: Manhattan; grew up in Westchester County, N.Y.
• Hobbies: “I like outdoorsy things: skiing, hiking and canoeing. I used to love taking pictures and developing them in a darkroom, but lately have not had time to do that.
• Music you listen to in free time: “Alex has been educating me in what everyone else has been listening to, like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.”
• Favorite movies: A classic movie buff, her favorites include It's a Wonderful Life and Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious.
• Little-known fact: “Everyone thinks that I just order Chinese food all the time, but it's not true. I really love to cook. In fact, I have a chicken in the oven right now and I completely forgot about it!”
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