Sunday, February 13, 2000
Conductor orchestrates some timely fun
Northern Kentucky Symphony's music director takes an offbeat approach to classical music
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Whew, talk about a guy whose reputation preceeds him. James R. Cassidy is it. Symphonic renegade. Classical daredevil. Baaaad boy of orchestral programming.
All titles treasured by Mr. Cassidy, music director and conductor of the Northern Kentucky Symphony, which the American Symphonic Orchestra League called “the fastest growing orchestra in America by 1000 percent.”
Traditional music directors do a Latin evening and program Bolero. Yawn.
Mr. Cassidy conducted a La Fiesta concert this weekend and spiced it up with Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez pieces. Ole.
Sitting at the score-piled dining room table of the rehabbed Newport home where he lives la vida loca with Oscar, a 3-year-old Westie and official symphony mascott, he's dressed in jeans, denim top and bright peach T-shirt.
Fiancee Angela Williamson (they've been trying to get married for three years but can't find honeymoon time) is answering phones one room away. She's the orchestra's administrator, and she's dangerously close to pulling out her long brown hair.
“That phone, it goes from 7 in the morning till 11 at night every day,” the 41-year-old conductor says.
People asking about a symphony orchestra playing Ricky Martin? “Oh no. The Ricky thing is all about being inclusive, and I think people understand that. I'm not concerned about the people who already attend arts events. They're the choir, they're coming to your church ... It's the 98 percent that never comes that I want.
“Music is too important not to let everyone in on it.”
Game plan, please? “You ask, I'll answer.”
If my baton could talk, it would tell you ...
That I should be spending more time with the scores and less time on the phone.
The one piece of music I could never conduct with a straight face ...
One? One? I always wanted to do a “Classical Gasp” program full of not very good pieces by well-known composers.
The problem with programming at most orchestras ...
Is the absence of rhyme or reason. All this blindly mixing one from column A and one from column B, and calling it a program ... a good concert has to meet the audience on more levels.
The top three things on my wish list ...
A larger staff, but not just any staff, a good staff.
A hall, brand new, on the I-275 beltway, that's fully wired for tomorrow and can accommodate orchestra, ballet, theater, even video shoots.
Continued good health.
And three weeks off to get married and honeymoon in the Seychelles.
I thought I could get away with listing four instead of three because ...
I didn't think you were counting.
The goal I keep in mind when programming ...
Integrity to the music. I like the pieces and the combinations to be on the edgy side, but I also insist they be good pieces and that they make sense when we put them together.
Because we're a small organization, I'm marketing director as well as music director, my first thought is always, can I sell it.?
People make rude jokes about culture in Kentucky. I'd like to tell them ...
That they're alienating people; Northern Kentucky in general is a sophisticated place.
When I hear jokes about "Oh, they wear shoes?' I get pretty POed. Doesn't matter who you are or where you live. Just be a real person. That's what I want my tombstone to say: "He was a real guy.'
I think the orchestra members respect my ...
I don't know. Perseverance? The musicians understand, but the public doesn't, that standing up there waving that stick is about 2 percent of my time. The rest is meetings, fund-raising, planning, more meetings, studying scores, more fund-raising, returning phone calls and e-mails.
It takes perseverance to stay focused on music with all that going on.
The one thing I want to conduct but never have ...
I made that list when I was 19. Now, as I watch it go away, I wonder why. They were all barn burners, things like Beethoven Nine. The only one left that's really burning is Mahler's Fifth.
The one thing I'll never conduct again ...
Angela, hanging on the phone in another room, screams: Jesus Christ Superstar. He disagrees: No, it would have to be Rhapsody in Blue. Don't even ask.
The lasting impression I'd like the NKS to make ...
Is that music is for everyone ... Personally, I don't need to leave a legacy. I figure when I'm dead, well, I'm dead, and someone else can wave the stick. But the music will go on ...
If they ever give an award for ----, I'll win it ...
Tenacity. Or maybe not having regrets. There are a lot of people who don't like me, and I know I've made mistakes. But if my last breath is in five minutes, I go without regret.
My next offbeat program might be ...
A collaborative effort between the orchestra, a ballet company, a theater and Charlie Daniels in a program called "The Devil Made Me Do It.'
There's a Hindemith ballet called The Demon, about a demon taking your soul. And Charlie has “Devil went Down to Georgia.” I'd do a transcription of that for chamber, plus integrate Hindemith's music. The whole evening would be things like that.
To me, Livin' La Vida Loca means ...
What I do every day of the week. It's passion. A lot of conducting students ask me why I do what I do. Passion. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who didn't have it.
When I started this orchestra, we had a budget of $20,000 and I made $300 a month. I wore a coat and all my clothes to bed, because I couldn't heat the house. But I did have passion, and that made it worth it.
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