New Musical Waters

Our conductor reminds me of Captain Ahab.  Maniacally he seeks the great whale of musical meaning,  pushing us, his stunned shipmates, navigating the great sea of Prokofiev.  Half-Russian, half-Japanese, he communicates in mix of Japanese, English, musical gibberish and pantomime.  I wasn't surprised to read that he had studied ballet for ten years when he was a child (something he includes in his bio).  He has a dance master approach to the orchestra–gestural, figurative, at times brash, unapologetic, tireless, and slightly eccentric.  Over the course of two rehearsals he changed into four different shirts, sporting a series of Russian style patterns to go with his rusty-colored, thick-ribbed corduroy pants. He speaks Japanese with the strength of a Russian, pushing people to play as he imagines, watching everyone closely.  He's often in the rehearsal room early to watch people or mingle with them (though rarely chat); strangely close to us yet still very distant.  I'm so curious about the world of dance and I feel like the way that he works is the closest to working with a choreographer that I've ever experienced from a conductor.  It's great to get this new perspective and have a slightly muted taste of the dance world; though as much as I idolize that world, I don't know that I would choose a life there.  So this week, a meeting of the two, and on familiar territory, such as it is.  

after-rehearsal question with the Maestro