21st Century Conductor

As a child, I grew up on the stage of the Carnegie Hall – the Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline , that is.  The 650 seat theatre in Carnegie’s town of birth was like a womb of dark and magical images, hot, candy coloured stage lighting, kitsch scenery and greasepaint applied and policed by adults who were determined to prevent the cost of make-up from spiralling out of control. As my only outlet for public artistic expression, the Carnegie Youth Theatre was a lifeline in a cultural desert. Overshadowed by Edinburgh across the other side of the Forth Rail Bridge , Dunfermline seemed proud to be philistine.  However, it was through that youth theatre that the adults passed complete production control over to the kids once a year, and allowed us to “put on a show”.  Unwittingly, they allowed me my first hungry experience of musical direction.  My role model was the mezzo-soprano, Frances McCafferty. 

Frances was a proud Edinburgh lady who taught singing at the Carnegie Institute and built up the Youth Theatre from it’s beginnings with total professionalism and cool. But beneath the reserved dignity of this East Coast Scot was a Wagnerian passion for music. We all felt it and we all loved her for it.

As with Frances , I’m a great admirer of anyone who can create musical magic with children. Frau Justine Wannat is one such lady. I saw the same tremendous talent in her when she directed the Düsseldorf Girls’ Choir last October. We were working together on Hans Krasa’s Brundibár, a 35 minute gem of a children’s opera, most infamously performed in Terezin Concentration Camp in 1943.  As conductor for the Düsseldorf Symphoniker in this Tonhalle production, I saw the same focus, respect and admiration in the eyes of the girls for Frau Wannat that I had felt for Frances back in Dunfermline . 

Like all theatre for children, Brúndibar was an escape from reality, but in a World War Two prison camp, the fantasy was equally tortured. The Nazis’ propaganda machine had decided to film this opera in Terezin, but not before building a film-set village to show the visiting Red Cross and the world how pleasant life was for Jews.  Fresh fruit and vegetables were brought in to show how well the children were fed, and the children were allowed to hold these in their hands in front of the camera, only to be taken away again, uneaten.  Hans Krasa, a prisoner there, formed his choir from the camp’s girls and rescored the opera from its 1938 version, premiered in Prague , for the available musicians in Terezin.  The Nazis got their film. Many of the girls and Hans Krasa died in Auschwitz .

Brundibár is a story of two penniless children who need to feed milk to their ailing mother. As buskers, they try to compete with Brúndibar, the travelling organ grinder, but are chased away by him and the townsfolk.  With the help of a sparrow, a dog and a cat, they defeat Brúndibar and earn enough money for milk by bringing the whole village together in a lullaby. The metaphor for defeating Hitler could not have escaped them.   The music is some of the best writing for children I have ever seen, and all the more charming for the 10 piece band’s 1920’s Berlin cabaret accompaniment.

Some conductors I know are scared to death of children. Others wisely stay clear of this work to avoid being categorised as a “children’s concert conductor” by managements.  But when a really great piece of work comes up that combines the joy of theatre, childrens’ creativity and deeply caring adult support, then I can only remember the joyful talent of the Düsseldorf Girls’ Choir and the deafening screams of approval from the 2000 children we performed to.

Available in English, German and the original Czech:

http://www.boosey.com/pages/opera/moreDetails.asp?musicID...