JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, is Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center and Artistic Adviser of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.
Maestro Falletta is also conducting Interlochen's World Youth Symphony Orchestra in their final concert of the season and the 97th annual performance of "Les Préludes."
Her program begins with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s "Capriccio espagnol" and Carlos Simon’s "Tales: A Folklore Symphony." The evening ends with a Franz Liszt’s "Les Préludes" performed by WYSO, the Interlochen Philharmonic, the Interlochen Wind Orchestra and the Interlochen Summer Dance Ensemble.
"It's the unity of it that's so beautiful," says JoAnn Falletta. "Not only is WYSO playing, but the Interlochen Philharmonic and the Wind Orchestra is playing, too. It's an amazing coming together of all of the musicians on the stage together."
JoAnn Falletta visited IPR after rehearsing with this WYSO musicians and discussed the upcoming concert at Kresge Auditorium on Sunday, August 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Listen to the full interview or read the edited transcript below.
Attend the concert in person or listen to the live broadcast on Classical IPR.
The concert and live broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Kate Botello: We have talked before. But it's always been on Week One of WYSO [rehearsals]. So you have been responsible for the kind of birthing of WYSO many times.
JoAnn Faletta: Many times. You're right. And it is a very special week because you get young people who are just coming into this experience. They're excited. They're nervous. They're not sure. And you take them through that first week and it's almost like a miracle that happens where, by the end of the week, they are fully into Interlochen.
They understand it. They get it. They're proud of what they're doing. But I've never been here before during the last week. This is so huge. It's so exciting.
KB: What do you feel is the difference with WYSO from week one to week six?
JF: Well, there is a lot of difference. They seem much more experienced playing in an orchestra. They seem grown up somehow. Rather than the 14 or 15 year olds that I work with in the first week they've matured. If that can happen in six weeks, it's pretty amazing. The miracle of Interlochen is that they know how to play in an orchestra and they've [performed] a lot of difficult pieces and they're ready.
Emotionally, there's a mixture of feelings. They're really sad to leave, but on the other hand they know they've got to go on to Juilliard now or they've got to go back to their family and have a week of family vacation. [The students] have had the advantage of being here for six beautiful weeks. You can feel all of that emotion stirring in the air.
KB: This will be your first time too at “Les Preludes.”
JF: It is a really emotional concert. I've seen videos of it, read about it, seen photos, but I've never been here to watch it. People tell me it's overwhelming and I can see why. I'm right now in the middle of rehearsals for it. Having a rehearsal with 250 musicians around you — I can barely see the ones in the back they're so far away — we're all playing this together.
It's the unity of it that's so beautiful. Not only is WYSO playing, but the Interlochen Philharmonic and the Wind Orchestra are playing, too. It's an amazing coming together of all of the orchestral musicians on the stage together.
KB: What advice are you giving them for dealing with these big emotions at the end?
JF: We're working through it slowly and we're talking about the specialness of this. We are a very big group, and it poses certain challenges. We're dealing with some unusual things just because of the size of it. A musician came up to me after the first rehearsal and said, ”I'm just swept away by the energy and the excitement. This is an epic concert.” And he was right. “An epic concert.” I'm kind of swept away by it, too.
We'll see when the audience is there because then of course their energy joins ours. We haven't rehearsed with the dancers yet but they'll be there as well. It’s an incredible experience.
KB: This is such an emotional concert. What advice might you give me as a young instrumentalist? How do I stay calm and not cry over my cello?
JF: I've already seen tears. People saying “goodbye” to each other or “I'm not going to see you for a long time.” “Focus” is the word I always tell them. We are musicians, we're artists, and we feel emotions very strongly. But when we're playing, we're delivering those emotions through music to other people. So “focus, focus, focus.” Then afterwards, I can only imagine 250 people embracing each other and saying goodbye. It's a life-changing experience.
That's all I can say. Being at Interlochen is life changing. And I think at their age they realize that it has been. They're not going to be the same kids going home to their parents. Not at all. They're forever changed in rich and beautiful ways. They've made friends who will be lifelong friends.
KB: What about “Les Preludes” is the most important musical lesson they can take from this work by Franz Liszt?
JF: Liszt didn't write tone poems in the way that Strauss did, who was very detailed about exactly what was happening. Or even Beethoven, where he tells us in Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral, what he's talking about. Liszt is more philosophical.
“Les Preludes” is about life, and, and he starts out with a question. And we don't know exactly what question. Then he takes us through what he says are stages of love, confusion, anguish and then triumph.
So it's more of a philosophical view of what life might have to hold. And so it seems appropriate to play that as they close out this experience in their lives, this summer at Interlochen. And I think that they realize that. And of course “Les Preludes” has beautiful, gentle moments, but I think the things that they enjoy the most are the moments when everyone is playing. You know, the saxophones are playing, the euphoniums are playing, the brass is playing all over and the percussion, it's just an amazing amount of sound.
KB: “Les Preludes” is not the only thing on the bill. You're starting off with some fun, rip-roaring Rimsky-Korsakov.
JF: That's right. “Capriccio espagnol” is a virtuoso showpiece, and I'm putting it on this program because I knew they could handle it. It’s got big solos for violin, cello, clarinet, flute and harp. It's a very, very big, and exciting, piece to play. We've already started to rehearse it. And it's quite amazing because the musicians told me that they only got the music Monday morning. So Monday morning, we had our first rehearsal at 8 AM. They had just gotten the music and it was a rehearsal of discovery.
Like, “wow, can we play this?” “Yes, we can play it.” “Of course we can play it.” “Capriccio espagnol” is one of the most brilliant pieces in the orchestra literature. And I think all of them will play it many times in their lives. And it's one of my favorites. Rimsky-Korsakov not only knew how to write for orchestra, but he simply knew how to write a great piece of music. It's this wonderful journey that will open our program.
KB: I love how you describe a “rehearsal of discovery.”
JF: It really is. What we did at the very first rehearsal was read through the whole thing without stopping. There were a couple of parts where we came a little too unglued to continue, so we just backed up and started a few bars earlier and played again. I thought that was important for them to play through the whole piece, to get to the end and say, “okay, I missed some things, but I think we can do it. I think I can do it.” And then we went back and worked in detail and that's what we'll continue all week, working in detail.
And every detail matters so much and they learn something from it. I hope the takeaway is not only how to play Rimsky-Korsakov, but also how to approach music, how to think about music, how to make decisions about practicing and how to accomplish a goal.
That all comes from rehearsing. And you have to show them how to do that at this age. Well, they show me too. They're showing me how they approach this, where they need guidance, and that's very important for me.
Their excitement, their devotion to music and their instrument makes me feel reborn here. I conduct every week pretty much and very rarely do I conduct high school students. There's something about their purity of approach of [performing] Rimsky-Korsakov or “Les Preludes” for the first time that reminds me of how I fell in love with these pieces.
KB: And then, an entirely new work for them, too. A living composer.
JF: And that's important. That's really important. Our heritage of music is beautiful and we don't want to give that up, but we want to know music of our time. We deserve to know music. We deserve to play it for the audiences. Carlos Simon's “Tales: A Folklore Symphony” is certainly a new piece for all of us, and it's who we are. I think that they've really taken to it.
It’s a fairytale suite about myths and tales that come from Africa. It’s about heroes, heroism and strength. The movement I love the most talks about an old myth and the idea that in the very distant past, people could fly. The composer has written a piece which, as I told the musicians today, never touches the ground. We're just flying. We're just flying the entire time. So, it's very evocative. And it's a piece about strength and emotion.
KB: Musically, what are some of the challenges for them in this? You said it takes flight and it keeps going.
JF: First of all there are four movements, four very different stories. So they have to go from the perpetual motion and fast tempos of the first movement to the impressionistic writing of the second movement. Then to play things that are chorale-like, singing folk songs that they're spirituals. They have to change gears for each movement. Technically they have to be very, very ready to play this, but also use their imaginations. And that's something important, too.
KB: Now this is a much bigger group of folks. So are you having to adjust your method of approaching the musicians at all as you conduct them.
JF: I'm trying to approach them really in the same way. I mean, the distance is greater in “Les Preludes,” but when you're working with an orchestra, especially when a solo is about to come, it's empowering. It’s beaming positive energy at them without saying a word.
KB: So you're still able to connect with them, even though this is such a huge orchestra. And now you're kicking them out of the nest with love. If you had one wish for this WYSO what would it be?
JF: That they never forget their experience here. I very often have musicians come up to me and say, I played at Interlochen with you. We played Verdi, or we played Respighi, or we played Rimsky-Korsakov, and I'll never forget that performance.
And I don't forget them either. They are now maybe in their twenties and thirties and have a great job, but they remember Interlochen. And that makes me very proud to be connected to this incredible place because it does change lives.
