Continuing on with our World Youth Symphony Orchestra series, Matthias Pintscher makes a splash in week three with a performance of Lili Boulanger's "Of a Spring Morning" and Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" at Interlochen's Kresge Auditorium.
"The kids are just glowing from inside," says Matthias Pintscher. "It's a very, very serious working atmosphere and they really want to make it happen. It was fantastic that we could instantly start talking about the music itself."
Pintscher recently visited IPR to discuss the upcoming concert at Kresge on Sunday, July 13th at 7:30 p.m.
Attend the concert in person or listen to the live broadcast on Classical IPR.
Classical IPR's pre-show begins at 7:00 p.m ET; downbeat and our live broadcast starts at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Listen to Matthias Pintscher's full interview with IPR host Christy L'Esperance by clicking "Listen" above, or read the edited transcript below.
Christy L’Esperance: We are in week three of the 2025 World Youth Symphony summer season at Interlochen Arts Camp. The performances have been over the top, absolutely spectacular. I'm Christy L’Esperance, and joining me in Interlochen Public Radio's Studio A is the conductor of this Sunday's performance, Matthias Pintscher. Welcome, Matthias!
Matthias Pintscher: Thank you so much for having me.
CL: Well, the briefest of backgrounds. Matthias Pintscher is a native of Germany, has numerous conducting and composing credits, has been on the composition faculty of the Juilliard School since 2014 and is a Knight having been awarded Knight of the Order of the Arts and Letters by the French government.
Oh yes, and Matthias Pintscher is currently the music director of the Kansas City Symphony. I have had the pleasure of watching you conduct numerous times in Kansas City. This is your first time conducting the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. Is this your first visit to Interlochen and northern Michigan in general?
MP: I actually have a very deeply rooted connection to this campus. My partner's entire family went to Interlochen, including his sister, and my niece is currently on campus in the musical theater program. My mom went here, and we actually have a cabin on the other side of Green Lake so we can basically hear every concert happening at Kresge Auditorium.
So, this is not a new place for me. I've never performed here or conducted, but it is sort of a very emotional homecoming.
CL: Well, it's a natural transition then, and I'm so glad that this year we have you at the podium. You've just come from your first rehearsal. What are your impressions so far?
MP: The kids are just glowing from inside. There's so much inspiration and some pride. It's a very, very serious working atmosphere, so they really want to make it happen. It was fantastic that we could instantly start talking about the music itself.
CL: This week's program is so colorful. We have a breezy spring morning, opium induced hallucinations, a romantic encounter and a terrifying nightmare, but it's all family friendly!
MP: And an execution.
CL: Oh, and an execution of course, the most family friendly program available. Well, both pieces on the program contain moments of alertness and also dreamlike states, starting with Lili Boulanger’s energetic and youthful "Of a Spring Morning." What do you love most about this piece and what opportunities do you think it'll give these young performers?
MP: It is an unbelievably mature score... gorgeous music. Of course it breathes the spirit of Debussy's music. Sadly, Lili Boulanger passed at the age of 25. Just imagine what would've come from her if she would've lived longer. She was the sister of the grand Nadia Boulanger, one of the key figures in French music and one of the strongest educators in the country.
The piece that we're performing this weekend is also dedicated to her sister. So it's heartbreaking and devastating. It's so beautifully textured, and the sheer sense of orchestration is really astonishing.
MP: There is a great sense of maturity in it. The craft is fully in place, the music has a very fluid, beautiful generosity and of course is very focused on color. It's truly French music, very moving and very beautiful. And for 23 years old, that's just mind blowing. It's a very beautiful piece.
CL: "Of a Spring Morning" has a companion piece. It's titled "Of a Sad Evening," but instead of using that, you're going about ten shades darker with Berlioz’s "Symphonie Fantastique."
MP: We put "Symphonie Fantastique" by Berlioz on the program because it's such a complex work. Every moment is very different from the others and it is a piece on the cusp of modernism. So we are abandoning this very charged colorful romanticism, and I think this is just a lot of fun to explore. There's just so much storytelling happening.
Berlioz is probably one of the most extravagant, extraordinary personalities in music history. He must have had some obsession with heroes of all kinds. His viola concerto is also about another hero, so I guess he wanted to be a hero. He would probably be a character in a Marvel comic or something with his crazy hair.
"There's just so much storytelling happening. Berlioz is probably one of the most extravagant, extraordinary personalities in music history."Matthias Pintscher, WYSO guest conductor
With Berlioz being emotionally unhinged and really pouring these extreme emotional conditions into the score, he's a little bit like Beethoven. The energy goes straight to the paper, and there's no filter. It's so fresh and so alive. You don't need much convincing to set an orchestra on fire walking through this exotic garden that he has planted for us in the score.
CL: "Symphonie Fantastique" is theatrical, but it's also very personal in its storytelling through its movements. It tells the story of an artist's self-destructive passion for a beautiful woman. What are your favorite parts of each of those scenes?
MP: I see so many of these extravagant musical moments in the score. But there's also very hauntingly, lush, gorgeous moments in that slow movement with the offstage oboe answering the English horn, which transitions into silence. And then there's only the rumbling, the storm remaining being played on stage.
MP: Berlioz is using clusters of pitches that do not really fit together at all. This is truly modernism, and he produces an absolutely diabolic, threatening sound. And I think this is one of the moments that I find really appealing. And the last call of the English horn is left unanswered. So, the composer dares to even compose the void.
CL: On this program, is there one moment that you consistently look forward to?
MP: There's so many fascinating moments in every single piece of music. I love the rumbling in the timpani at the very end of the slow movement, in the third movement. It is a very significant moment that always gets me because it's just so odd and different. It really hasn't been done before in music history. It's remarkable.
CL: Is anyone going to play the ophicleide?
MP: No.
CL: I didn't think so. So an ophicleide was an instrument that was first used in "Symphonie Fantastique?" Kind of like a serpent (another brass instrument) I think.
MP: Yeah, like a serpent. I mean, now we play it on the tuba, but it's interesting and it's good to study all this and to know about it, because it informs how we approach the score.
CL: Interlochen is such a special place. This performance will be held outdoors among the trees and the lake. Do you find that your interpretation of pacing shifts when you're at an outdoor venue like this?
MP: Of course, there is an inspirational level of feeling, the nature around you. Also, the sounds of nature. The quiet of nature is definitely inspiring. On the other hand, you have to also be aware of the requirements of the acoustic situation. So we can't play the symphony exactly the way we would play it in a closed concert hall. Sometimes the bow strokes need to be a little longer. Maybe some of the accents need to be a little shorter to project the way that we want it to. So you adjust to the requirements of an outdoor space, and that's a beautiful thing to do as musicians — it keeps us on our toes in Kresge.
CL: What do you hope the musicians and the audience will take away from this experience?
MP: To feel the grace and inspiration that we're producing on stage. That's an image of hope.
CL: Matthias Pintscher, it's so good to see you again, and thank you so much for your time today. I really look forward to the concert
MP: And I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday at Kresge. What a joy, what a treat.
