A Q&A with opening-weekend guest conductor Teddy Abrams
Multitalented conductor, composer and instrumentalist Teddy Abrams, music director of the Louisville Orchestra, makes his NJSO debut at the podium at this weekend’s season-opening concerts with violinist Sarah Chang. He leads a program featuring Copland’s Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes, Bernstein’s On the Town: Three Dance Episodes, Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires and Ravel’s Tzigane.
Abrams chats with the NJSO about the opening-weekend concerts, Saturday’s College Night and more.
What makes this a great opening-weekend program?
This is a very upbeat, exciting program with a significant connection to folk and popular music that the composers integrated into their orchestral sounds. Piazzolla was a very talented bandeón player who grew up playing tangos. He and Copland had the same teacher, Nadia Boulanger, who encouraged them to look toward the native music of their [homelands]. It’s fascinating to see what both of them did [with that advice]. Copland recognized [rodeo and cowboy music’s] importance to America’s heritage and mythology in the same way Bernstein recognized the importance of jazz, blues and rock to American music in the 20th century. Ravel was fascinated with folk music—he draws from Gypsy music in Tzigane.
Why are these performances a must-hear?
It’s opening weekend. If you have pride in your community, come see your Orchestra; it’s great. Sarah Chang is one of the best soloists today, and Bernstein’s On the Town is one of the greatest pieces written about this part of the world—you shouldn’t miss that.
How do you approach working with an orchestra as a guest conductor?
What makes these performances [special] for the communities here is that it’s their NJSO. I try to listen for what the Orchestra’s identity is and for their idea of how to play this music; I want to heighten and strengthen what they care about in this music with what I value in it … What we do is not a routine; what we do is dynamic and vital.
You are going to improvise on the piano at the College Night after-party on Saturday night at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. What can partygoers expect?
I can’t really tell you what that’s going to be, or it wouldn’t really be improvised! But I’ll probably do a variety of jazz, folk and some things completely made up from scratch. I like creating something in response to audience requests; people get really into it.
Why is it important to engage college audiences?
This music is so powerful that it will sit with you forever, and you will want it to be in your life. I think it’s critical that the younger you are, the more full a relationship you have with your orchestra. If you have positive experiences, you will crave it, and it will be a part of you—that builds a relationship that lasts forever.
What fuels you in your multifaceted conducting, composing and improvising career?
As a conductor, you’re asking real physical challenges of people, and playing music as an instrumentalist keeps me honest. I play jazz, bluegrass and folk of all kinds, and I spend a lot of time improvising because that’s how I stay creatively inspired. When I improvise and compose, it opens up insights into how other people have conceived music.
The formality of an orchestra is wonderful, like a huge beautiful Dr. Seuss machine that performs the most miraculous task—it’s incredible. And sometimes, going to a little bar and playing with a great jazz trio is the perfect balance to an orchestra’s [complexities]. Haydn’s London performances packed 250 people into a very vibrant and extremely loud room; it sounds to me like a lot of popular music experiences. Getting back to that intimacy is very important to me.
Why is the live orchestral experience still relevant?
This music is as great and alive as it’s ever been. [For the audience], there is a commonality shared when you’re surrounded by people who are just as focused and engaged with this music. It’s very important for us to take two hours out of our lives to be in the same emotional and psychological and spiritual world. Those shared communal experiences transform society for the better.
You should trust that your orchestra is going to put on something great. When you see the NJSO, you have a sense of what New Jersey is [and] who the people are.
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Opening-weekend performances take place on Friday, September 23, at 8 pm and Sunday, September 25, at 3 pm at NJPAC in Newark, and Saturday, September 24, at 8 pm at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. Saturday is College Night—$10 student tickets includes entrance to the performance and a post-concert all-student party.
» View concert info and purchase tickets.
» Learn more about College Night.