I promised to review this new and interesting book a long time ago, but only now I could find time to flip through it again. It is written by my American colleague Diane Witty, and it really made me understand better the way the American orchestras work. It has also a lot of commonsensical tips that are valid wherever you happen to be working, and that's why I think every school with a conducting program should have it in their shelf.

I will go through the work chapter by chapter, summarizing the things that I found important or interesting. This time I will touch the three first chapters, which are:

1 - Preparing for Success
2 - Path to the Podium
3 - Your First Job


The mentor with his protege

Chapter 1 - Preparing for Success

Formal Musical Training

Most of us conductors go through some kind of training, including study of an instrument, then later on majoring in conducting and participating in master classes. Wittry emphasizes the importance of your main teacher, because his reputation can basically make you or break you. Some are lucky to have teachers who get them a manager or keep their side in a competition jury, or in extreme cases even use their influence to help you land a chief conductor job. For the rest of us it is important to have good teaching and regular access to a real orchestra.

Wittry recommends a lot of books about subjects all conductors should be aware of, like composition, orchestration, music history and languages. I agree everywhere else except when it comes to her book recommendations about conducting technique. Unfortunately some of the more interesting books are in Russian and still awaiting to be translated into other languages...

Character Development

For a conductor who uses his whole personality as a tool it is naturally very important to work "on oneself". Wittry's list of virtues of the conductor includes positivity, integrity, humility, discipline and persistence (the list could as well be about a presidential candidate!). She also writes a couple of words about presenting oneself. This is something that most of us start to think of too late. Most young conductors feel it is enough to do your artistic work well and just "be yourself". Not so! When you notice that your less talented colleague gets the work by the sole virtue of him knowing how to dress and how to talk to the right people, it might be time to think again!

Choosing the Path

There are basically two ways to become a symphony orchestra conductor - either becoming an assistant conductor of a professional orchestra, or working your way from a semi-professional orchestra upwards. Now I would like to write a bit about how this applies to my native Finland.

Unfortunately in Finland there is no such thing as an assistant conductor. Oh yes, all the orchestras employ only one conductor and thus there is no way for young conductors to gain experience before landing somehow a chief conductor job! Some have been lucky enough to get a position of a principal guest conductor first, which gives them some security and continuity with the same orchestra but without all the responsibilities of a permanent conductor.

On the other hand we have only a couple of orchestras which are not professional but are able to play the main symphonic repertoire, and they are the student orchestras of the biggest universities. That means there are not too many choices left for a young conductor. I suspect the same applies to most small countries with a limited amount of orchestras and universities.

What is there to do, then? I think we have to accept the international nature of the work, learn our languages and start looking for work abroad. The competition will be tough but at least you can work on your career on two fronts instead of limiting yourself within geological and linguistic borders!

One of the ways to the profession Wittry mentions is founding your own orchestra. This possibility, with all of its challenges, should not be overlooked. In Finland we have an example set by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra which was founded in 70's by Juha Kangas, who is now very much in demand as a conductor throughout Scandinavia and Baltic region. More recently we have seen Avanti! and Helsinki Festival Orchestra which both were brainchildren of their founder-conductors.

In the closing thoughts of this chapter Wittry wants us to reject the idea that only conducting the biggest and best orchestras in the world can be counted as success. There are thousands of orchestras in the world, all in dire need of a good professional conductor. I wholeheartedly agree! Conducting is just such an addictive profession (or hobby?) that it is as difficult for the orchestras to get rid of a bad conductor as it is to find a good one.


Maestro Slatkin looking for his path to the podium

Chapter 2 - Path to the Podium

In this chapter there are brief interviews of Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano and JoAnn Falletta about their studies, career development and so on.

Slatkin's way to the top has been quite traditional, including unbelievable 9 years (!) as an assistant conductor of the St Louis Symphony. Today I doubt anyone would have the patience of Slatkin - on the contrary I was told by one established conductor not to spend more than two years in an assistantship position to avoid being labeled as an assistant conductor! Slatkin's main advice to a young conductor is: Be prepared and don't turn your nose up at any kind of conducting work!

Robert Spano took his first jobs in universities and later got an assistantship position with Boston Symphony Orchestra. He emphasizes the role of a good manager in finding you new opportunities and recommending you to right people. Unfortunately he does not tell how he got a manager in the first place!

JoAnn Falletta's first music directorship was practically volunteer work with a community orchestra, and she has been able to work her way up all the way to high-class professional orchestras. For her it was important to go slow and learn in the process. She advices young conductors to be patient and prepared for disappointments; it is better to take on the big jobs when you can honestly say you're ready for them.


Young Herbert, just after landing his first job in Berlin

Chapter 3 - Your First Job

Getting the Job

The main teaching of this chapter is: In the beginning of your career you should apply for every possible job! To be informed about these jobs (in US) there are certain organizations you should be member of. Unfortunately in Europe it is not so simple to get information. The Musical Chairs website has some job announcements now and then, but other than that only the opera theatre positions in Germany are well documented.

Filling conducting positions is actually not so different from orchestra musicians' auditions - most often the well-known local guy gets the job. So your first priority is to become well-known (and maybe local too)!

Wittry gives in this chapter some good advice about how to write your resume and application letter, and how to prepare the accompanying materials. I personally think it is a pity that a good-looking publicity photo might be the reason for considering one application and rejecting another, but that's the world we're living in! The only additional advice I would give to conducting students is: Learn to edit your own videos and design your own web pages - you will save a lot of money while waiting for your breakthrough!

Negotiating the Contract

First rule which so many of us (including myself) had to learn in the tough way is: Never start the job without a written agreement. Only people like Carlos Kleiber can disregard this principle! A young conductor should always have a written contract - even if you are employed by someone you trust.

For the negotiation process Wittry gives you a handful of useful questions to ask yourself beforehand, and she also gives a lot of details about different contracts for community orchestras and regional orchestras. In addition there are a couple of thoughtful words about managers. Sometimes a manager really is not necessary - especially the kind that just takes you a monthly payment for the pleasure of having your name in her list.

First Year - Dos and Don'ts

During you first year in the job you should just try to meet as many people as possible connected to your work - the managing board, the musicians, staff etc. The first year is not the time to introduce big changes - just try to make the best out of what you got. Do not reaudition the orchestra - if there are problematic players, deal with them individually (or, like Franz Welser-Möst put it, "It’s never easy telling people it’s time for them to go, but you don’t have to be nasty about it. You take them aside, ask them to work on their intonation. They get the message.").

Getting Organized

Everyone would like to be organized, but as we know it is just SO difficult! Wittry gives some advice as to how to prioritize your tasks and how to schedule your weeks and days so you would have at least a little bit of time for yourself too - and of course, to the score study. A music director of an American orchestra has so many extramusical duties that delegating them successfully becomes really an indicator of your overall success!


Maestro Welser-Möst - probably thinking of intonation...

Next time when I have time to sit down and summarize the findings in this book, I will look deeper into the chapters "Artistic Leadership", "Artistic Programming" and "The People Factor". I especially liked the chapter about programming, since at least in the schools I studied conducting at there was no teaching in this subject at all. I am sure it would be interesting to many others as well!