Conductor Elim Chan has had remarkable success since being named the first woman to win the Donatella Flick Conducting competition ten years ago. This month Chan is realizing two big dreams: to open the classical music season at the Hollywood Bowl and to conduct the First Night of the Proms in London at Royal Albert Hall. Not too bad for a young girl who years ago was inspired by Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.

The July 9th concert at the Hollywood Bowl finds Chan conducting the same piece that led to her winning the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The July 19th First Night of the Proms concert will open with Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks Overture and close with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

Earlier this week I spoke with Chan about these two concerts and what they mean to her, her evolving relationship with Scheherazade and what new dreams she has as she moves forward with her career.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview with Chan, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: Could the young girl who responded so passionately to the image of Mickey Mouse conducting in Fantasia have ever imagined these two big concerts for herself?

Absolutely not. Even though as a young girl I think I had quite a crazy imagination. Of course I have dreams. But this kind of dream, the Hollywood Bowl, it’s already very cool. And to think I’m going to start the classical season! Then the Proms is basically like a unicorn. To conduct the Proms on the first night – the biggest summer festival in the UK and famous one in the world? It’s more than a dream come true.

What was your first experience conducting the Proms, and how do you think this one will be different? 

The first time that I conducted the Proms was an amazing experience because the Royal Albert Hall, it’s a very different concert hall. You really feel that you’re in sort of like a stadium. You have the audience standing at your feet and you can literally touch them or they can touch you. The feeling of how the audience cheered for you and they really are so involved. That’s really quite something I never experienced anywhere else. That was such a huge honor. I felt like a rock star.

To know that this concert was like one of the first ones to be sold out; the tickets were gone the moment it went out there. I don’t know, I’m going to just stay open and let this just be a surprise.

We often hear about how conductors think about music. What do you think is unique about the way you hear music – whether you’re reading a score or when you’re conducting an orchestra? 

I think that’s a very interesting question. Conducting is so cool in the sense that I have this concept in my head, this story, a narrative or some sort of sound soundscape the moment I start opening a score. It starts. I can hear it. I can play it on the piano and then it builds this world that I’m hearing or envisioning.

When I’m on stage with the orchestra, I have to compare what I’m hearing with this vision in my head and then have to bring it closer. Sometimes, actually, what I’m hearing is nicer than what I thought. It’s like a constant synergy of both worlds. It’s, in a way, like a tango, right? Of course, I’m the conductor and I want to mold it in the end that we arrive at the vision that we’re all happy about.

I interviewed conductor Simone Young four years ago, and she told me that, “Everything comes from the written page. I spend hours and hours studying scores, but also studying manuscripts. References. I want to get as much info about the thought process and the work process.” Do you think there can be a definitive understanding of a composer’s thought process? Or will it always be open to interpretation?

I think the second. I also do the same. I want to really put myself back in the time, in the context. This is really, I feel, like investigative work. There’s like a crime scene. Something happened. Okay, what really happened? You can collect evidence. You can talk to people who think they saw the thing happened. But each perspective is different. Then collecting all these things and then I try to build an interpretation of what exactly happened because no one actually really knows. And I think this is so cool. That’s the beauty of it, that there’s really not one right way. We’re all interpreters in that sense.

At the Proms, you’re going to be conducting probably one of the top five best known compositions in the history of the world: Beethoven’s Fifth. With a work so familiar to audiences and so familiar to the musicians, how do you think your approach to it might be the only one that you, as an individual, could have imagined? 

Well, there’s only one Elim, right? In that sense. It will be my interpretation of it. One thing that came out from this whole crazy time, and we’re still in some crazy times, is that I really want to give this life experience to everyone who is there. That you need to be there to experience that because it only happens once.

Beethoven Five is so familiar. And the audience thinks they know, too. The world is so messed up with wars happening everywhere and we get to make music and to celebrate first night of the Proms. The beginning of Beethoven Five is like a moment to really express something that fuels it to become a Beethoven Five that is fresh and happening now.

How often do you surprise yourself in the middle of a concert?

A lot. I laugh actually when mistakes happen because that shocks everyone. I love those very raw like a minute or two and everyone is like, wait, what? Oh no. And everyone’s awareness is insane, right? I love these waking up moments.

That sounds like a jazz musician, not a classical musician. Because a jazz musician moves past the mistakes and who knows where it leads them? I bring that up because I was very surprised to see a list of the five most important works for you and Bill Evans is on your list. What inspires you most about Bill Evans and do you see a way in which the way Bill Evans created and performed music that inspires the way you create and perform music?

He’s such an immense pianist and musician and it’s not ever the same. This is something I really want to take into a Beethoven Five or a Clara Schumann or Handel, Bruckner. I’m going to just take this opportunity and just really bring in that spirit. I think we can learn so much from all the other genres.

Note: First Night of the Proms includes performances of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto by Isata Kanneh-Mason and Bruckner’s Psalm.

You’ll be leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. Music director Gustavo Dudamel is set to leave soon. if the L.A. Philharmonic came to you and asked if you would like to be the next music director, what would be the first thing that you would think? 

That’s another unicorn. And then I’ll start doing a happy dance. I will probably be like, unbelievable. You know what? If that happens…thank you and let’s get to work. I want to be as ready as possible They are one of the most adventurous, curious, orchestras institutions in the world. They take chances, they take risks, and they can afford to do it. So yeah. Let’s see.

At the Hollywood Bowl you will be revisiting Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. How was your relationship to this particular composition evolved in the ten years since your winning the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition?

The piece has a very special place in my heart. It’s the piece that jump started my career. Ten years ago I was the first woman to win the competition in London. And now ten years later, I’m still the only woman to have done that. And I’m like, hey girls, where are you guys?

Talking about the piece itself, it’s literally about a woman having to stand up for herself every night telling stories, and if she doesn’t tell a good story, she gets killed. I’ve done this piece again and again and I really feel very like I identify myself with her – Scheherazade. Each time I do the piece I get more brave. I’m more convinced that we really need to be strong. My interpretation is like a steady slow cook. It takes more flavor. Every time I go back to it, I still see something new and I want to try something new so I can tell the story in different ways. I really love the fact that this piece lends itself for that. 

Rimsky-Korsakov is quoted as having said, “I had no idea of the historical evolution of the civilized world’s music, and had not realized that all modern music owes everything to Bach.” Do you agree that all modern music, even today, owes everything to Bach? 

Wow, what a statement! I think a lot of it, yes. I always believe that we all need to actually understand what happened in the past, especially Bach as such a master. To really understand what the traditions [were] that came before. Then you can decide to keep it or break it. All the greats follow Bach. If you look back, Brahms, Beethoven, everyone basically comes from there.

We started the conversation by my asking you if you could have imagined opening the classical season at the Hollywood Bowl and then opening the BBC Proms in London. That seems like a dream come true. But everybody has to have new dreams as well. What dreams do you have beyond what this July is going to offer you?

My dream is to find an orchestra, a place where we can do some crazy things and grow together, fly together. Another dream of mine actually will come true is that I finally can do some opera. I came from voice choirs and so I love theater, I love drama. So what’s better than actually opera to have all these elements coming together? This is like in two years. There are crazy dreams to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, all this stuff. Sometimes I put a dream and then things like the First Night of the Proms comes in. So in a way, I’m like, life – come on, surprise me.

To view the full interview with Elim Chan, please go here.

All Photos: Elim Chan (Photo ©Simon Pauly/Courtesy for artists)

The post Maestra Elim Chan and Her Big July appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

My top choice this week is:

CLASSICAL: FAURÉ – COMPLETE MUSIC FOR SOLO PIANO – Lucas Debargue – Sony Classical

I was fortunate enough to get an early listen to this album and I’ve been listening to it frequently ever since. Pianist Debargue plays 68 tracks on this 4-album recording and he’s playing it on a piano with 102 keys.

There was a time with pianos had eight octaves, as this piano by Stephen Paulello does. This is a footnote, a curiosity, about this recording. What matters is the music of Gabriel Fauré.

Debargue plays it beautifully – all 4-1/2 hours of it.  I’ve certainly heard a lot of the composer’s work in my life, but this recording introduced me to many works I’d never heard before. Having Debargue as my guide to this music was perfect.

He plays beautifully, thoughtfully and, when necessary, powerfully on this amazing record. There is no doubt I will continue to listen to this album for many years to come.

Here is the rest of New In Music This Week: March 22^nd:

BROADWAY CAST ALBUM: THE GARDENS OF ANUNCIA – Ghostlight Records

Composer Michael John LaChiusa has collaborated with director/choreographer Graciela Daniele for years. But this collaboration was the most personal as The Gardens of Anuncia is the subject matter in this musical that played at Lincoln Center in November of 2023. (It had its world premiere in 2021 at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego.)

Priscilla Lopez (A Chorus Line) leads a cast that includes Eden Espinosa, Andréa Bruns, Mary Testa, Kalyn West and Enrique Acevedo.

It’s hard to fully judge a musical from its cast album, but LaChiusa is one of our most interesting and compelling composers and this cast is undeniably good. I’m a fan of his work and am a fan of this musical. I hope one day to get a chance to see it.

In the meantime, I’ll more than be happy to have this recording to listen to whenever I want.

CLASSICAL: A RETIRADA DA LAGUNA/CONCERTINO FOR VIOLIN AND CHAMBER ORCHESTRA/MUSEU DA INCONFIDÊNCIA / GUERRA-PEIXE– Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra/Neil Thomson – Naxos

I can’t claim to have known composer César Guerra-Peixe prior to this recording of three significant works he composed in the early 1970s. 

A Retirada Da Laguna was inspired by Viscount Taunay’s book of the same name which looked at one incident in the Paraguayan War which found that country battled against an alliance formed by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.  It’s a powerful work from 1971.

The Concertino for Violin and Chamber Orchestra features violinist Abner Landim and dates from 1972. Also from that year is the Museu da Inconfidência which is named after a museum honoring a separatist movement from 1789.

Guerra-Peixe was clearly a political composer, but also a damn fine one. This recording is part of  a series of music from Brazil. 

CLASSICAL: MUSIC FOR STRING QUARTET / Florence Beatrice Price / Leo Sowerby – Avalon String Quartet – Naxos

For those interested in exploring more of Price’s music, this recording of her String Quartet in A Minor is for you. The Avalon String Quartet’s recording makes the fact that this beautiful composition was not performed in Price’s lifetime the glaring omission that it was at the time. It’s a mature and impressive work. The recording ends with Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint.

In between those works if Sowerby’s String Quartet in G Minor. It has never been recorded before and I wasn’t familiar with Sowerby at all.  This over 30-minute work reveals a composer, who, like Price, was part of the Chicago classical music scene in the 1930s and 1940, is another woefully overlooked composer.

CLASSICAL: RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: SCHEHERAZADE / MUSSORGSKY: NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN – Orchestra and Chorus dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Antonio Pappano – Warner Classics

If you’re a fan of Night on Bald Mountain this is an album for you. There are two versions of Mussorgsky’s work on this album. The first is performed by the orchestra – the version most commonly performed and recorded. The second, which immediately follows and closes out this recording, is for orchestra and chorus. It was a revision the composer made in 1880 for The Fair at Sorochyntsi.

Hearing this version reminds me of my favorite version of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture which features a full chorus. (I’m in the minority on that one, as I probably will be here.) This recording brings a new way of hearing Night on Bald Mountain and one that I found truly interesting.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: THE BLIND BANNISTER – Timo Andres – Nonesuch Records

Hopefully you caught my interview with Timo Andres earlier this week where he talks about The Blind Bannister, his third piano concerto. The concerto was written for pianist Jonathan Bis and this is the first recording of The Blind Bannister. Also on this recording are Colorful History and Upstate Obscura – both composed by Andres.

Andres is joined by the Metropolis Ensemble lead by Andrew Cyr (founder and artistic director of Metropolis) on this terrific recording.

I strongly urge you to listen to this album and to also check out the video of my interview with Andres.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: I long and seek after – Jessica Meyer – New Focus Recordings

Composer and violist Jessica Meyer’s new album opens with such a compelling soprano (Melissa Wimbish) that it immediately became music I couldn’t stop listening to. This was a performance of Meyer’s Space, in Chains with Meyer accompanying Wimbish.

Space, in Chains sets the tone for the entire album of Meyer’s compositions which are settings of the poetry of multiple women and, in one case, a letter from Anaïs Nin to Henry Miller.

Each and every one of these works is unforgettable. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but the beauty of The Last Rose (performed by soprano Sarah Brailey and cellist Caleb van der Swaagh) is undeniable.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL: 1001 – Dustin O’Halloran – Deutsche Grammophon

Composer O’Halloran’s seamless record explores the human mind and the existential threat that AI poses. In other words, how do we as humans live side-by-side with technology.

Joining O’Halloran o this album are Bryan Senti on violin, a eight-voice choir, the Budapest Art Orchestra and electronics by Paul Corley of Sigur Rós.

It’s a perfect album to listen to when you want to tune out the rest of the world – which is, I suppose, precisely the point. If at times it sounds like the score to a film that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since O’Halloran has scored multiple films and television shows. 

JAZZ: BUT WHO’S GONNA PLAY THE MELODY – Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer – Mack Avenue Records

McBride and Meyer are two of the top bassists working today, so the idea of putting them together is truly an inspired one as this album proves. The cheeky title implies who is the leader. It doesn’t matter with music this good.

This is an inspired album that features 15 tracks and 66 minutes of sublime music. Most of them were written by either McBride or Meyer. The covers include Solar by Miles Davis, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and Days of Wine and Roses.

A vinyl version of this album will be released on Record Store Days (April 20^th).

JAZZ: TRIAD – Triad – Ropeadope

This is not your usual trio configuration:  accordion, marimba and trumpet. Which makes this debut album from Michael Ward-Bergeman, Christian Tamburr and Dominick Farinacci so interesting. At moments you can feel like you’re in Europe. At others you’re in South America.

And then singer Shenel Johns joins for I Put a Spell on You and St. James Infirmary Blues and it sounds like you could be on your way to the underworld, were it not for the inclusion of Farinacci’s A Prayer for You in between those two songs. When she returns in the album’s last track to sing Stop This Train (John Mayer/Pino Palladino), you know you’ve been on quite the journey. Somehow you know that through it all, you’ll be fine.

OPERA: PORO, RE DELLE INDIE / HANDEL – Il Groviglio Ensemble / Marco Angioloni – Château de Versailles Spectacles

Though Handel’s Poro re delle Indie is not well-known amongst his works, it was very popular when it first debuted in 1731. The libretto is by Pietro Metastasio. In fact, in 2007 Opera Today wrote, “Let’s face it, Handel’s Poro, Re dell’Indie isn’t exactly a household name in any but the most dedicated baroque opera circles.”

The title translates to Porus, King of India. Poro (Christopher Lowrey) is captured by Alexander the Great (Angioloni). Poro is in love with Queen Cleofide (Lucia Martin Carton) who feigns interest in Alexander only to set up the kind of intrigue and mistaken identity that is often found in operas by Handel.

This beautiful recording makes the case for rediscovery of this neglected work. I’ll admit to not being the biggest fan of Baroque operas, but this recording is well on its way to persuading me to be more open to them.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: March 22^nd.

Enjoy the music!

Enjoy your weekend!

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