JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us about one or more projects that you have been working on, are preparing, or have recently completed. Why do they matter to you and why should they matter to us?
PETER OUNDJIAN: Right now I’m getting ready for the opening weeks of the Toronto Symphony – specifically studying Mahler 3. It’s truly an epic work, the longest symphony in what we might call the standard repertoire. Even more importantly, it centres around arguably the most important subject that a composer can take on – creation. It demands every imaginable aspect of any musician’s palette that he/she could possibly conjure. Preparing to put that symphony together is a project in itself. Also including solo voice, women’s chorus, children’s chorus, offstage instruments, etc. – it has aspects of preparing an operatic performance as well.
This spring, I will be recording John Adams’ Naïve and Sentimental Music and Absolute Jest with the RSNO. This will be our second recording of his music. John Adams, who has become a good friend through his frequent appearances in Toronto and because of my passion for his compositions, has written several works that we might justifiably call contemporary masterpieces. Naïve and Sentimental Music certainly belongs in that category. I’m excited to have this opportunity to interpret John’s music once again for posterity.
JS: If you were asked for 50 words, for an encyclopedia, to summarize what you do, what would you say?
PO: Being a Music Director requires such a broad range of skills and roles – everything from a policeman, administrator, motivator, organizer, visionary planner, and fundraiser – not to mention an impeccable musicianship that hopefully demands respect, and an incredible memory and dedication to score study. Finally, sensitivity and the ability to run efficient and stimulating rehearsals.
JS: What important beliefs do you express in your work?
PO: The value of art to humanity.
JS: Name two people, living or dead, whom you admire a great deal and tell us how each one has influenced you.
PO: Beethoven. He has taught me courage, profound sensitivity, and hope even in times of great challenges. Itzhak Perlman. I learned from him that adversity does not equal self-pity. One has to focus on the positives in life.
JS: How have you changed since you began to do creative work?
PO: After about 50 years of getting up on a stage and trying to create something through music, it’s almost impossible to completely understand every reference point because so much of it becomes innate. There are so many layers of experience that support creative endeavours.
JS: What are your biggest challenges as a creative person?
PO: To accept that you will never achieve all of your expectations.
JS: Please describe at least one major turning point in your life.
PO: Having to stop playing the violin because of control problems in my left hand, which forced me to experience that cliché – when one door closes, another door opens.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about what you do?
PO: Simply put – does the orchestra really need you? In other words, it’s difficult for someone to understand what a conductor does with his body that truly establishes the sound and interpretation.
JS: How and why did you begin to do creative work in the first place?
PO: I couldn’t make it as a soccer player!
JS: What haven’t you done as yet that you would like to do and please tell us why?
PO: I haven’t yet made enough of an impact for my own satisfaction on the vast number of people to whom classical music is a mystery and elitist sport. I would love to make an impact that compares to even a fraction of what Leonard Bernstein achieved in this area.
JS: What are your favorite achievements?
PO: Performing the Beethoven quartet cycle with the Tokyo String Quartet around the world in famed concert halls in Milan, Vienna, and New York will always remain high on that list for me. Also, these many years I have spent trying to enhance the experience the Toronto Symphony provides to our community and beyond have been especially rewarding.
JS: What advice would you give a young person who would like to do what you do?
PO: In order to be a successful conductor, you must first be a great musician.
JS: Of what value are critics?
PO: Obviously, it depends on the critic. Critics can stimulate and inspire a deeper interest in our art form, and can make insightful observations. That is not always the case. In order to be a successful critic, one should also be a great musician.
JS: How does your work make life more meaningful for you and for others?
PO: Art is about sensitivity, compassion, and so many intangibles that are not apparent to us in our everyday lives. It encourages sensitivity and a deeper understanding of, and compassion for, the human condition.
JS: What do you ask of your audience?
PO: Concentration and openness.
JS: What’s upcoming for you as a creative person, why do these projects matter to you, and why will they be important to us?
PO: The upcoming Decades Project at the TSO. This season highlights the third and fourth decades of the 20th century, and gives us an opportunity to witness different musical languages that were achieved at each stage of that extraordinary century
JS: What specifically would you change about what goes on in the world?
PO: I would have every politician wear a bracelet that gave them an unpleasant electric shock every time they lied.