9 on 9: An Interview with LFCO Music Director Christopher Ramaekers
We are thrilled to announce that the Beethoven 9 concert is sold out! Here are 9 questions for our Maestro ahead of the performance this Sunday.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is a difficult piece for all the performers and most certainly the conductor. Why do you find this piece worth the time and effort?
There are so many reasons. Beethoven is always gratifying for me. I love working on all his symphonies and this piece incorporates all things that I love about the earlier ones. The ominous first movement is reminiscent of the stormy opening to the fifth symphony. The second movement drives like the first and third movements of the seventh. The beautiful, lyrical third movement is one of my favorite movements, the second movement of the fourth symphony. But it is the finale that takes us to another plane. The opening is shocking, almost modern sounding. There are operatic elements with the soloists and chorus. And the famous melody when first played by the strings is sublime!
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is a massive undertaking for an orchestra, with 100 singers—from Chicago Master Singers, Lux Cantorum Chicago and talented local volunteers--participating in the symphony’s fourth “Ode to Joy” movement. How is it possible to prepare and manage a group that large?
Study a lot! I have spent a lot of time with this score, but I also met with our two fantastic chorus masters this summer to plan out rehearsals, prepare the score, and make plans for how to prepare the chorus.
What makes a collaborative event like this one with your 2 fellow conductors/chorusmasters interesting?
Everyone has their own take on this music. While I am ultimately in charge of the larger vision of the work, it is informative for me to hear what my colleagues think. Hearing how they think a phrase should be shaped, or where a breath goes can shed new light onto the music for me. The sopranos taking a breath in a place that I didn’t expect, or the tenors shaping a phrase differently than I do might make me look at a flute passage differently, or rethink a bowing in the cello part.
What impact do you think live music performances can have on communities and individuals?
The word community is important in that question. The more we understand and appreciate this music, the more we begin to understand Beethoven. We get a glimpse into the workings of his mind, and even begin to build a connection with this man who died in 1827. All of us coming together in one place at one time to experience this builds a similar connection, but with members of our own communities. We get to know Beethoven together, and share that experience.
Why is classical music important in today’s world?
This closely relates to my answer to the previous question. All art begins as an idea inside the mind of another person. The better we understand that art, the better we understand the idea, and that gives us a glimpse into the inner workings of the mind of the person who created it. That is a powerful connection that creates a kind of empathy that we cannot recreate through spoken or written words. We just “understand” each other.
While this is true of all art, live performance adds the element of the audience, who is experiencing that together, getting to know the artist together. The classical works that are performed today are tested by time. Not only are these great works, but they are works that have been judged to be great by generations of musicians and audiences.
What drew you to orchestral music, and when?
The sound! I started playing in orchestras relatively young, but towards the end of high school I was a member of the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra. With this orchestra I completely fell in love with the sound. There is simply no other ensemble that can produce the sounds and colors that you can get from an orchestra. Plus the greatest composers throughout history wrote for orchestra, so this is some of the best repertoire!
Please share a moment from your conducting history that was particularly memorable, when the art of conducting took you to a different plane.
A very recent one comes to mind. In addition to conducting the LFCO, I am music director of Symphony847. We closed last season with Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (also featuring Angela De Venuto, who will be our soprano soloist for this week’s performance). The climax of the whole symphony is in the third movement which depicts a child’s journey to heaven. The performance brought tears to my eyes on stage!
What was your first instrument? When and where do you still play?
I grew up a trumpet player in the Detroit suburbs. I played in orchestras, bands, and I played in a brass quintet from eighth grade through high school and into college.
I still play the occasional orchestra gig, but I am in our faculty brass quintet a UW-Whitewater. That is a really excellent group so my colleagues keep me practicing!
Anything else we should ask you about regarding this performance?
While a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth is not exactly rare, it is not commonplace. And it is certainly not commonplace for a community orchestra. I hope everyone enjoys the performance, but I also hope everyone appreciates all of the work that this orchestra, chorus, and these soloists have put into the piece.
