French conductor Nathalie Stutzmann has a unique background, unlike any other conductor in the world: a career as a Baroque contralto. In the podcast Philharmonious, she reflects on how to achieve the enchantment that music can bring. Her recipe is a combination of thorough preparation, musical spontaneity, and mutual trust.
"Being a conductor is a strange profession. You spend so many hours just sitting at a table, reading the score, trying to understand its structure and develop your own idea of interpretation. And than you have to pass it to an orchestra in just two days of rehearsals. It's such a short time!" says Stutzman, who is making her debut with the Czech Philharmonic, performing works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky.
In addition to thorough preparation, Stutzmann believes it’s essential to rely on musical instinct: "Music should be organic, it should come from feelings. It’s always a marvelous moment when you finish the last rehearsal, and you're just expecting the magic of the concert."
For her, the key to achieving this magic is the trust between the conductor and the orchestra: „It allows you to take risks, to do something different, or to react in the moment. We are different every day. Even if you have a very precise vision, you still wake up in the morning in a different mood."
In the last edition of the Philharmonious podcast, Stutzmann also shares her thoughts on whether she misses her singing career, why psychology is the hardest part of conducting, and what her personal musical credo is. „For me, music is simply a way of life. It's not a profession. It's not a job. It’s not just one feeling of joy or whatever else it might bring, because sometimes it doesn’t. But I can’t imagine life without it; it would feel so poor."
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