No Small GestureBy Samantha Edington

Maestro James Gaffigan faces the orchestra, translating the movements of the music into his own motions. The musicians respond to each gesture, adjusting their positions and instruments. Directing the group, Gaffigan stresses that trust and vulnerability are key to making music flow naturally. He believes that as a conductor, “if you don’t trust and are controlling, very bad music is made.”

Gaffigan, chief conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, has a particular fondness for conducting operas and frequently guest conducts around the world. Coming from a non-musical family meant a steep learning curve early in his professional journey: “I didn’t know any of the music. I approached music backwards, from what I like[d].” But Gaffigan’s “backwards” learning also led to one of his greatest assets as a conductor: flexibility in his interpretation of music. His natural ease as a leader and ability to build rapport with many different orchestras have gained Gaffigan recognition as one of the leading American conductors of our time.

InSymphony: What influenced you to become a conductor? James Gaffigan: Well, music has always played an important role in my life. My parents are not musi-cians, but there was always music in the house, mainly popular music. Although I grew up in New York

James Gaffigan approaches the podium to make music with passion, trust and vulnerability.

James Gaffigan conducts the Oregon Symphony December 6–8, 2014.

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City, I never really went to concerts early on, so my experience with “classical” music was not much. There was a piano in the house, so I gravitated toward that, and I loved it and I loved figuring out what music was on my own without reading notes. Then I got into rock and jazz music as a guitarist, and I knew I loved music and it was what I wanted to do. As I got to play certain instruments in band or orchestra in the public school system, I fell in love with classical music by the age of something like 15, 16. Then, right away, I knew there was some-thing bigger than playing a role in the orchestra; I wanted something more. Basically, scores of music had all the answers in them. Why does this movement make me feel sad? Why does this movement make me feel so happy? [They] had all the answers.

So, I became fascinated with the scores and the idea of being a conductor, not because it is a power trip, but because you have more control over the overall product. I love the idea of watching people make music, so it was the best world for me to be in to watch my col-leagues make music, to breathe with them and inspire them and give them ideas as a leader. Eventually I tried it and I fell in love with it, and I just went with it.

InSymphony: Do you remember challenges you faced as the first to study music in your family? JG: I didn’t know any of the music. I approached music backwards, from what I like[d]. So, at that point in my life, when you’re, you know, 14, 15, 16 years old, you like the loud, fast stuff. You like Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, you like Mahler’s Symphony No. 1…all these big, mas-sive, overwhelming visceral works.

I think that to discover all these pieces, it was frustrating that all of my friends who went to conservatory knew all of [them]. They all knew about Mozart and Haydn and Bach, and for me, it was a long process and a long discovery period. It was exciting, but also frustrat-ing. It’s just like what I said before: learning music without music. That was so essential to the way I think about harmony because when you have so many rules and you’re so constrained, you’re stuck. I just love that I hear harmony without thinking; that’s an e-minor, second chord inversion. I love that I hear it and know exactly what it is, but it doesn’t hit me like black and white. It hits me like a feeling or a taste or a color.

InSymphony: You’ve worked with Oregon Symphony before. What are you looking forward to this time around? JG: The [Oregon] Symphony, they are amazing and on such a high level! So, for me, it is exciting, number one. Number two is the rep-ertoire. I love the [music director], Carlos Kalmar. To make a program with him is always exciting. I’m so happy it’s not just meat and pota-toes when I go there. I think he thinks out of the box and so do the Portland people. This program, while having a very, extremely popu-lar American piece in it, has one of the most deeply depressing and beautiful pieces of music by Sibelius. This is a piece that grows on you. That is the highlight for me. Appalachian Spring is a very sad and beautiful piece. Why is it sad? We’re not sure, but it is. It’s kind of like smiling through tears and looking back at something that was beauti-ful. I think the Sibelius is extremely depressing and beautiful, whereas the Appalachian Spring is positively depressing [laughs]. I think the program is beautiful, and it’s quite a statement for them to program something like this; I’m very happy that we did.

InSymphony: How do you choose repertoire to bring in?JG: It usually starts off with a conversation with the [music direc-tor]. We go through a wish list. The first thing is settling on the

soloist. We knew André Watts would be a possibility. Once we confirmed what pieces he want[s] to do…he gives a list, and we confirm one. Then we build the program around the piece.

I’ve done both the Copland and the Sibelius many times, but the piano concerto I’ve never done. I never like to do all new stuff on one program. I at least like to have one or two pieces familiar to me. I think that even if you can learn it, I’m conducting a differ-ent program almost every week of the year. I have to be realistic. It’s very easy to get by, but what’s the use of getting by and doing an okay job? I come as a guest to an orchestra, whether it is the [Oregon Symphony] or the Cleveland Orchestra, I want to give my best and offer them something. There’s nothing worse than kind of conducting through it and getting through it. That’s so boring, and artistically it’s not nice.

InSymphony: What kind of challenges do you face when you work with new and different orchestras?JG: The older I get, the more I like to return to the places I love. But at the same time, meeting a new orchestra, you have to step back and realize who they are as a personality before you start working with them, whether that means reading through the whole symphony and then watching them and seeing how they react to you and then getting to work. There’s nothing worse than you have your way of doing things as a conductor, and that’s the way it’s going to be. Other people would disagree, but I think the best conductors living today are the ones that are open to new possibilities.

I love to give these orchestras the opportunity to speak and to hear their sound and to hear what they can do on their own, without me. Then, you get in there and you try to help certain situations; you try to not get in the way of other situations. The art of conducting is staying out of the way when you need to stay out of the way.

InSymphony: How did you get into conducting operas?JG: I love voice, and I’ve always loved voice. Opera, for me, is the most gratifying experience in music because you are a small part of the big picture, and I love accompanying people. That again has to do with watching people—how they play, how they breathe. I guess I am a severe voyeur; I love watching people do what they do, and I love helping them do what they do. For me, it’s the high-est form of art because it involves visual aspects, it involves the voice, the orchestra, it involves words. It has everything. It’s sen-sory overload. How did I get into it? I just loved it.

InSymphony: What are two of the most important qualities it takes to be an effective conductor? JG: Number one is trust: trust of the orchestra in front of you, that they are going to deliver, and trust with your eyes and your body—and vulnerability. The best music is made, and the best re-lationships are made, with vulnerability and trust. A lot of people say in leadership there is no vulnerability, but I think the best leaders show their vulnerability in specific, small moments. And those are the ones that matter; when the people realize you’re also like them. I think it’s very crucial to the process of making music with an individual.

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