Features
James Conlon’s Long Term Love Affair
First published in THE CINCINNATI POST May 20, 2004
By By: Mary Ellyn Hutton
Jerold Fink remembers a conversation on the steps of city hall in 1976. As president of the May Festival board, Fink was there with music director James Levine as part of a presentation to the festival in connection with the U.S. bicentennial.
“He told me that he was leaving his post with the May Festival because his obligations at the Met had increased so much. “It floored me. I didn’t know what we were going to do, because we thought James Levine - Cincinnatian, tremendous talent - would be our long term music director (he served 1974-78).”
As it turned out, Levine led them to their man, May Festival music director James Conlon. Conlon celebrates his 25th anniversary with the May Festival this year, beginning with Handel’s “Messiah” at 8 p.m. Friday at Music Hall. He leads an all-Wagner program Saturday. Mozart’s Requiem and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony are May 28 and 29. All are at Music Hall. May Festival Chorus director Robert Porco conducts Sunday’s non-subscription concert at the Cathedral Basilica in Covington.
On Levine’s recommendation, Fink, Steven Monder (executive director, now president of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra) and May Festival board member Samuel Pogue flew to Miami to hear the then unknown (and very young) Conlon. “We fell in love with him, all three of us,” said Fink. “There was absolutely no question in any of our minds. All of us just sensed the ability that was going to blossom in him.” “He was so excited,” said former board president Joseph Stern, who interviewed him in Cincinnati. “His parents came. They had never been outside of New York so my wife Mary baked them chocolate chip cookies. She’s done that every year for 25 years.”
Conlon himself had visited Cincinnati before. “It was my first trip away from home. I was a high school student and came with friends who had designed the costumes for a production at the Cincinnati Zoo.” He had heard about the May Festival from a family friend who came every year and brought him programs. “Talk about destiny,” he said.
Conlon made his debut with the May Festival in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater in 1978. He was 28. He became music director the next season. It has been a long term love affair. “I would never have imagined it at the time,” said Conlon, who made his New York Philharmonic debut at 24. “But I loved it so much. It’s become a part of my musical life and a part of my personal life.”
Conlon had a vision for the May Festival early on, said Nancy Donovan, board president from 1994-96 and now chair of the Fine Arts Fund. “He knew we had an identity and that we as a city lacked self confidence in the specialness of the May Festival. He really pushed on the board in the early years to think beyond our boundaries and broaden our reach. We’ve made good strides in that regard. Witness the press in New York and the European newspapers.”
He has changed the way Cincinnati feels about the May Festival, Donovan said. “He has convinced us that it is unique and to be protected at all costs” Conlon’s career has grown along with the festival. At 54, he is the much admired principal conductor of the Paris Opera (he leaves in July after 9 years) and music director designate of Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. His guest conducting card is full and he’s on everyone’s list to head one of the major U.S. orchestras (Pittsburgh and Chicago are open). “There’s always rumors,” he said. “I never believe any of them until they happen.”
Musicians who have worked with him marvel at his energy. “James will be there from 9 in the morning until after 11 at night,” said bass-baritone John Cheek, a May Festival regular who returns this season. “It’s all directed towards getting the best performance he can.”
Conlon’s energy and commitment played itself out dramatically during the 1997 season, said Walker. “Robert Shaw was supposed to come and conduct Brahms’ Requiem opening night, but his wife was ill and he didn’t want to leave her. We had to scramble around and get someone to conduct. James was conducting at La Scala the night before, but they are six hours ahead. We got him here via London on the Concorde, then from New York on a Quantum Chemical jet arranged through one of the board members.
“Out he came onstage, same old James. Steve Monder said to him, you’ve been so many places in the last 24 hours, don’t forget whose national anthem you’re going to play. All he needed to do was wear a trench coat, throw it on the floor and have a big red ‘S’ (Superman) on him.”
Conlon’s devotion to the May Festival is an inspiration for the all-volunteer chorus, said Monder. “To have a person of James’ stature return every year because he really cares about them perpetuates their loyalty to the May Festival.” “He strives for perfection, but it’s not harsh,” said Lauren Hess, a 7-year chorister from Newport. “He helps us strive for perfection as well.” The way Conlon deals with people is “just fantastic,” said tenor John Aler, who has sung at 17 of Conlon’s May Festivals (and again this year). “He has a phenomenal rehearsal technique. He keeps everything very light and happy, yet it’s all work and very serious.”
Conlon’s capacity for acquiring languages is legendary. Russian repertoire is “one of James’ specialties,” said Cheek, who has sung some of it with him. “He speaks Russian, which is pretty scary.” Cheek calls him “a singer’s conductor.” “He really knows voices, how to work with singers and get the best performances out of them.”
Conlon was unable to single out favorite moments during his 25 years with the May Festival. “It’s almost like saying, tell me about your favorite moments with your children when they were growing up. You would never be able to say, so I look at it as a long friendship — with great colleagues on the stage, the May Festival Chorus, Bob Porco, the orchestra.
“I’ve been with this orchestra two weeks a year through three music directorships (into four now with Paavo Järvi). I’ve experienced the renovation of the hall. Steve Monder has been my colleague since the beginning. These become very, very important friendships and that’s the way I feel.” Conlon’s contract with the May Festival renews automatically every year. He has told the board “as long as you want me, I shall be with you.” “James Levine did us a great favor when he mentioned James Conlon,” said Walker.
(first published in The Cincinnati Post May 20, 2004)
Since this story was written, James Conlon has won two Grammys, both this year, for his recording with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and Chorus of Kurt Weill’s “Rise and Fall of the House of Mahagonny” (Best Classical Album, Best Opera Recording of 2008). He brings one of the principal soloists on that recording, Broadway diva Patti LuPone, to the 2009 May Festival for an opening night performance of Kurt Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins.” It will be her May Festival debut. The concert, which is 8 p.m. May 22, also includes Mozart’s Requiem.
The second night of the festival, 8 p.m. May 23, will be devoted to a single work, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Luisa Miller” in a concert performance starring soprano Annalisa Raspagliosi and tenor Stefano Secco.
The annual concert in Covington’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption is 8 p.m. May 24 and comprises a capella works of the 16th and 20th centuries, including Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor. May Festival Chorus director Robert Porco and Youth Chorus director James Bagwell will conduct.
The second weekend of the festival opens at 8 p.m. May 29 with “Hallelujah” choruses (plural) by Handel, Bach’s Magnificat, Mendelssohn’s “The First Walpurgis Night” and selections from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major (“Symphony of a Thousand”) will close the 2009 festival with a shout at 8 p.m. May 30. Each Music Hall concert is preceded by a vocal recital, free to that evening’s ticketholders, featuring one of the festival guest artists, accompanied by pianist Michael Chertock.
Tickets are $17-$95. Call (513) 381-3300 or order online at www.mayfestival.com
