Maestro Marzio Conti, the “unofficial" principal guest conductor at the Jacobs School of Music, sat down with the Indiana Daily Student to discuss the upcoming opera “Alcina,” which students will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 and Feb. 8 at the Musical Arts Center with two different casts.
Student tickets for the opera are available for purchase both days for $10 on the Jacobs website.
Conti talked about his experience at Jacobs thus far, the job of a conductor and “Alcina.”
IDS: How did you get involved with Jacobs in the first place?
Conti: I was invited to conduct here, the first time, 12 years ago. And then I became, in a way, the principal guest conductor of JSOM every year. I used to come here conducting opera, ballet (and) symphonic. So, I have now students of mine, I taught them in a conducting class ... I see students becoming professionals in this profession since 12 years now.
IDS: Unfortunately, quite a lot of people don’t quite comprehend the importance of a conductor. Would you mind explaining what you do as a conductor and why a talented conductor is important for a production?
Conti: I can give you an example. You are an actor … you have to interpret an important piece like “Othello.” What are you doing? So, you're trying to find a way to bring out your interpretation. If you give this poem to another actor, he will act in a different way and interpret it in a different way. So, conductor is interpreting a book or a novel, and the novel and the book is an opera, symphonic or ballet.
IDS: As conductor you work closely with the director of the production, for this one it's Chas Rader-Shieber. How do you ensure the two of you both have your creative freedom for your interpretations while maintaining a cohesive finished product?
Conti: The most important thing in music is to find the way to work together. So, in a way, you have to find a way to interpret it, to collaborate. So, collaboration is the most important thing in music. If we don't collaborate, we don't have results. For instance, you can have orchestra, this thing happens a lot of time … After 20 years, you hate them after playing in the same orchestra. Sometimes, not always, but I can tell you, 80% of the time. But at the end, you have to play well together. So, you have to find a compromise. So, the most important thing is to find a compromise. Me and Chas, we get on very well because we have the same idea, but I respect his ideas like he is respecting mine. So, we try to collaborate together to find the compromise, which brings out the opera. You have to have that, otherwise it's a battle.
IDS: Have you and Rader-Shieber collaborated before?
Conti: No, me and Chas have not.
IDS: How has that been, establishing that working, collaborative relationship?
Conti: It was very easy because … he knows what to do, he has the right timing. He's passionate, he's very precise. He wants to let the students understand the meaning of working in an opera. Immediately he had my support, and we got on very well. We joke a lot.
IDS: Operas aren't really as popular as they were historically, so why do you think it's still important for people to perform operas, for people to go see operas? Why are operas still important?
Conti: That's a big question, and this is my trouble for the future. For you, not for me, but for you. I think that classical music, which means opera, symphony, ballet, is a light in the darkness. So you have the, it's important to bring this light …The vestal, the sacred name of the ancient Greek in the temple of Apollo, they were keeping the vestali, keeping the fire always with wood. This has an important meaning, the connection with the god. If you don't bring the wood on the fire, the fire will stop, and you will never have this incredible connection with higher things. I think that music, classical music, is a thing like that. It's a light inside the darkness. So, it's important for humanity to have that for the future because this brings culture, this brings sensitivity. These things are very important to have free mind thinking for the future. All the things which is in connection with culture is always against the person and the system who wants to make you a slave. So, culture is important; don't be slaves to think and to be always conscious and free men thinking.
IDS: How do I as an 18-year-old student go see “Alcina” this weekend and make it enjoyable for myself while still absorbing all the connection and culture?
Conti: I think it's very important, the preparation. Classical music is not a question of just “I like, I don't like.” Classical music, like literature and so on, needs to have preparation. Sensitivity and preparation. Probably some guys will never have the sensitivity for this kind of thing. But even if you have, you need preparation. So, you have to prepare people to go to opera. So, we have to educate them. That's the main important thing: education. So, we need education to bring people to the opera … I would like that people could have this enlightenment, as I had when I was just 17 years old, without any knowledge of music, without any knowledge of the notes on the music, without any knowledge of any instrument. I was touched, in a way, by God, let's say. Yes, why not? By God. I would like to give the opportunity to all the people to be touched from the enlightenment of classical music.
IDS: What's your favorite part of “Alcina”? What is really notable to you about the story, about the music?
Conti: The story, you know, is the typical story … The idea is that, obviously, Alcina, she's a sorceress. She loses the power after falling in love with another person, which is typical. Yes. And that's a typical thing of the Greek and classical … It's a typical thing of humanity, it's nice as it's done, and I think that just did a great work in this sense. (Handel) could communicate this thing, sometimes the synapses of Handel are very complex, but at the end, in this way, it's very simple. It's around love and knowledge. Sometimes, like you know Merlin … the sorcerer of the round table. He loses his power through the girl… It's the same story. The connection with the Earth will make you weak, and you can't waste the connection with the superior things.
