'Every player has a role': Veteran German maestro brings 'music democracy' to top Hong Kong orchestra
Christoph Poppen hopes to lift the Hong Kong Sinfonietta to new heights with a democratic approach to making music he learned from Claudio Abbado
A veteran German conductor hopes to lift a top Hong Kong orchestra to new heights through a democratic approach to making music he has learned under legendary masters.
Christoph Poppen, who will on Saturday conduct his first concert as the principal guest conductor of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, called domineering conducting “an old style” that should have no place in modern orchestras.
“I believe there is an equal importance for every player in the orchestra, and that is my basic philosophy and ideal of orchestra playing,” the German maestro said on the eve of his inaugural concert at City Hall, featuring works by Mendelssohn, Chopin and Brahms.
“That is why the orchestra is sometimes used to describe an ideal human society in which everyone, even with very different personalities, synchronises and contributes to the common good, and the conductor is just a part of that community,” he added.
As the former first violinist of the Cherubini Quartet and a student of legends such as Nathan Milstein and Sandor Vegh, the 59-year-old attributed his democratic view to the late maestro Claudio Abbado, the Berlin Philharmonic’s chief conductor from 1990-2002.
“[Abbado] belongs to a new generation of conductors who believe in democracy, but by democracy it doesn’t mean you don’t need a leader. Like politics, it’s all about how a leader interacts with the players and whether he believes in them and tries to lead them into democratic behaviour,” said Poppen, who played under Abbado at the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as guest concertmaster.