a mic on the podium

Andrew Constantine and I have known each other for over 30 years, and catching up with him was brilliant. It was a lovely warm chat with someone who really thinks long and hard about what we do as conductors. We talk very frankly about the cultural differences between the US and the UK, I discover which competition he thought he should have won, and he uses a wonderful metaphor to describe the difference between Valery Gergiev and Yuri Temirkanov! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 27th February 2024 via Zoom.

I have fond memories of the first time I met Neil Thomson and knew this would be a good interview - a charming man who has spent a lot of time thinking about what we do as conductors. We discussed the pros and cons of conducting from memory, we also chatted about the role of a conductor at a conservatoire and the role of being an orchestra trainer, and I heard about his experiences with a legendary British conductor who was once described as ”a benign despot”! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 2nd March 2024 via Zoom.

Part 2 of my chat with Jacobus de Jager, Oliver Cope, Peggy Wu, Kentaro Machida & Riley Court-Wood is here. They are all studying conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and they were brilliant fun to interview. In Part 2, they all answered ten questions and we discussed the price of scores and competitions, I discovered what works they are desperate to conduct and never have, and I asked them what is the best piece of advice they’ve received and discovered that one of them came from the wall of a gym! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 24th January 2024 via Zoom.

Boian Videnoff and I last met 17 years ago yet this felt like we just carried on from where we left off - a lovely chat with a very open and honest conductor. We discussed the worldview of The Arts and how over time, it has changed so dramatically, we talked about the difficulties involved with starting your own orchestra, and I discovered a potential pitfall when switching between conducting off an iPad versus an old-fashioned paper score! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 2nd January 2024 via Zoom.

Johannes Schlaefli is one of the foremost conducting teachers today and as a consequence, has spent a lot of time thinking about what we do. A fascinating conversation with a very warm and honest gentleman. We discuss the merits of being a wind player or a string player when we first start conducting, we discovered that when we teach conducting, we both use the very same metaphor, and I get very jealous about where he lives! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 10th October 2023 via Zoom.

In a world where conductors regularly jet across the globe conducting orchestras, Marios Papadopoulos is one of those rare exceptions who is far happier staying at home conducting his own orchestra he founded in Oxford. He was a joy to chat with, very honest and self-effacing! I heard about his early struggles trying to promote his concerts in Oxford, he told me how and why he chooses the musicians who play in his orchestra, and how a childhood encounter with a razor led to a very interesting answer to Question 1! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 6th July 2023 via Zoom.

Toby Purser and I had a wonderful chat, as I knew it would be. We had a particularly ”deep dive” into teaching and every aspect of what that entails. I discovered that his love of opera started after a stint conducting in prison, I also learned how a chance meeting with an elderly gentleman changed his musical life, and Toby used an English phrase in this interview that frankly I was surprised nobody else had used in the previous 136 episodes! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 9th June 2023 via Zoom.

Duncan Ward and I have met on a couple of occasions very briefly so it was nice to actually sit down and have a good chat. It proved to be very light-hearted, open and extremely honest. We discussed our early forays into the world of guest conducting very frankly, I heard how a score of one of his compositions left open in a dressing room changed his life, and I heard how a language barrier once caused a very funny case of mistaken identity! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 13th September 2023 via Zoom.

Clark Rundell’s name has been familiar to me for years, both as a conductor and one-half of the infamous ”Mark & Clark” teaching team at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He was lovely to chat with and someone I would love to spend more time with in the future. I discovered that his hometown of Bloomington, Minnesota, had an incredible music education policy, he told me many great stories about his association with the composer, Louis Andriessen, and he gave a totally original, and very funny answer, to Question 2! If you want to hear the bonus mini-episode attached to this episode, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 12th July 2023 via Zoom.

With both Christopher Warren-Green and myself coming from an orchestral playing background, you would imagine we had a whole lot in common. We did! I found him a joy to chat with and we agreed on an awful lot of topics. I found out why he doesn’t miss playing the violin at all, he was very candid about ”hiring and firing” in the US and how, initially at least, starting as a Music Director in the US was ”a bit of a culture shock, and we get very political indeed after Jeremy Clarkson’s name had cropped up in the conversation! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 8th June 2023 via Zoom.

Dane Lam is a conductor who has thought a lot about what we do and how we do it and was a real joy to chat with. We seem to have many common views and I enjoyed his honesty and warmth. We talked candidly about his experiences conducting his orchestra in China, I found out who had told him that he was ”a very lucky boy, and because he is a regular listener to the podcast, his answers to the ten questions at the end were very well thought-through indeed! If you would like to discover a whole lot more about conductors and conducting, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 27th February 2023 via Zoom.

Rebecca Miller and I seemed to instantly hit it off and we tended to agree on a lot of topics - a very enjoyable interview to make. We discussed why we both enjoy conducting youth orchestras and how important playing in orchestras is for a young person, we also chatted about the positives and negatives of preparing an orchestra for another conductor, and I heard a fabulous story about Sir Georg Solti conducting the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony! If you want to hear the bonus mini-episode attached to this episode, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 13th December 2022 via Zoom.

Mark Stringer himself said, at the end of our chat, ”Good luck editing that down to a manageable length” - well, after over a year of waiting, I have. It is the longest episode so far BUT it is full of great anecdotes, wisdom and advice for any aspiring conductor! He talks candidly about the ”Faustian bargain” he took early in his career, we have a disagreement about whether you need to play the piano to be a good conductor, and I hear why one particular oboist’s scowling face was not for the reason he thought it was! If you want to hear the bonus mini-episode about Mark’s experiences teaching Daniel Harding, why not subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/amiconthepodium, and, for a monthly fee starting from just £5 a month, you can access two new series of interviews, group Zoom meetings with other fans of the podcast and myself, a monthly bulletin about the podcast and my own career as well as articles, photos, videos and even conducting lessons from myself. If you listen via Apple podcasts, please do leave a rating and review - it really helps the podcast get noticed and attract more listeners. If you want to get involved on social media, you can via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amiconthepodium) or Twitter (@amiconthepodium). This interview was recorded on 1st December 2021 via Zoom.