Jonathan Nott, new conductor of the Liceu orchestra: “I come so that we can fall in love” | News from Catalonia | EUROtoday

This Friday, the Gran Teatro del Liceu introduced the British maestro Jonathan Nott, who will assume the route of the Symphony Orchestra beginning subsequent season, changing Josep Pons, who after 14 years leaves the establishment to direct Deutsche Radio in Germany. Accompanied by Víctor Garcia de Gomar, the theater’s creative director, the Briton has said that his short-term aim is that “we will fall in love in 30 minutes. Maybe it will be 10 or 45. I don’t feel like breaking anything in this house.” His contract spans 5 seasons.

Nott will make his debut conducting the orchestra this April with the ballet Nijinsky by Neumeir, carried out by Ballet Hamburg, and also will conduct Wagner’s Tetralogy that shall be introduced subsequent season. With the intention of exercising management by way of dialogue and with out imposition – “I am one more link in the chain” -, its goal is to place the emphasis on the worldwide sphere of the Liceu and the values ​​that accompany it. “If they ask me to do a Mahler outside, I would like to do it with my orchestra,” he careworn. Nott was till now director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and can initially spend two intervals of six or seven weeks a 12 months in Barcelona. His residence has been established for 27 years in Lucerne (Switzerland). “I don’t know if I’ll have to look for an apartment and settle in, but I want to be part of this society. My 17-year-old daughter would be delighted. I want to dedicate the next part of my life to this part of the world.”

Trained in choral music, Nott’s first vocation was that of a singer (he sang Lady Macbeth), till he drifted into conducting. He mentioned that when he acquired the proposal to direct the Liceu it was like an indication. “It was like seeing that a new house was waiting for me,” he defined, revealing that he was watching Rusalka a 12 months in the past in June and this January the premiere of Tristan and Isolde. “The Germanic tradition of the Liceu is fantastic,” he famous, explaining that he’s equally keen about French and Italian music and that he want to do some Puccini that he has not directed. He says that there are two sorts of administrators, those that assemble and those that conduct, and that he considers himself one of many first.

After 14 years as director of the Liceu orchestra and incomes reward from numerous colleagues, Pons determined to shut a stage to go conduct in Germany. “Replacing him is a big responsibility. It’s enormous. I’m not surprised by the work he’s done. It’s been fantastic,” mentioned the Briton. His alternative has been agreed upon within the theater by each the administration and the musicians themselves. The two events fashioned a fee and drew up a listing of 30 candidates, amongst which Nott was one. “The condition was that and that he knew the orchestra,” mentioned the creative director. “It’s a fantastic trip. We’ll have a great time,” the director predicted.