There’s another Mehta on the podium
mainThe countertenor Bejun Mehta has taken up conducting.
He tells a German interviewer: ‘After about fifteen years of a singing career, at some point I received an offer for conducting. I did not actively seek it. But when this request came, I knew it was the right time.’
Read on here.
I see he refers to his cello playing — he is a former pupil of the late Aldo Parisot if memory serves. Playing an orchestral instrument is obviously not a requirement to conduct an orchestra — in fact probably a minority of conductors do play, or did play, an orchestral instrument. But it helps if for no other reason than avoiding some of the negative assumptions orchestras can have about a “new” conductor.
Another soloist who one day – without any training – grabs a baton, waves it in front of an orchestra, and thinks (s)he is conducting! You know, those who go through intensive training in conservatoires and Musikhochschules are idiots who don’t know the only thing you need to conduct is a baton!
Old news.
Saw him conducting years ago (while singing). Really knows what it’s about (unlike many around these days) and sings like a God.