France’s second orchestra names 22 year-old music director
NewsThe Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse has just named a successor to Tughan Sokhiev, who resigned soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The new maestro is the fast-rising Finn Tarmo Peltokoski. He will start in September 2024.
Peltokoski, 22, is already music director of the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and principal guest with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. He looks even younger than his tender age and mingles with musicians half a generation older than himself.
Toulouse is generally regarded as the best French orchestra outside Paris.
UPDATE: His opening statement: ‘“Dear Toulouse orchestra and public! I am very happy and moved to join the ONCT. My relationship with the wonderful musicians was instantly pleasant and musically very inspiring. Having conducted the orchestra twice, I’ve been able to experience the fantastic work done by Tugan Sokhiev all these years, which has made this orchestra one of the best in Europe. It is with great humility and excitement that I accept the title of Music Director, alsoto work at the Opéra national du Capitole. I can’t wait to come back to conduct the orchestra and meet the audience in Toulouse and elsewhere.”
Tarmo is managed by Tanja Dorn’s boutique agency in Hannover, Germany. They have been hoovering up jobs for him. This is his fourth.
I don’t know… how many scores can one learn by 22?
A famous conducting professor from Vienna once said: “If someone is talented, you can teach him how to conduct in half an hour. And if someone is untalented, it takes 45 minutes.” This was of course accompanied by irony. Today it is the bitter truth. It doesn’t matter if and how many scores someone has studied. It’s all about marketing and looks. Gender, skin color and age is what counts. Not qualification, professionalism and experience.
Everyone commenting here in the negative has clearly never seen Peltokoski conduct. I get that you’re jealous of being young *and* talented because you personally can’t be both, but maybe try and watch his conducting before you understate his skill.
Maybe you should have more respect for classical music and the absolute fact that it takes decades to understand it and learn any volume of scores with any depth.
What a nonsense. Many great conductors of the past started already at young age at an orchestra. And of course, nowadays there is more diversity among conductors. That’s because the students are much more diverse.
Mengelberg took over at the Concertgebouw when he was 24, and then led it for the next half century.
Not at all true, especially at major orchestras. Most apprenticed, and spent time conducting opera long before venturing into symphonic conducting. This youth worship is a new thing.
The lamento of the GDR goners….Früher war mehr Lametta!
From personal experience, a 22 yo “wunderkind” can know the entire mainstream repertoire inside out infinitely better than many established 50 yo+ conductors.
And also from personal experience, Tarmo Peltokoski does.
Hardly possible, even starting at age 12.
So, dear fellow conductors, there is no light in the end unless you are a millionaire or at least have some mafia friends in the music (conductors) field. What are we doing next? Composing? Or maybe just teaching someone (no hope whether you’re talented or not). The end of conducting has come. Bye!
Huh?
The the rest of the week off!!
Need a tissue?
Congratulations, Toulouse! You have just confirmed your desire to be nothing more than a training orchestra.
Yes, but with a „Wunderkind“ in front, it is much more easy to get international tours, recording deals and fancy PR.
Have you played under him?(Rhetorical question,you are no professional musician…).I did .It was ,and will do so again next spring.Absolutely impressive….Stick to your old recordings.have a nice cuppa,and the world is fine.
Let’s not forget Toulouse already did something very similar, when they hired Tugan Sokhiev nearly two decades ago… seems this did turn out quite fine.
The Toulouse musicians themselves gave a very warm salute to Tarmo Peltokoski after he conducted them. So I do think they’re happy with this choice.
Also, Toulouse likely wouldn’t have the money and attractivity to sign a name as recognized as the exiting Tugan Sokhiev is now. So either take risks and bet on a possible future talent, or just accept to fall down a bit…
On the other hand, Tarmo Peltokoski already has lots of other jobs, so it’s not even that likely he’d stay long-term there…
@GG: Thanks for confirming what I posted.
I only wrote that, for Toulouse (but also for many other orchestras that aren’t recognized as the world’s most famous), if you want to have the next Abbado you’d have to grab him young (and pray you didn’t chose the wrong one). This doesn’t mean “training orchestra”…
The orchestra has hosted quite a few other conductors with far more experience and who are universally adored every time they come. In addition, they also teach the orchestra something. I feel very young conductors should not be parachuted into high positions but should learn their trade doing the rounds of the talented and worthy regional bands.
As for the Abbado example, what’s the point in getting a very young whizzkid when those who really benefit from his skill are those orchestras who will hire him later on? It boils down to no more than a footnote, rather like ‘this orchestra has served as a springboard for N and N’. There’s no glory in that, it just means the conductor outgrew the band, which doesn’t say much for that orchestra’s ambition.
But would these more experienced conductors be actually interested by a music director job there, instead of guest conducting? That’s far from sure… for example, the pay won’t be that high compared to wealthier other orchestras (the budget is quite lower than the big parisian orchestras…).
As for getting a Wunderkind… the bet is to have him/her stay long enough, so the orchestra does take something from it. Some conductors do build a special relationship with their “first” big position, staying MD for a long tenure and/or returning there very frequently as honorary director / guest.
Trouble is, Tarmo Peltokoski already has many other jobs, so it’s far from sure this long-term aspect would work out (like they’ve tried to do with Sokhiev).
@GG: Points taken, but Toulouse (in the form of its former orchestra manager) overlooked regular and well-loved guest Yannick and went with Sokhiev instead. The budget is not slim either. My point is that, given the legacy inherited from Plasson, the ONCT should be punching higher yet they seem obsessed with hiring younger and younger instead of securing proven experience with more to give. I can think of at least two other names the orchestra would have loved as MD, but both are older than Tarmo P. As for France’s ‘second orchestra’, could you imagine Bayerischer Rundfunk, The Cleveland or the Philharmonia hiring a twenty-two year old as MD?
Note that at that time, Yannick Nezet-Seguin already had Montréal (which he has kept)… would he have stayed as long in Toulouse as Sokhiev did? I somehow doubt it. On the other hand, of course it’s very easy to say in retrospect.
Budget is not slim, but really not that huge considering they also also do an opera season. They wouldn’t be able to extend it much if they wanted to hire a star-level MD.
Judging from how the musicians applauded their conductors after the performance, Tarmo Peltokoski was really appreciated there and didn’t look like their second choice.
As for hiring young conductors… Orchestre de Paris (bigger budget, playing in a modern concert hall that is leagues above Toulouse’s venue) did hire a then 24-old Klaus Makela. So if France’s “first orchestra” hired a 24-old as MD, it’s quite easy to imagine France’s “second orchestra” hiring a 22-old.
Fair points, but mine here is that Yannick was already established when the post came free, whereas Sokhiev’s CV was subterranean, having been fired by WNO after six months. The orchestra applauded the other conductors I have in mind rapturously, too; I don’t think TP’s reception was exceptional in that respect. We’ll see how it pans out. I’m sure he’ll be great and the audience will love him…
Fair point about Yannick – Tugan at the time. They did take the far riskier bet… it somehow paid off, considering the total length of the tenure (Yannick wouldn’t have stayed 16 years there… finding a new MD is never that easy).
Of course, as the risky bet paid off last time, it becomes tempting to do something similar again… Had Tugan been a failure at Toulouse, they wouldn’t have tried young low-experienced conductors for MD anymore.
Names… like C.M, T.G. for example? They would have been very fine music directors, likely the front runners for the position before Tarmo came.
I’d suppose they think TP’s ceiling would be higher, so if he’ll be able to keep true to this potential, in just a few years they’d be very happy with the returns (and then cry when he won’t renew…).
CM and TG were being pushed by the former orchestra manager as far as I can surmise. TG had a certain following but was far from uniting voices in his favour. No-one from the orchestra mentioned CM in relation to this post but I understand he’s an appreciated guest. Still, CM was already GMD in Stuttgart and TG was on the brink of being offered Frankfurt, so I imagine their agents were hedging their bets, too. Difficult to combine the ONCT with one of those behemoth institutions.
By the way, Toulouse is actually closer to a “talented and worthy regional band”, as far as facilities and budget are concerned (it’s mainly funded by the city of Toulouse itself)… that however plays much better than the usual “talented and worthy regional bands”.
Then explain their string section’s inability to stay together and play in tune on recordings?
The whole music business is getting more and more ridiculous by the day, not to say it’s all a farce.
Cry me a river….
Weren’t we all like this when Mäkelä first began to get jobs? And I wonder what people are saying about him now.
That he is still completely overrated.
I wouldn’t say that at all. I just saw him with the NY Philharmonic. He truly knows what he is doing, and it seemed that the orchestra responded very well to him. Do you all think that Bernstein knew all the scores when he debuted with the NY Phil.?
Bernstein was already an incredible musician, even if he lacked even the basics of a baton technique.
Don’t judge too hastily. In the past there were quite a few now-famous conductors who started at a very early age: Bruno Walter, George Szell, Zubin Mehta come to mind.
With the little difference that they didn‘t need agents, social media, sponsors and all that PR fuss. Only their work was the basis of the evaluation.
Are you half serious? You have no idea what kind of iron fist hold agents had over the business back in the 50s, 60s.
But Walter and Szell? They were old dudes in the 50s and 60s. Did they have agents waaaay back when?
Yessssss!!!!!!
Nonsense.They had very powerful agents…Arthur Judson,Walter Homburger, Wolff und Sachs…..And Mehta???He was only 26,when he got the LA job…..The press and media build him up as an exoctic sex symbol…..He caused quite a stir.
Those were impressarios. Agents have the last 30+ years mostly been stockholders who treat their “products” like stock. Where is the art in that?
Once conductors perfected their craft in the province, away from the media radar, where they could make a difference, an improvement on the orchestra/opera house they had at hand and themselves. Now, any kid who has had Prof.Panula one hour in a conducting
course gets signed up by a big corporation.
You can’t fool the entire audience.
And they did not even have computers when they started! Amazing, isn’t it, how the world changes. And always, always for the worse, since the times of Cato the Elder!
But were they all given top-drawer orchestras to practise on at such a tender age? Why not learn your craft and work your way up?
Finnish conductors learn their craft in the conservatory,in front of an orchestra,each week,several days a week(in contrast to most other countries,where they conduct pianists or conduct an orchestra quite infrequently)….And they play an orchestra instrument on a very high level…That´s why they are soo good and quite experienced at a tender age already…The training is just so much better than in most countries.
I had the great pleasure of seeing Tarmo conduct Prokofiev’s 2nd Piano Concerto and Sibelius’s 5th Symphony at the Bridgewater Hall recently.
Needless to say it was by far the best conducting I have EVER seen live (granted I only have a few years of concert experience). His understanding of music, charisma and clarity was something I’ve just never seen before. It was the kind of experience you only get from watching some of the greatest video performances in history on YouTube. I felt so honoured to be there at that performance. I completely understand why the world is getting so excited for him despite his age.
I’ve never cared so much about an up and coming musician like this before. His talents are something quite unique in a very dry landscape. He was the kind of conductor that made me wish I played in an orchestra because I understood and appreciated every single direction he made and characters he portrayed throughout the performance. This is coming from someone who used to judge young conductors very scathingly like others who comment here! Let’s just say that Tarmo has changed my mind and given me faith in young talented individuals again after years of claiming young conductors are often uninspiring (though I still generally stand by that fact).
You are Jorma Panula and I claim my £5.
Arturo Toscanini started to conduct professionally at 19.
I’m pretty sure Andris Nelsons was young too, when he started.
@Sue: Nelsons conducted a little German regional orchestra before getting his first big break.
@Michael B: And it wasn’t very good, if reports are to be believed.
Yes. A third rate touring Italian opera company. In Brazil!!! He then spent a good ten years conducting thousands of performances of more than a hundred different operas throughout the Italian provinces. He learnt the craft!!!
He never studied conducting .He just did it,with quite horrible results,at the beginning(according to his own words)-In those days,conducting wasn´t taught…Formal training in conservatories started only in the 20s.
Tender age, and youthful looks for sure. He’ll need to be tough, as well as talented. Plenty of big egos for him to tame in any group of musicians, to say nothing of the soloists that come his way. Good luck to him.
Hi Norman, if Toulouse is France’s second orchestra, which is its first?
Let’s not forget there are four major orchestras in Paris: Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Orchestre National de France, Opéra National de Paris…
They will all surely appreciate Norman’s headline…
So lets get this straight – famous fashionable Finn Klaus gets jobs in France and the Netherlands. Another younger Finn gets jobs in the Netherlands and…. France. Coincidence?
Methinks tis the season for fashion a famous Finn in France
Finns get jobs in many countries
It’s the Finn end of the wedge.
How does an expert, seasoned orchestral musician feel when told what to do by a 22-year-old who has never reached proficiency in playing a musical instrument?
Except Tarmo is an outstanding pianist!… but sorry, don’t let me interrupt your prejudice…
There are YouTube videos of him playing the piano. I can’t tell if he has “mastered” the instrument by your standards but he is no neophyte and he plays better than I do. (I was already getting some arthritis pain when he was born.)
I agree that there is great hype in the business now, but nobody who followed Bernstein’s 1960s career (for a example—there are plenty of others, such as Dudamel) should deny that there always was a great deal of hype and hyperbole in the biz.
The balance between meritocracy and hype has shifted more towards the latter in recent decades, I think, especially in our days of social media.
That my personal observation, nothing to do with Peltokoski, whose appointment as Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie is yet another positive sign.
It is obvious that you have no idea about Tarmo Peltokoski musical skills and talent.
Yes, it’s a very good question about the age – irrespective of whether he or she has reached proficiency on an instrument. Some music absolutely needs miles under the belt to understand.
Perhaps orchestra personnel should start putting conductors back into the ringer as in the olden days by playing occasional wrong notes to test their mettle…… ; D
This dumb trick doesn´t work anymore….
An expert, seasoned orchestral musician knows how to recognise a good conductor. If he does the job well and inspires the musicians, they don’t give a fig about his age.
Unless the conductor’s name is Paul Hindemith, it is almost a certainty that anyone in the orchestra plays their instrument better than the conductor does. So what? Only in a youth orchestra does the conductor typically spend much time giving direction on playing technique, as opposed to musical matters.
@RG: Good point. However good a pianist he may be, there’s no substitute for experience. Why is this kid not in front of half-way decent German (or other) orchestras, learning his trade, instead of being catapulted into top jobs? This practice makes a mockery of the concept of meritocracy. Earn your spurs first and sod the agents.
L’Orchestre du Capitole had Michel Plasson for roughly 25 years, and they suffered enough with him at the helm in terms of moving ahead.
Any new face, Sokhiev included, was a tremendous relief for the group, even though they are according to NL), “the second best French orchestra outside of Paris”….?
The problem is not the age or the talent of Peltokoski. The problem is 4 jobs, it’s too much. He has to make choices. To be musical director, it is not only conducting concerts, but to get involved the daily life of the orchestra.
Very good point. The problem of someone being the chief conductor of more than one orchestra isn’t new: it’s been around since it became possible to jet around the world from one concert to the next. Maybe it’s time that orchestras start insisting that their conductors reduce their carbon footprint.
A great musician! He should have been given the Concertgebouw job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQOMSPWOEqc
If this is allowed on stage, then this kid can conduct the goddamn Berlin Phil for all I care.
The second-best? Not according to the poorly played recordings of theirs I have. Even the Monte Carlo orchestra is better. This speaks very poorly of every other regional orchestra then. But Nagano’s recordings from Lyon were far better. Don’t believe hype.