Mirga takes the baton: the CBSO music director on her new job

After the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s speed dating-style search for a new director, 29-year-old Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla prepares to immerse herself in British musical life

Elfin, fast-moving, with a wide mouth, noisy laugh and clear, piercing blue eyes, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla manages to exude calm while crackling with energy. You see immediately how the 29-year-old Lithuanian music director-elect of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra might command some 80 orchestral players – not all easy to please, some even recalcitrant – to do her bidding.

“You feel the pride of the musicians,” she says. “Every orchestra which has, maybe, great musicians and not the best hall – you feel it in their spirit. Whereas with the CBSO you sense they are shining in Symphony Hall, not just at rehearsals and concerts but the whole time, and in the community. They are incredibly open and democratic. It feels like a big family. Everyone is aware of what’s going on and carries responsibility. All the things a conductor can dream of.”

Finding a new chief conductor for the CBSO had begun to look onerous. After it waved an emotional farewell to Andris Nelsons last summer, the idea was to keep the current season flexible with several conductorial one-night stands. Speed dating, the musicians called it. If the chemistry was right, it could turn serious. Past success weighed heavily: before Nelsons, the CBSO had been led by Sakari Oramo and Simon Rattle. Could it sustain its winning streak?

Then along came Mirga, which is how everyone refers to her. She had pedigree, of course. She came to international attention when she won the Salzburg festival young conductors’ award, and the intervening four years have seen her rise and rise: until she officially takes over in Birmingham in September, she continues as music director of the Salzburger Landestheater and associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, having previously been an assistant conductor and Gustavo Dudamel fellow at the same orchestra.

In February, after just two dates with the orchestra during which she disarmed all, she was appointed the 12th music director of the CBSO for three years. Whereas the self-governing Berlin Phil locked themselves in a church to appoint a new conductor, the CBSO took a more sanguine route. Consultation and feedback forms were part of the process. Marks were awarded for conducting and rehearsal technique, ability to communicate and musical interpretation. “The job is a great blend of the human and the technical. Being organised is vital,” says Stephen Maddock, the orchestra’s chief executive. “And, during a long discussion with members of the orchestra about Mirga, the question of gender did not arise once.”

Perhaps because English is not her first language, Gražinytė-Tyla speaks with care, punctuating seriousness with laughter. She was born into generations of musicians: her great-uncle is an organist in Vilnius, her great-aunt a composer, her father a choral conductor, her mother a pianist.

Until she was 10, when a younger brother and sister arrived, Gražinytė-Tyla was an only child. “And perhaps that time on my own made a difference,” she says. “I was sociable, but also glad to be alone. As a tiny child, I was always singing. I’m not sure if there was such a point when I suddenly wanted to conduct. It’s just that I was spending so much time inside music it seemed natural. At the same time, I wasn’t learning any instrument or studying theory. Only when I was 11 and my parents were thinking to lead me towards a secure profession, I said: ‘But I can imagine only music.’”

She hardly knows Britain, but she is keen to immerse herself in the extensive music-making – educational, outreach, community – that is a feature of the CBSO, its outstanding choirs and its sister ensemble, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. She will make her London debut with the CBSO at the Proms on 27 August – likely to be a hot ticket – with a programme of Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Hans Abrahamsen’s Ophelia song cycle, Le Me Tell You. And the Birmingham season? Expect big romantic works of the kind Nelsons excelled at, but also more Haydn and Mozart, and more contemporary music. “I’m excited to see how much Britain really cares about new music – which is not always the case with some of the other European countries I’ve worked in.”

Given her own background, as well as the long tradition of openness toward female composers and conductors in the Baltic nations, Gražinytė-Tyla cannot quite grasp the fuss being made about her sex. “But I accept I must still be a cheerleader,” she says. “Mothers come up to me and thank me for setting an example to their daughters. And I am happy to take that responsibility. I grew up without imagining any problems. I hope those who come after me will think it quite normal.”

Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducts the CBSO at the Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London SW7, on 27 August.

Contributor

Fiona Maddocks

The GuardianTramp

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