Jonathan Brett

Director

From my first experiences playing in orchestras I was fascinated by conducting – and one of the advantages of being a trombonist is that it provides ample opportunity for leisurely study of what the conductor is doing.   I finally got the opportunity to take lessons as a music undergraduate in 1982 and chances to conduct real musicians soon afterwards – I had been trying for some time but found that lack of experience was a major stumbling block;  finally, though, someone got desperate enough to give a complete novice a go.  I gave my first performance in the summer of 1983, my first full concert later that year and everything grew rapidly from there.

I think I was extremely lucky that my first teacher, Brian Brockless, promoted the Celibidache technique because, although I eventually concluded that it did not work for me, it planted deep in my mind the idea that conducting is not a process of random movements but should correspond to an organised, disciplined system, one which creates real musical beauty through the connection between gesture and sound.

My next teacher was Diego Masson, a less technically-minded teacher but one who taught me an immense amount about music itself and managing musicians – about what professional working actually means – and about the internal psychology of conducting.

By the early-1990s though, I was in the somewhat bizarre position that things were going extremely well on the outside - my first recording was released and I was by then working with the wonderful musicians of the English Classical Players - but internally I was having a major crisis of confidence, for the understanding had dawned that there was only one major weakness in my performances: me.  I didn’t wholly trust my hands and, inevitably,neither did the orchestra, with the result being that our efforts to explore the real expressive potential of the music were compromised.

I searched for someone who could provide the guidance I needed and in 1994 had some positive results: the good fortune to meet and study with both Ilya Musin and shortly after, Yuri Simonov.  Personally I liked Musin and found the lessons extremely helpful, to the extent that I considered abandoning everything to go to him for full time study.  As soon as I saw Simonov conducting, though, I realised that I had found the person I needed, a man with a fantastic understanding of the connection between gesture and sound; the one who had all the answers to my questions about manual technique and to thousands more besides.  Fortunately he was interested to help me and for the following years I spent every possible moment with him – observing his work, attending masterclasses, taking private lessons and analysing video material of my own work.  I still see him as often as possible for advice because, apart from the facts that his musical knowledge is immense and his musical imagination exceptionally vivid, I believe his understanding of conducting technique and its relationship to interpretation is second to none.

The principles of this manual system are not difficult to understand but developing the vocabulary of accurate movements and the analytical ability needed to apply them effectively is not so simple.  I was already an experienced conductor but even so it took me three years of effort before finally, in October 1997, I found I had developed the accuracy and confidence of movement needed to give the first performances in which I was finally able to be freely expressive – to do as I wished without being confined by technical limitations.  What is now really interesting to me about the whole process is how real technical freedom releases the mind to concentrate on what truly matters – i.e. expressing the full power of the music – and, since this time, how much my musical imagination has developed because as technical capacity increases the mind expands to accommodate more and more musical possibilities.

Now one of my greatest pleasures is to be able to help others avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered and learn that the privilege of being allowed to conduct should not be the emotional and physical trial it was for me at one point, but a real delight.

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Maciej Żółtowski

Director

One of the most versatile and visionary conductors of his generation, Maciej Żółtowski is noted particularly for his interest in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Being himself a composer, he has developed strong links with the contemporary music scene as well as with leading interpreters and the breadth and diversity of his knowledge allows him an unprecedented insight into the music he conducts.

Previously the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Cyprus State Orchestra, he has been the Managing and Artistic Director of the Radom Chamber Orchestra in Poland since 2007. He also collaborates with many Polish philharmonic orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Radio (Katowice), the Polish Radio Orchestra (Warsaw), the Polish Orchestra Jeunesses Musicales and the Beethoven Academy Orchestra. He maintains a busy international career and recent engagements include orchestras all over Europe, Asia and North America. He is currently President of the Polish section of the ISCM and a member of the professorial staff of the Chopin Academy, Warsaw.

Works composed by Maciej Żółtowski have been performed during numerous festivals, among others: Two Days and Two Nights in Odessa (Ukraine), festival Europe-Asia in Kazan (Tatarstan-Russia), Rheinsberger Musiktage zu Pfingsten in Rheinsberg (Germany), Roaring Hooves in Mongolia, Composium 1999 in Tokyo, Sound Ways in St. Petersburg, Past and Future in Odessa and World Music Days 2002 in Hong Kong.

After gaining a distinction in violin performance at the Chopin Academy, continued studies led to the award of MAs in both composition and conducting. He subsequently participated in masterclasses with Yuri Simonov, Zoltán Pesko, Lászlo Tihanyi, and Gianluigi Gelmetti. He was twice awarded the Polish Ministry of Culture scholarship and the Tadeusz Baird scholarship. In 1997 he was awarded with the fellowship of the German Stiftung Kulturfonds in Künstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf and in 2000 won the scholarship for young conductors of the Japanese Music Foundation JESC. He was the winner of the first composers’ competition held by the Musica Sacra Society in Warsaw a finalist for the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award (Tokyo). In 2002, the President of the Republic of Poland decorated him with the Silver Order of Merit.

Yuri Simonov

Consultant

A conducting legend in his own lifetime, Yuri Simonov was the youngest and longest-serving Chief Conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre.  In the subsequent twenty-five years has worked with leading orchestras and opera companies all over the world as well as being Music Director of the Belgian National Orchestra (1994-2002) and the Moscow Philharmonic (since 1998).

His first conducting experience was in 1953 at Saratov Music School, before moving to the Leningrad Conservatory where he studied with Rabinovich and later assisted Mravinsky at the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra.  In 1968 he won the Santa Cecilia Competition in Rome and soon after made his début at the Bolshoi, being appointed Chief Conductor shortly after.

My heart is with you! I am extremely happy that my best disciples and young colleagues Jonathan Brett and Maciej Zoltowski took this fantastic initiative to promote professional conducting in spheres where neither my teachers nor myself could reach yet. Wishing the Conductors' Academy every success and looking forward to helping achieve it.

Yuri Simonov

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