Meet The New Maestro

August 22, 2007
By Alice Keesing

The maestro is in town. When Andreas Delfs lifts his conductor's baton to spark the first notes of the Honolulu Symphony's season Saturday night, he will also herald in a bright, new future for the orchestra. As the symphony's new principal conductor, Delfs brings to Hawaii a talent that is sought out around the world and recognized as one of the best on the nation's podiums. But Delfs plans to do more than just make beautiful music; his goal is to see the symphony grow to new horizons. "For us, it's a real coup," says symphony executive director Tom Gulick, describing the anticipation and excitement that has built up around Delfs' arrival. Delfs is a linchpin in the symphony's emergence from recent years of turmoil and financial insecurity. Gulick started the restoration when he came on the job just over a year ago. The symphony now has a fundraising committee packed with some of Honolulu's power hitters. It has an expanding education mission that will reach throughout the Islands and perhaps into Hawaii's schools. And it has happier musicians whose paychecks have been restored after demoralizing 25 percent cuts. And now, in Delfs, the symphony has a music leader, which it has lacked for three years. Way back when former music director Samuel Wong stepped down, the symphony started talking about a replacement - and the name Andreas Delfs was at the top of the list. Gulick wryly notes that that was the "dream" list. "It was immediately dismissed because he probably wouldn't be interested in coming here," he says with a laugh. But when Gulick started on the job, he knew Delfs' agent and had heard that Delfs was looking around - one thing led to another and the Honolulu Symphony got its maestro. Delfs admits he had something of a surprise when he guest-conducted in Honolulu in October 2006. "When I first came here I thought it would be a lovely vacation with a bit of conducting on the side," he says. "But it turned out to be a lovely conducting experience. And it's unfair to say that that was a surprise because the symphony's reputation is excellent." Delfs' own career is studded with excellence. His immersion in music began early, starting with the church music that was part of his childhood in Flensburg, Germany. He began studying piano and music theory at age 5. He graduated from the Hamburg Conservatory before earning his master's from Juilliard in 1984. Delfs has gone on to hold chief artistic posts with distinguished institutions in both America and Europe. He has been described as a "next generation" music director, with superb orchestra-building skills, an electric presence on the podium and an adventurous way with programming. This is someone who has such a grasp of his craft that he often conducts without a score. Mark Hanson, CEO of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra where Delfs has been working his magic for the last decade, describes him as the "whole package." "He is a very energetic and exciting conductor to watch," Hanson says. "He is a presence on the podium. You don't need to talk to him after a concert to know that he has thrown his physical being, his emotional being and his intellectual being into the performance." And then, when Delfs steps off the podium, he becomes an eloquent and passionate cheerleader for his art. "He's a charmer," Hanson says, laughing. "One-on-one, he's a genuine, humble, caring person. And he has a wonderful ability to converse with people of all experience levels and backgrounds." Delfs also has an intense intellectual curiosity. He officially touched down in Honolulu this week, but he'd already started delving under the surface of the Islands. He's been reading everything, starting with James Michener's Hawaii. He wants to get to know the people and cultures. And he wants to explore the Islands beyond Waikiki to indulge his love of nature and the environment. When MidWeek caught up with Delfs for this story, he was staying at his summer house in New York's Finger Lakes region. He had to be called in from the garden where he was out getting his hands dirty. "If you could see me now, I am sitting overlooking five acres of land that need to be taken care of," he says. "There's a big pond that needs to be restocked with fish, there's wildlife surrounding me ... this is my hobby." While he spends most of the year conducting in Milwaukee and making guest appearances around the world, during the summer he's off in upstate New York trapping muskrats. (Which, he assures, he chauffeurs far out into the wild and releases. "My children would-n't stand for me killing any of those animals.") This is how Delfs spends his summers with his family, wife and pianist Amy Tait and their four children. The rest of the year is busy, busy, busy. It's typical of his schedule that Delfs will continue his work with the Milwaukee Symphony while he joins Honolulu. So now, summer break is over and the maestro is in town. Opening night of the symphony's Masterworks season features Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, Wagner's Prelude to the Meistersinger and violinist Sarah Photo courtesy of the Honolulu Symphony Andreas Delfs officially takes over the Honolulu Symphony this weekend Chang playing Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D Minor. The schedule for this season was already in place when Delfs signed on to his three-year contract, so it's the following 2008/2009 season when audiences will really start to see his stamp on the repertoire. Still, everyone expects that audiences will immediately see and hear a difference. Farther down the road, audiences can expect Delfs to take the symphony on some exciting paths. This is the man, after all, who took the Milwaukee Symphony to perform in Cuba. He's also not shy about venturing out with new technology, and helped the MSO become the first American orchestra to distribute live recordings online through iTunes. One of Delfs'career signatures has been helping orchestras up to the next level. And these days, he and Gulick are talking about an expansive new future for Honolulu that will take the symphony to a new plateau. "It's like the old blues song - we're at the crossroads," Gulick says. So there is talk of new repertoire and recording and touring options. There are plans to shore up financial fortunes, fill more seats and bring the power of music to more people in the Islands. The symphony will venture beyond the Blaisdell more often. It will foster the talents of local composers and celebrate Hawaiian music. Delfs also is looking forward to building that unique psychological connection between himself, the conductor, and the orchestra. Music that comes from such a bond sounds like it flows from one mind, he says, rather than the 100 or so minds that make up an orchestra. When he's on the podium with the Milwaukee Symphony, Delfs merely lifts his left eyebrow or lowers his right pinkie, and the musicians know what he wants. "When you reach that level of silent communication," he says, "that is just glorious."