Conductor Victorien Vanoosten: “Some art, touch the divinity” | Culture

Awarded the Order of the French Republic for services to French culture, the maestro is welcomed in important halls around the world, as artistic and musical director of the Toulon Opera and the Swiss orchestra “Neuchâtel Symphony Ensemble”, he also has a bright international career, conducting in the largest opera houses (Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Zurich , Toulouse), performs with symphony orchestras (Vienna “Tonkünstler”, Lithuanian National Symphony, Polish National Radio Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic and Montreal), collaborates with such famous artists as Emmanuel Pahud, Bruce Liù, Lang Lang, the Jussen brothers, Gilles ‘is Apapa, Patrizia Ciofi, Karine Deshayes, Rolando Villazón and Jane Birkin.

We talk to Victorien Vanoosten, who has many ideas and great job offers in different countries, why he is so happy to return to Vilnius, about his musical path and constant “life” on airplanes, the press release of the National Philharmonic says.

– I remember how Mūza Rubackytė, the artistic director of the Vilnius Piano Festival, introduced you a couple of years ago. Since then we started seeing you more and more often.

– At that time, I had to urgently replace one famous conductor who could not come due to illness. The muse called one of my teachers, his fellow pianist, and he called me. I was just free. I had two days to learn the program.

– Apparently, it’s nothing new for you to learn the greatest works in two days. Last year, you saved the opening concert of the Vilnius festival in a similar way.

– Maybe this is my destiny? (laughing) I found out that I would have to replace maestro Lawrence Foster in Marseille maybe ten minutes before going on stage. After the dress rehearsal, he felt ill. I jumped into the tailcoat, asked: “Maestro, maybe I can take your trampoline” and – go ahead. After a while, he said, “I called Daniel, I want to meet you.” “Who is Daniel?” I asked. “Barenboim,” he said, the name of his friend, the legendary conductor. D. Barenboimas invited me to be his assistant at the Berlin Staatsoper for two years. But the beginning was the same: “Tomorrow you will have to conduct.” So, while you are a young conductor, you must always be ready for such challenges. And I even like it – you experience stress, excitement, focus and get down to work.

– What attracted you to the opportunity to work more in Vilnius?

– There are several ingredients. The most important thing is the level and professionalism of the orchestra, we have already performed really good concerts. In addition, these musicians are open, friendly, and a pleasure to work with. They are not only excellent, but also striving for the best result, which I really appreciate. We communicate easily, even though I don’t speak Lithuanian. But I try to say at least “good day”, “thank you very much”, I learned numbers, which is important in rehearsal. It seems to me that the team trusts me, we are moving forward looking in one direction. Maybe we don’t always agree on improvisations, but we’re like a fist at concerts. I remember when I first came here in 2021, we performed Gabriel Fauré’s suite from the opera Peleus and Melisande. There are very, very quiet, colorful places – the quietest piano. It was already beautiful during the rehearsal. After that, I gave a speech that finally after the pandemic we will play to a full hall, the audience will miss it alive sound, emotions, so let’s give it away. You know, the piece sounded completely different in concert – I didn’t think it could be played THAT way. Since then, I know that they can do everything, and I press to make music like back in the day (smiling).

I also fell in love with your city, it just feels good. Sometimes it’s hard to explain why it’s uncomfortable to be in one place, but you’re yourself in another. People, beautiful places, restaurants – I find what I like here. I also like the work schedule of the orchestra. Elsewhere, we rehearse in the morning, then in the evening. Here we have one long intense rehearsal in the first half of the day, so I have half a day to rest, I can walk around, think about the pieces we are rehearsing.

– It should be fun that the orchestra members welcome you very warmly and are always waiting for you.

– Yes. Although I don’t do anything just to be loved. It’s fun for me when I manage to convince others to do something beautiful together, to show the way we should all strive for it. I am my own biggest critic and I put pressure on myself because I don’t want to let the musicians down. I do the same everywhere I go. Especially in Vilnius. And, I’m sure, every work is stronger, more compelling, when we do it with love, with an emotional connection.

– You managed to find friends in Vilnius, you have someone to run cross-country with in the mornings.

– (Laughing) I need to stretch while running, because the orchestra’s trombonist Marius Balčytis is much stronger in this area. Funnily enough, we found out that we both have the same hobby – once we just passed each other while running. “Oh!” – “Hello! Do you also run?” I choose ten kilometers, and Marius – twenty. Each time – a different route: along the river, through your beautiful parks. Snow or rain is not a problem, it’s great that I get to know Vilnius better in different seasons through sports. I run about every other morning because I don’t always have time, I want to save energy for rehearsals.

Going back to the relationship with the musicians, I like that we have mutual respect and that we communicate beyond work. For example, the concertmaster of the orchestra, Rasa Vosyliūtė, not only plays like a goddess, but is also an open, especially warm person. There is certainly not one such person in the team. When I go to concerts that I don’t conduct, I meet many musicians in the hall, in the lobby, everyone smiles widely and greets them kindly. I feel at home.

– As a pianist, do you have the nearest concerts in which the piano has a solo?

– Which instrument plays the solo is the same for me – I like everyone the same. It happens that pianists who have become conductors do not necessarily like the soloist’s interpretation. I am interested in how, say, Liszt is played by me, and how another plays the same music, I try to control myself, not to try to direct him to play the way I do. But sometimes such thoughts come from the subconscious. I try to be open, respect the other pianist, listen to his version of the piece and respect it. With a concerto for violin, for example, there is no such problem.

– Can you perform as a pianist?

– I’m trying. D. Barenboim keeps reminding me: “Rehearse, don’t give up, perform.” I say that I don’t have time for that anymore. The profession of a musician is similar to that of an athlete in that both have to stay in shape. I conduct a lot – at least one and sometimes two concerts a week. When I work in theaters or at the Philharmonic in Vilnius, when I find a minute I sit down at the piano, but it doesn’t happen every day. I try to have the so-called “piano time” every year, when I spend more time on the instrument, I organize chamber music concerts with singers.

– What are the biggest challenges ahead in the new season?

– In Vilnius? The first thing is to maintain the trust of the orchestra players. We will perform complex large works by Mahler, Bruckner, Strauss. It’s going to be an exciting season. And for me personally, the biggest challenge is to live up to all of your expectations. You know, when you start on a pretty good note, every time you come back you have to be even better than the last time.

– You mentioned large works – tell me, how do you manage to memorize them so quickly? There are legends about mathematical formulas that help you remember everything.

– I gave this secret of mine to the orchestra musicians once at 2 o’clock in the morning in one of the Vilnius bars, and you know it too (quack)! Everything in music is based on numbers. A conductor is like an architect who sees the building as a whole and calculates everything. Of course, I wouldn’t be able to conduct everything from memory like Maestro Barenboim, but I try to do it, because the paper with notes in front of my eyes sometimes just prevents me from thinking. I think I will conduct very well in about 40 years. At least. As long as I’m still in this world. My current age, and I am forty, is the infancy of a conductor. But I am very impatient, I want everything here and now. So I immediately aim to conduct as best as I can. I myself always play the piano only by memorization. I’m in a hurry to do everything and not because I want to overtake something, to be the first – I’m just very enthusiastic and passionate about work.

– Why did you become a musician? Maybe it’s a family tradition?

– I think the music itself chose me. I am not from a family of artists, there were no musicians in the social environment. As a child, my parents gathered a group for me, distracted between football and music. “Do you want to play the piano?” asked me, a five-year-old. I didn’t even know what that piano was. I certainly wasn’t a genius like Mozart – only average talent, but I had a good sense of rhythm, I was good at solfeggio and other lessons. As a child, of course, I preferred to go to the yard rather than play, but as a teenager, from the age of eleven or twelve, I would sit down at the instrument for two to four hours. I started to like it, I found interesting composers, I felt pleasure while playing.

When I left school, I considered maths or engineering, but I thought it would be a shame to forget the piano, I wouldn’t survive without music. What to do? You need to turn music into work. I entered the Paris Conservatoire, majoring in piano. I was lucky: I got in, even though there were only ten places, 300 candidates applied for them. I worked very hard, played ten hours a day. At first, I never dreamed of conducting. This desire arose later. When I think about it, even as a child I liked to be at the forefront of my friends’ company, I thought of what to do for everyone – I had the qualities of a leader. While studying, I realized that I was interested in symphonic music, the genre of opera. I continued my conducting studies at the same conservatory, but I knew that the best forge for conductors was the Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki. I learned a lot there, many legends of this profession taught me.

Conducting requires great concentration, it is necessary to control the piece, to “catch” many sounds. The work is hard, but at the same time it is a great pleasure. You know, I didn’t tell the LNSO musicians this, but when we did the Overture to Richard Wagner’s Parsifal last time, I thought for a few moments how happy I was, what a sound! And all those wonderful people in the orchestra play like this not for me, but for the universe. How wonderful it is!

– Where is your home today?

– I live between Marseille and Berlin. Sometimes it’s sad that I’m almost never home because of work. For example, I spent three weeks in Marseille this year. And it’s so beautiful there, near the sea, beautiful nature that gives me strength. Berlin is also good, I have many friends there, I visit maestro Barenboim. I guess Berlin is the most talented music inspiring city in the world today. But the reality is that most of the time “home” is an airplane.

– How long does it take you to pack your suitcase?

– When I need to memorize pieces, I can concentrate perfectly, but in life I am a little distracted (laughing). Since I was always forgetting something, I came up with a system: I have about three packs of essentials ready, so I’m always ready to go. Of course, you have to turn your head, how to get out of the situation when you have to fly from country to country and do not return home for a long time. By the way, I don’t have a housekeeper – I like to do it myself, it gives my head a break and relaxes. I still recover well by restoring or tinkering with furniture. I like to scratch, and the result is fast, visible, material. Not music you can’t touch. Unfortunately, I have very little time for such activities. As well as being in nature, which is very important to me. Instead, I am glad that Vilnius is especially green and cozy. I’m not a city person, it seems to me that real life is in nature, where there are trees and animals. Also real life, some art – then touch the divinity. After doing this, I feel alive. In recent years, this has mostly happened with UFOs.

– Do you often travel with your family?

– As it happens. My wife is a ballerina, she works a lot in Berlin. In the future we will be looking for a balance between the calmer and this crazy – crazy of life.