Elias Grandy, the maestro on a mission to introduce classical music to new audiences

euronews (in English)

German-Japanese conductor Elias Grandy is acclaimed for his technical precision and deep understanding of the psychological nuances in great music. This award-winning artist delivers evocative interpretations of operatic and orchestral masterpieces.

Transcript

00:00German conductor Elias Grondi has won worldwide acclaim for his evocative interpretations

00:09of operatic and orchestral classics.

00:12Elias has been praised for his technical precision and an ability to grasp the psychological

00:18depth of great music.

00:20In recent years, he's wowed audiences with acclaimed productions in cities as diverse

00:26as Frankfurt, Portland and Tokyo.

00:30The award-winning music star has come to the Middle East on a mission to make classical

00:34music accessible to all.

00:38Elias, we're here at the Qatar National Convention Centre.

00:50You're preparing for a big performance with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.

00:54You come here a lot, don't you?

00:56What's the draw of this region?

00:58Of course, as an artist, we always have the privilege that we can see the world and go

01:04to so many different places.

01:07In my line of work, very often it's places with a long tradition, or orchestras with

01:14a long tradition.

01:16And here, I think the beauty is that it's such a young orchestra, an orchestra that

01:23was founded 15 years ago, and so that has a completely different atmosphere to it.

01:29And of course, you can feel also, same as with the orchestra, that the city is very

01:37dynamic, evolving very quickly.

01:40And to come here regularly and to see how things change every time other things stay,

01:46and to be able to witness that, it's just a wonderful thing for me.

01:53Your own life in music began learning the cello as a child.

01:58When did it first become obvious to you that you perhaps had a talent that could turn into

02:03a career in music?

02:05I come from a music-loving family, but not professional musicians.

02:11And so it was just part of our education that we learned an instrument, and then with me

02:17and with my brother, it turned out in our teenage years that actually we might be good

02:21at that.

02:22The other part, of course, is you have to love it.

02:25You have to, you find what this music, what classical music, how rich it is, how fulfilling

02:34it is to spend time with it and to get to know it and to discover this universe that

02:42every piece has, a universe of emotions, of stories that are in these pieces.

02:50When we listen to it and we take it in, then it is a comfort also that we are all searching

02:56for something in this life, on this planet, whichever our situation is.

03:02And then we come together, in this case with music, and we realise, oh, we can also be

03:07together because we share the same questions.

03:12And you were a cellist for many years in many different orchestras before you became a conductor.

03:19So you know what it feels like to perform from two different perspectives.

03:23I always like to say an orchestra is one of the most beautiful things that humankind has

03:31created.

03:34It has an enormous complexity to it.

03:38Each single player has to be extremely good on their own instrument, but then they have

03:44to play together as well.

03:46An orchestra therefore is as a whole also like a living organism and to have been part

03:54of that organism and to understand and to feel what is important for each single part

04:02of that entity was very helpful for me to make sure that these parts can come together

04:11and live and breathe.

04:16Thank you so much for inviting us in behind the scenes into your world.

04:31You've got a passion for making music more accessible, experimenting with ideas to connect

04:37more with younger people.

04:39Why is that so important to you?

04:41People sometimes believe classical music is not so accessible or it's hard to understand

04:46or have to know a lot about it.

04:48But actually it's just spending a little bit of time with it and sometimes, and this is

04:54where I believe my part comes in as well, or our part as musicians and as artists, sometimes

05:02we just also have to help and guide a little bit and say, look, if you know this little

05:09bit about it, then you will experience the music in a completely different way.

05:15And because I do it quite a lot and I see what it does to the audience and how much

05:21it helps.

05:22So I'm a strong believer in that.

05:26You've very obviously had a lot of success, but along the way, have there also been challenges,

05:32difficulties too?

05:33I mean, what's your attitude towards perceived failure or challenges in general?

05:39We always talk about talent as if it would be something that is given, but everything

05:48is always a combination of talent and hard work.

05:53And every challenge, every failure, everything that doesn't work out is just an incentive

06:00to work on yourself, to better yourself.

06:02And that is something I actually love about the job that I'm doing because it has this

06:07demand all the time.

06:08The music has this demand because the music is absolute and in itself perfect, but we

06:17are not perfect.

06:18Failure is always part of the way and part of the process and in some way almost then

06:26also imminent to the process because then the human side of it, the humanity comes out.

06:33Talking more about the human side of things.

06:36I know you've said that actually working with individual musicians is a really important

06:42job of the conductor.

06:45Can you tell me a bit about your approach to that type of leadership?

06:50First of all, leadership comes only through competence.

06:54You work with musicians who are highly trained, who are doing this for their whole life.

06:58You have to know how to inspire them, how to give something to them and which way to

07:09do that.

07:10Each orchestra has its own personality.

07:12How does an orchestra work musically, but also as people, as a group of people?

07:18What kind of dynamics can be in there?

07:21What do I have to deal with?

07:22How will I deal with that?

07:25And to then find a way to focus everyone on the meaning and the message of the music

07:34that we are going to perform and to find common ground, to say, okay, this is how we want

07:40to perform it together.

07:43I'm sure that people all over the world will be looking forward to seeing much more of

07:46you throughout this year and the next.

07:49Elias, thank you so much for allowing us into your world and being our guest on the dialogue.

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