By Bill Ernst

Photos by Enrique Fux MandEphotography.com

Orlando Philharmonic's New Music Director
Christopher Wilkins has been conducting himself patiently since being named the Orlando Philharmonic's Music Director Designate on September 19, 2005. Although the public's first opportunity to see Wilkins perform will be at a Sounds of Summer concert on June 22nd, this energetic and charismatic music man will have his official opening night September 30th—more than a year later—when he makes his long- awaited début.

ilkins, born in Boston in 1957, rarely left New England until he finished college at the end of the '70s. He began piano lessons at 5, oboe lessons at 8, and had good teachers early on, which he feels is what really got him going in music. It may have helped, too, that his grandfather was on the board of trustees of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. So from a very early age, Wilkins heard the Boston Symphony perform in Symphony Hall on a regular basis.

He studied piano heavily in his early years, but the oboe emerged as his primary instrument. And although he eventually studied music at Harvard, he didn't start with music: first it was pre-med, then Asian studies. But he gravitated toward music and finally majored in it. While there, he won the John Knowles Paine Fellowship and attended the Hochschule der Künste in West Berlin in 1979-80. He later earned a Masters of Music at Yale, studying with Otto-Werner Mueller.

"I had a wonderful time [at Harvard], and it was where I first began to conduct," he says. "That's what changed things for me . . . and my career altogether. I never imagined it would be something I would even be drawn to [but] I enjoyed it tremendously. It is endlessly fascinating."

A huge challenge for a young conductor is finding the opportunity to log enough hours to learn the craft, let alone to take risks and learn from mistakes. Conductors need to practice on a regular basis to maintain their skills. And while a violinist, for example, can practice almost anywhere, a conductor has to travel to practice, usually as guest stints with orchestras all over. "All orchestras benefit by having guest conductors," he says.

Wilkins, who lives in Bexley, Ohio (a Columbus suburb), has two children. Julia, 14, is an accomplished gymnast, and Jimmy, 12, is an international exchange student in Germany and Sweden, and an avid snowboarder. (Wilkins and their mother, ballet dancer Ann Adair, are divorced.) The family lived in San Antonio when the children were young, and left Texas for Ohio when Adair joined the Columbus Ballet.

Variation on a theme
A man of many interests, Wilkins loves sports of all kinds. He played softball, soccer and hockey in his youth, tennis and hiking as an adult and having lived in Colorado and Utah, took up skiing and fly fishing. Also immensely important in his life is yoga. And so is Ellen Watson, his significant other of four years and a yoga instructor. (She lives in California: coordinating their schedules is a complicated process.) Wilkins also does a lot of reading, but not at home: when he's home, he's dad, and everything is for and about the kids.

As an oboist, he performed with many ensembles in the Boston area, including the Berkshire Music Center Orchestra at Tanglewood, and the Boston Philharmonic under Benjamin Zander.
But it's the piano that he uses most often now for scoring and to accompany artists. In June he'll perform on the harpsichord at the Vivaldi Fest at Leu Gardens as part of the Sounds of Summer program.

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Photos by Enrique Fux MandEphotography.com

Music Director's Mission

BE: More than 300 applicants were considered for the Phil's music director position—and you're the one!

CW: Every orchestra can only hire one artistic director. There are always many people interested because it's really fun . . . I'm looking forward to the music-making and building a lot of excitement in Orlando for symphonic music. That will entail everything you can imagine to engage people. I can't wait to get started.

BE: What does the music director do?

CW: The music director's job consists of three principal components: One, artistic leader of the institution. The principal spokesperson and one of the principal architects, programming and engaging guest artists. Two, to be a musical performer and interpreter of music. And three, a leader within the community. Work in schools, community groups, with political and business leaders, to further appreciation and understanding of the arts.

BE: How will you continue Hal France's legacy of "tremendous artistic and financial growth"? What may change?

CW: Hal France was the first music director of the Orlando Philharmonic. It was an organization that was hungry for the kind of artistic wisdom and ability Hal France embodied. I believe Hal and I share many values, including the importance of collaboration and the importance of conductors to speak with passion about the relevance of great music to our lives. Hal is as eloquent on that subject as any man I know.

Under Hal the orchestra grew; the budget quadrupled or more. I look forward to continuing his legacy of growth. We want to grow in a way that's 100 percent sound financially. But we need to be looking toward growth, to continue to make artistic improvements. I want to extend many of the programs he began, for example—the Focus Series is just the right way to do things. People who are interested to learn more can have the world of music opened up for them in new ways with just a few well-chosen words. For most people, it helps them to enjoy the musical experience more. I will continue that. It was an innovative idea when he introduced it, and now more and more orchestras are doing it.

BE: You've played with many symphonies—Boston, Chicago and around the world. How does the Orlando Phil rank?

CW: The distance between the top [internationally acclaimed orchestras] and the really fine orchestras that exist all over America is not as great as it used to be—and probably not nearly as great as people imagine it.

For example, our principal flautist just made the "final-final" cut for one of the top orchestras in America and therefore the world. That's not unusual. We have many people who have played with some of the best orchestras. The music schools are producing great young ones. Playing in an orchestra requires experience like anything else, and we have a large number of people with a tremendous amount of experience at a high level.

The OPO plays wonderfully. It has a bit of a more flexible roster than some orchestras (I say that knowing it's a bit of a euphemism). We have comings and goings from week to week in our personnel because they're making a living by playing in Jacksonville and Sarasota, teaching and doing all manner of other things. Over time, I would like to see that the players can count on income from us, just so we can have them on a regular basis. To have a consistent roster: that is a goal I have that, over time, that will help us improve artistically.

BE: You have a shared background with David Shilhammer, the Phil's executive director, in San Antonio. Was that part of your reason for coming here?

CW: Yes, it was a big plus for me as I considered my needs vs. what Orlando had to offer. An executive director who is as challenging, energetic and experienced as David was a huge plus. We already had a great relationship. We finish each other's sentences and we also share values to a large extent, and I think that's real important.

BE: At your introduction to the public on Sept. 19th you mentioned connecting with increasing numbers of people. How will you engage the community?

CW: What distinguishes a symphony orchestra—a performing organization—from just "people who just love it" is that we have a commitment to share it. We love to share it and get other people excited about what we do. Finding ways to get people excited about our repertoire and orchestral music is a huge part of it.

The Youth Orchestra is important. Kids who perform continue their interest later in life. Around 80 percent of subscribers to symphony orchestras played in youth orchestras as kids, so in terms of building passion, there's no better place than a youth orchestra and no better age than young.

The second place to begin is in our educational programs, and adult education is an area I'm particularly interested in. We want to take this great repertoire and open the door for people.

There's another recent interesting survey by the Knight-Ridder Foundation: They surveyed 15 major markets in the US and found that only 10 percent had ever attended a performance by a symphony orchestra. But more than 70 percent said they were interested or very interested in attending [one]. It tells you that your potential audience is enormous, but your actual reach is relatively small.

We're never going to compete with organized athletics. Great art—I don't care if you're speaking about a literature, reading a novel, painting, architecture, poetry—[has] many layers and levels on which it can be appreciated. It is not facile. No great art is appreciated in the fullest way quickly and easily. That's part of why it's endlessly fascinating, and is part of [its] mystery. Great art draws us in, and we can lose ourselves in it and keep discovering new things.

In music in particular there's a sense that the average American is intimidated—they don't speak the language. And so I think that this is our role as people involved in an organization dedicated to touching people, to reaching people and getting them excited—[our role] is helping them understand that language. There are many ways to do that.
About the Music

BE: On June 22nd you'll conduct A Vivaldi Fest with Chris Wilkins and Friends at Leu Gardens. Is Vivaldi a favorite of yours?

CW: I put this together—Vivaldi is definitely a favorite of mine and of audiences. As popular as he is, in a way he's under-appreciated for the quality and variety of the music he composed. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which has only been discovered in the 20th century, has conquered the world. People know it and love it. There's a lot of Vivaldi that's quite different from that, which people don't know. It will be a lot of fun, and a chance to showcase our musicians. We'll have a tremendous variety of different combinations of instruments, as different groups and members of the orchestra will have an opportunity to perform solos.

BE: Do you have a favorite composer?

CW: The answer that I agree with most is the wonderful answer somebody gave long ago: "Yes—whatever composer I'm working on now." That tends to be true. The great repertoire just sweeps you under and becomes the obsession of the moment. Certainly for me, and I think all composers are susceptible to be seduced head-to-toe by whatever they're working on at the moment if it's a great work. I think that's part of how you judge a great work.

Having said all that, my background is as an oboe player. The repertoire that's particularly strong for the oboe is 18th-Century repertoire. Bach is one of my "deities," and Mozart is certainly another. As a conductor, I think the deepest, most moving experience I've had is with Gustav Mahler, and with opera generally. I love to do opera. Opera is very central to who we are and what we do . . . Over time [my goal is] to get the orchestra more involved with opera, both in collaboration with the Orlando Opera and with bringing the operatic experience onto our stage as well.

BE: In the Focus Series you'll conduct two performances: The first Focus concert uses a variety of musical styles and genres to depict the four seasons, and the second Focus concert highlights Handel's Messiah. Did you choose these? If so, why are they special to you?

CW: The Focus Series by and large has been built around a single composer. It gives you a deeper appreciation of the rich creative talents of any given composer. In this case I wanted to take a very intuitive approach to programming and take something universal—the changing of the seasons. We're doing the calendar twice, beginning and ending with the fall, with nine different pieces.

Messiah is one of the things I most love to do. I find every second of it inspired. He wrote it astonishingly quickly. I think sometimes the artist working quickly is a sign of great inspiration, and in this case there's no doubt that's true. So we'll talk about what's inspiring about this great work, and the purpose for which it was written.

BE: The Phil at Carr series' Opening Night: Our Music Director's Début features Mendelsohn, Debussy, Brahms and Puts. Did you make the selections?

CW: Yes. I thought a lot about it. We wanted a great artist for opening night. We accomplished that with Peter Serkin. His father was one of the great artists of the century both as a pianist and a teacher. Peter throughout his career has championed new music and commissioned new music. He's been a very important figure in introducing new work to audiences, and at the same time he comes from this great tradition that the Serkin name represents. He's playing Brahms' second piano concerto with us, and that's unusual—typically he prefers to play something 20th or 21st century. It will be a very special occasion just having him there to lend some weight to opening night.

He represents the great old tradition and he represents the cutting edge. I wanted to put some music on the first half that represented both worlds. Not just because Peter Serkin is there, but because I also believe that that's what an orchestra should be: a keeper of the flame. And it should also be striving to light the path ahead.

So we have a brand-new piece by Kevin Puts and we open with one of the most popular classics of all with the Mendelsohn overture. The first half ends with a piece that grew out of the 19th century that practically launched the age of modernism, with Debussy's La Mer. That is the gateway, that era and Debussy in particular. Those were some of my thoughts in putting these pieces together. That, coupled with the fact that the first three pieces they have a common thematic link, as they relate to water.

BE: Puts is modern?

CW: Puts is a kid. Kevin Puts is in his early 30s, and he has suddenly catapulted to the top of his profession. He's working right now on a new cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma, and it doesn't get any bigger than that. He has enjoyed great success and worked for many of the top orchestras in the country. We're playing the middle movement of his third symphony, which is inspired by the music of the Icelandic singer Björk . . . It's a wonderful piece of musical poetry.

BE: You won the Morton Gould award for creative programming. Should we expect to see more new directions in programming?

CW: I'm not sure if it's more or less, because I haven't quantified what the orchestra has done previously. I firmly believe, though, that to be a vital force within the community we need to play "living" music. Nowadays it's pretty much a no-brainer, because there's so much fabulous and very listenable and eminently likeable music being written today. Fifteen or twenty years ago I wouldn't have been able to make that statement. I think composers have turned a corner in their desire to speak to the public at large. There is much great music to choose from . . . There is a lot of music being written today that the overwhelming majority will really enjoy.

BE: What would you say to someone who has never attended an Orlando Philharmonic performance?

CW: It's a great question, and it's the question that drives the planning for the season. There a great many people who would have an interest in coming. The key to unlocking the music for them would be different for each person, but you need to check out the full range of our offerings.

Maybe the Focus Series is a good place to begin if you're someone who would respond well to some comments about the music before it's played . . . On the lighter side you could start with a Pops concert. Or it could be that a really committed evening of extraordinarily powerful music that includes Beethoven, Brahms, and maybe something more challenging is a good way to begin. I would say please come to the pre-concert lecture because that's another way we can open a door for you.

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Bill Ernst is the publisher of Seminole magazine.