Alan Gilbert
Music Director of the New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert has been musical director of the New York Philharmonic since September 2009. He was previously chief conductor and musical adviser to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and has conducted other leading orchestras
including the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras;
the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; and the Berlin Philharmonic,
Munich's Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam's Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Orchestre National de Lyon. He also holds the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at the Juilliard School in New York.
The conductor’s mother is a violinist in the New York Philharmonic, but he says her presence has assumed it’s proper proportion. “I’m lucky that she’s playing really, really well, and […]
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The conductor demonstrates some of the basic hand motions involved in his craft.
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A conductor has to allow his face to show the character of the music. “Sometimes your face looks more serious, sometimes it looks more animated, sometimes it looks more pensive. […]
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An orchestra has a momentum as it plays. Its flow can be affected and redirected, but the conductor must do it in an natural way to avoid jarring turns.
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A conductor is a motivator—his main job is to “bring everybody together and to get them to cooperate.”
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One of the most important skills a conductor must have is the ability to really focus. Gilbert says the confidence that comes from being well-prepared helps him get in the […]
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The conductor describes what he was thinking and feeling during his first performance with the New York Philharmonic.
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The conductor tries to make music as honest and natural as possible—but that doesn’t mean he keeps himself out of it. Gilbert says composers don’t necessarily know the best way […]
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The idea of showing the tempo to help musicians play together is basic—but conducting so much more than that. It’s about inspiring them and making the musicians feel that there’s […]
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A conversation with the music director of the New York Philharmonic.
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