Howard Griffiths in an interview

"The project was fantastic."

Howard Griffiths is General Music Director of the Brandenburg State Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Orpheum Foundation. From 1996 to 2006, he was Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Howard Griffiths has lived in Switzerland since 1981.

You are currently General Music Director of the Brandenburg State Orchestra in Frankfurt, but you live in Switzerland. Do you commute back and forth?
I'm mainly in Switzerland and only in Frankfurt for about 12 weeks a year. I usually stay for rehearsals and concerts for three to five days before returning home.

As a guest conductor, you're constantly in contact with other orchestras. What do you particularly like about the Brandenburg State Orchestra?
When I joined the Brandenburg State Orchestra, the playing style was traditionally German. My conviction to play pieces in the composer's tradition was new to the orchestra. However, the orchestra has adapted very well since then. Of course, I also appreciate that, compared to the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO), I now have a large orchestra with a large number of musicians at my disposal, and can therefore play a completely different repertoire.

You're always enthusiastic about extraordinary projects, such as Gustav Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand," which you performed with the Basel Symphony Orchestra and over a thousand musicians. Was that your idea?
No, someone approached me. But the project was fantastic. This union of so many choirs in one concert was truly special.

You also successfully realize crossover projects. Which projects do you remember most fondly?
I don't really like using the term "crossover." It quickly sounds cheap, as if you're just trying to attract new audiences. For me, it's more about "stylistic encounters" that I enjoy, like the Istanbul Symphony by Fazil Say, which we premiered in Dortmund and in which the standard symphony orchestra is augmented with Turkish instruments.
I also regularly create programs where I juxtapose pieces by composers who lived at the same time, but in completely different cultures.
Or there are silent film scores, like the live scoring of a Charlie Chaplin film in the Knie Circus tent: that was a highlight.
I've also done other projects in jazz and Gypsy music. What's important to me is simply that it has to be well done.

Your wife is Turkish, you also speak fluent Turkish, and you lived there for several years. How widespread is classical music in Turkey?
You might be surprised, but classical music is indeed very popular in Turkey. There are certainly over 30 classical orchestras. In Istanbul alone, there are two large symphony orchestras and four or five chamber orchestras. The audience is, on average, even a bit younger than in Germany.

You have been the artistic director of the Orpheum Foundation for over ten years. What distinguishes this foundation?
When the foundation was established 20 years ago, there was no opportunity for talented young soloists to perform as soloists with a large, established orchestra. Today, that's different. The Orpheum Foundation has done pioneering work in this area. The artists also receive comprehensive support for their projects.

Who decides which talents are considered?
It's always like a mosaic, made up of many individual pieces. We receive over 200 applications every year. You receive recommendations, hear and read about artists until you decide – we'll take this one. The conductors, of course, also suggest artists. Ultimately, I make the decision. In these 20 years, however, we've only been disappointed by very few. We can be proud that we've had a good nose for talent. Most of the artists are very well-known today and continue to thank us for our support long afterward.

You're also involved in introducing classical music to children and young people. What projects have you already realized in this area?
My latest project is a children's book: The Witch and the Maestro, an orchestral fairy tale. The book is intended to contain as much information about an orchestra as possible. It's for children aged 5-10 and can be enjoyed without the music or with the accompanying CD recording. We had the premiere a few weeks ago. Immediately after the concert, we sold over 200 books. It was a great success. We'll be giving another performance in Zurich on Pentecost Sunday in May 2013 with the Musikkollegium Winterthur .
Children's concerts seem very important to me. I also organize orchestral projects where young people get to play in a professional orchestra.
In addition, we realize a number of educational projects, each involving 300 children. These projects include performances of Carmina Burana, Holst's The Planets, and a children's opera based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Interview by Florian Schär | Classicpoint.ch | September 3, 2012