Gingerly descending the steep, backstage stairs, I meet Aurel Dawidiuk deep in Concertgebouw’s belly. I recall the last time I stood in this same spot, following a concert given by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) led by composer and conductor Thomas Adés with soloist Yuja Wang, when we chatted briefly about his ballet score Inferno based on Dante’s Divine Comedy which charts the Italian poet’s journey through hell. Today’s visit though has very different emotions. Joy and excitement are evident in this young conductor’s eyes. Before me, a confident man at the precipice of a burgeoning career. One who has spent two seasons working as associate conductor to Klaus Mäkelä, possibly the most talked about conducting talent of his generation; in a city which boasts a thriving international music scene; alongside arguably some of the finest musicians in the world.
Joy though, is tinged with a little sadness. Today is Dawidiuk’s last day working with the RCO. It’s their final rehearsal for Mäkelä’s first performance of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. And this is a big deal not just for his mentor – being the first chief conductor (designate) to take this honour in recent years – but also for the Dutch nation. The Passion tradition here is a serious business, and Dawidiuk’s role as associate conductor providing input regarding balance will be key to the performance’s success. Not just in Amsterdam later this evening, but as the orchestra embarks on their first residency at the Baden-Baden Festival taking over from the Berlin Philharmonic.
What does the future hold for this young German conducting talent who has been fortunate enough to have one of the most coveted starts to his career?
A young man who at the age of eighteen performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Elim Chan and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; who spent much of his youth on a football pitch as a goalkeeper before a series of injuries meant that he had to make serious choices; who prefers his native Berlinerbols (jam-filled doughnuts) to oliebollen, the Dutch equivalent (plain or with raisins and dusted with icing sugar); and who started his conducting life aged six, using a chopstick as a baton.
© Eduardus Lee
Seated now in the chief conductor’s room, I cannot help but soak up the surroundings. I notice a stack of scores, and a copy of Grove’s Dictionary of Music – a musician’s bible. ‘Is it yours?’ I ask.
‘It’s just there for everyone to use,’ he responds.
I notice a little fish ornament hanging on the wall – a memento from Mariss Jansons I’m told.
So much to take in, yet I am still fascinated by the Grove dictionary standing tall on the desk. It’s a paperback, but in my day, we all had the dark red, hardback edition.
Does Dawidiuk, a child of the internet generation, own his own copy?
‘Yes. I prefer books to digital texts. I like to feel, and to annotate books.’
I learn that whilst studying in Zurich, he was encouraged to find and choose his own sources. Does he have a music bible, and if so, what?
The first he tells me is, Leopold Mozart’s Treatise on the Fundamentals of Violin Playing – a treasure trove covering the basics. Everything from how to play ornaments in a classical style, to instructions on how to subtly change the exact length of a dotted note when performed at a slower tempo. The other, The Flute School by Johann Joachim Quantz, is likewise, a major source of information on C18th performance practice for ‘articulation, breathing and style’.
‘Somehow, I try to always carry these texts with me, even if the music I am working on is not classical or baroque. For me, all music comes from here.’
Would it be fair then to assume that balance and symmetry are fundamental to his approach, I query?
‘Yes, very much!’ he laughs. ‘I started my musical life singing in the Hanover Boys’ Choir and playing the organ. This is my base. Romantic music came later.’
We compare notes about the choir and agree that they sing ‘very well’ in English, which is not always the case for European choirs.
‘I was the first generation to sing in projects alongside the London Brass. Choir master Jörg Breiding was very keen on English pronunciation, and which syllables need emphasis. These things really matter.’
Our eyes turn briefly to the huge orchestral portrait hanging over the desk taken by Dutch photographer Eduardus Lee who Dawidiuk remarks, has a similar love of symmetry. ‘Clean and clear forms – it helps,’ he asserts.
Turning to his musical upbringing, he shares how from an early age, his parents – one a doctor, the other a nurse – would take him to concerts each week. ‘Never with a goal. They were just giving me a good education. My parents are not musical, but both loved music, and so going to the opera or the Philharmonie was something we did together as a family.’
His eyes light up as I ask if he remembers any of these concerts. ‘I remember many. The first was sitting on the front row right in front of the conductor for The Magic Flute when I was six. I had my colourful little cassette recorder, and I recorded the whole production. Yes, I saw what was on stage, but I was mesmerized by the conductor. The next day at home, I tried to imitate him.’
‘From that moment, I always watched the conductor. Somehow, this was the start.’
Over the past two years, Dawidiuk has become a familiar face around the Concertgebouw, attending performances where he worked as assistant to various conductors – Iván Fischer, Antonio Pappano, Vladamir Jurowski, Andrew Manze and of course Klaus Mäkelä.
How would he describe his conducting ethos?
‘I would say my conducting style is reactive. I adjust how I speak through my baton, so I become closer to the musicians. Once in the concert though, the music takes over. That’s always my goal.’
Thinking ahead to his RCO debut the following week, I ask about his affinity with Tchaikovsky.
‘Firstly, a practical one. I remember sitting as a violinist in my local youth orchestra and playing the Fifth. And yes, of course I remember who played the horn’s famous 2nd movement solo. From a conducting perspective though, Tchaikovsky requires you to transcend technique and find the emotion.’
Why the Fourth?
‘It was the symphony I conducted last year in Bochum when they selected me as their new chief conductor, so it has a deep emotional connection.’ I suggest that like his mentor whose signature is Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, he now has his own signature. ‘Exactly!’ he responds.
‘Klaus says the first movement is the best of all Tchaikovsky symphonies,’ he continues. Does Dawidiuk agree? After a short pause… ‘Maybe?’ he suggests…
I wonder if this is one of those moments when the student disagrees with his teacher. ‘The first movement is indeed very intense,’ he adds.
Is he superstitious about rehearsals? And how does he create the magic over and over again?
‘In rehearsal, I focus on the musicians’ needs. But on the day, you need to save,’ he concludes. ‘Everything is clear, but we don’t open the pot!’
Like a number of young conductors (think Mäkelä, the accomplished cellist and Tarmo Peltokoski who is an accomplished pianist) Dawidiuk is both an accomplished pianist and organist, regularly giving recitals in Cologne, Zurich and Vienna.
He explains that in order to play with the best soloists, you need to know what it means to perform at such a high level. ‘I will continue to conduct from the piano. Bach, Brahms, Schumann, Liszt and Mendelssohn, they all played the organ as well. For me, it’s like two sides of the same coin.’
How does his organ playing fit into the mix?
Introduced to the organ by his mother who sang in a church choir, he remembers being asked to ‘press some buttons’ when aged just eight years old. ‘The organ looked like a pilot’s cockpit, but I was too small to play.’
Is the organ his ‘symphony of sound’?
‘Definitely! he says. ‘By pressing just one button, suddenly I changed the sound to a trumpet, and that was fascinating.’
We compare life as organist where you are mostly hidden, to the very public role of a conductor.
‘I remember my first time on stage as a conductor as part of a children’s concert aged just eight. I felt great in front of the orchestra, but once I turned around, I was scared.’ Is there video footage I ask? I am assured; there is.
What’s the most amazing organ he’s ever played on?
‘Probably St Jacob’s Church, Lübeck. Hearing an organ’s harmonies blend together in a church is not just music for the ears, but should stir all the senses, even making your whole body shake. This is when you realise that music is about something more, even spiritual.
What has he learnt from his time in Amsterdam, not just from his mentor, but from the many members of the RCO?
‘I always say, I’ve not just had one mentor, I’ve had 120. And funnily enough, their favourite topic is conductors! You can be sitting for seven hours on a plane to Tokyo, and it’s all you talk about! Everyone has a different point of view.’
On tour, Dawidiuk often finds himself on the podium as conductors take the time to gauge a hall’s acoustics.
‘For me, I’ve learnt that the key is to realise when to speak, and when to remain quiet. I’m still learning, but I have to be brave and communicate effectively. I will be back in October to conduct and play Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony in a special concert celebrating 25 years of the RCO’s talent development programme. Some of the musicians have become friends.’
‘I know that there are some things that I do not understand, but in time, I know I will. And somehow, this is the best part of our relationship,’ he adds.
This sentiment was echoed in a very moving farewell given after his RCO debut. Testimonials from orchestra members portrayed a young musician wise beyond his years, yet one full of curiosity and unafraid to voice his opinions. The genuine warmth and respect for this ‘very special talent’ was apparent. The feeling is mutual. In front of family and friends, members of ‘The Team’ past and present and a Swiss TV crew, plus Bernard Haitink’s wife Patricia Bloomfield and his Zurich conducting professor Johannes Schlaefli (who along with Mäkelä had been on hand all week as an extra pair of ears) Dawidiuk took the assembled audience back to his very first time on the Concertgebouw podium when he auditioned to become the first Bernard Haitink associate conductor.
Now, I understood.
I ask what he will remember most from his time with the Concertgebouw Orchestra?
‘If I knew this already, I would be a very wise man,’ he jests… but I press the point.
‘Klaus just has the ability to freeze time before capturing all that energy and letting it break free, almost like an explosion, or like in a film when the director zooms close and then bang!’
Can he give me an example? ‘Oh, in so many things.’ But we agree that the Sunday performance of the closing bars of Mahler’s Eighth in last year’s Mahler Festival when God descended from on high, was one such occasion.
We both take a moment to think. ‘One should think!’ he says, even if he openly admits that he needs to read more! ‘I’m always reading scores!’
© Milagro Elstak
How has he prepared for his UK debut later this month with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic when he will be working with Austrian pianist and Viennese School specialist Till Fellner, his piano professor in Zurich? Have they worked together before?
As a student of Alfred Brendel with whom he remained close over many years, Fellner is the direct line to one of Dawidiuk’s heroes.
‘We have known each other for quite a while, but now, we are a partnership. This concert will be special because Till played this Mozart concerto many times with Bernard Haitink [whose generous legacy funded his post in Amsterdam] including recording it with the Berlin Phil and the LSO. Stepping into Haitink’s shoes feels special.’
Has he heard the RLPO before, and has he even been to the UK?
‘I know the Liverpool Phil from their Mahler tradition, but also through their work with Andrew Manze who spent time in Hanover as chief conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie (2014-23). I have an idea of their sound, so I am ready to be in the moment.’
As we conclude and he readies himself for a photo session upstairs in the main hall, Dawidiuk reminisces again about the past. About preparations for his first RCO Christmas Day concert with Klaus, sitting in this very room with original scores from the RCO library of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, complete with red and blue markings made by the legendary William Mengelberg, chief conductor from 1895 to 1945.
‘It feels all so familiar now. It feels like home,’ he says. ‘This is not the end. It’s just the beginning.‘
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