Taking to the stage to acknowledge the very warm applause from the Amsterdam audience, British conductor Matthew Rowe heralds the end of an era. This latest Dutch National Ballet production Stravinsky’s Fairy Tales brings to a close Rowe’s twelve year tenure as both Musical Director of the Dutch National Ballet and Artistic Director of Dutch Ballet Orchestra before taking on a new role as Principal Guest Conductor.
With a repertoire list spanning all the major ballets, plus numerous world premieres, Rowe’s contribution to the world of ballet conducting is considerable. I caught up with this generous, passionate yet incredibly humble doyen of the ballet conducting world to learn more about the intrinsic relationship between the numerous art forms, and the skillset required to work with some of the finest choreographers and ballet dancers in the world.
Chatting in a rehearsal room, a matter of days before the opening night of not one, but two Stravinsky ballets: The Fairy’s Kiss and The Firebird, whilst fitting in a tight schedule of rehearsals with the DNB Academy dancers, the working life of a ballet conductor could be described as rich and varied to say the least.
The role of a ballet conductor
Rowe primarily sees his role as facilitator. “In a ballet company, music is absolutely central,” however, because everyone is focused on movement, “music has to function without anybody thinking about it too much, and the way dancers and choreographers relate to music is of course different than the way musicians relate to music. They have very intimate knowledge of music, but in a receiving kind of a way”.
His respect for the dancers is total. However, in this world of collaboration and interaction, Rowe seeks to illuminate the “nuance of the music world” and the possibilities within. “My love of conducting dance is that when it works, you’re the only person that really knows. It’s a kind of alchemy because it depends on the dancer, it depends on the day, and it depends on the orchestra. All these moving parts line up, and the audience think that was a great show when actually, you are the only person who really understands quite how that might have happened.”
Would he describe himself as a perfectionist?
“An extreme perfectionist, yes, absolutely. I’m extremely determined. And if I finish a performance and feel that it’s gone well musically, and for the dancers, then I think my job is done. In addition, we have a responsibility to represent the composer. In rehearsal, we try to be as honest to the composer’s intentions as we possibly can, but the orchestra don’t know how that links with the dancers on stage, so my job is to be the bridge.”
I was keen to know where his love of conducting started. In an age of declining music education in schools and increasing pressures on supporting young talent, I wondered how much his school life had played in his musical development.
As I suspected, Rowe’s music education in 1980s London was indeed very different to now. Studying A’ level music in a class of three (which I promise, really was the norm back then!) Rowe did have “extraordinary opportunities,” receiving conducting lessons from John Lubbock, conductor of the Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square. Lubbock tasked the boys with conducting the national anthem in five and other silly mind games, but all with a serious goal: to conduct Beethoven’s Coriolan overture with their school orchestra.
“I really loved it, but didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
As with so many things, sometimes life takes its own natural path and fate intervenes. Rowe continues…
“After I left St Paul’s, I started a joint course at City University and the Guildhall, studying the flute. Two funny things happened… I have two elder brothers who both went to Cambridge, and I had seen that in Cambridge, orchestras were always conducted by students, but at City they were always conducted by adults. I thought this was really strange.” Out of the blue, his flute teacher asked him if he wanted to be a conductor, something which had not even crossed his mind. The university wanted to know if he was serious, so asked him to put on a concert.
“We ended up doing Faure’s Requiem and a Haydn symphony. The rest is history!” Upon leaving school, he had been fascinated by the idea of perhaps working for Radio 3 and had no plans to be a conductor. “Absolutely none at all,” so this was quite a change.
Conducting lessons at the Guildhall with Alan Hazeldine, and Vilem Tausky opened his mind to possibilities, for these were exciting times in the UK.
“Simon Rattle was exploding” onto the British conducting scene. “This is the really challenging thing about conducting, particularly when you’re starting out. How do you absorb all of those inputs from different people? You can’t be a clone of another conductor. You have to be yourself.”
At what point did everything come together? Was there a moment?
“I still find myself asking this question!” remarks Rowe self-deprecatingly, “but studying with Colin Metters at the Royal Academy of Music helped”.
“Metters was a fantastic teacher. He really taught me about diligence, study, and reflection. If you’re going to stand up in front of people and say something about music, you’d better know what you’re doing. And George Hurst (at Canford Summer School) was the same. Always a [deep] respect for the music. It’s your job to know what’s going on [in the music] and to know why it’s there. Always questioning.
People ask, how do you begin to learn a score?
I say, well, you have to think that a composer always starts with a blank piece of paper, just like a writer. And that every note they write, every instruction, is an active choice. And therefore I find myself looking at a score and wondering why? Trying to come up with the answers as to why it’s this, and not something else? And I think that probably comes from Colin and George. An ethos of making music where every note matters. That training is so good because now, if something’s not working, I just think: What do I need to do differently to make this work? Because that’s my job to make it work.”
One final hurdle remained. Rowe’s degree from City had been geared towards acoustics, the psychology of music and learning how to use a recording studio, and not the fundamentals of music which he had enjoyed at school – harmony and counterpoint. “The academic bit!”
“It felt like what I was building was built on sand and there was no strong foundation.”
So armed with “a sudden desire to learn more, and to do it well”, Rowe decided to study abroad and applied for a Fulbright Scholarship.
“I ended up in Baltimore at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where each week you learnt a different symphonic programme. It was such a contrast to the George and Colin method of we’re going to spend three weeks on three bars… You had to learn a symphony by tomorrow, and learn how to survive that, because that’s also part of the music.”
Working in the profession
Returning to the UK a year later to dip his toe into the world of conducting competitions and work as a freelance conductor, Rowe participated in Conduct for Dance in 1993 (organised by Barry Wordsworth, The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet) a competition designed to address the shortage of conductors with specialist dance knowledge in the UK at that time. Subsequent winner, Andrea Quinn became the first female musical director of the Royal Ballet from 1998-2001, moving to New York City Ballet from 2001 – 2006. With Rowe also ending up at the DNB, the competition it seems was quite a success!
“I did quite well, but had no clue what I was doing. This started my relationship with dance, trying to work out what a ballet conductor was and how it relates to what’s happening on stage. It’s a bit of alchemy, a bit of a mystery.”
Many years later and having worked with leading orchestras in the UK and beyond, Rowe made his debut with Dutch National Ballet as guest conductor in 2004. This long and very fruitful relationship would eventually lead to his appointment as musical director of the Dutch National Ballet and artistic director of Dutch Ballet Orchestra in 2012, but would also be the stepping-stone for engagements in leading ballet houses across the world including San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, English National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Polish National Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet.
What do you find so appealing about the theatre?
“The thing I love most about working in the theatre, whether that be opera or ballet, is the fact that you always start with an empty box, and there are all of these different professions, different departments – costumes, makeup, scenography, music, the performers. At the centre, is this extraordinarily wonderful thing which we expect everybody to deliver at the exact moment it’s required. We all do what is required to make the director or choreographer’s dream comes together when the curtain goes up. There is just an expectation that I will deliver high quality music.
“I love the idea that we are all very creative, but in really different ways. I find this idea of extraordinary collaboration, thrilling. You have to be willing to listen to others, for somebody to say, could you help me with this? And I love the idea of using my musical knowledge to see how I can bring these elements together without losing the integrity of the work. If there’s good trust and a good relationship, it’s much easier to find a way through.”
I wondered how a conductor acquires all the knowledge required to fully understand the technical needs of a ballet dancer and choreographer. Had Rowe ever taken ballet lessons?
The answer: “No, but I think if you spend enough time in the studio and enough time watching classes, you begin to learn. The hardest thing is to be able to look at something and think that the dancer needs it a little bit faster or a little bit slower. It’s about the way they move, or the way they prepare for a step, but that’s just experience. The only thing which helps is doing it, and the challenge is trying to build up that experience and knowledge. It’s a really interesting thing.
“Today for example, I’m at the National Ballet Academy. They have a summer show in a couple of weeks, and this is the first time that I will see the dancers. Sometimes they have to use recordings, and they’re not always my recordings! So what is really interesting is watching a dancer and thinking – he needs a little bit more time there. I can see it just in the way they move. It makes the job of delivering easier. And then it becomes much easier to steer what is effectively a container ship of an orchestra through some quite small holes.”
The Dutch Ballet Orchestra, set up in its current form in 2002, is the leading orchestra for dance in the Netherlands, working with Dutch National Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater as well as the Dutch National Ballet Academy. With a core of 45 musicians and a regular team of freelancers, they are a versatile group; often found onstage without a conductor, in costume, and performing from memory alongside the dancers.
The orchestral skills needed for opera and ballet seem to be quite different. Is this the case?
“Playing for a ballet,” Rowe explains, “is about understanding why things happen the way they do. If you’re playing for an opera, you can hear the singers, but in a dance production, you don’t hear anything. If there is a sudden change of tempo, it’s completely in the abstract. The orchestra have to trust that you’re changing tempo because something is happening on stage which they can’t see. This requires a certain mindset and a certain willingness to ebb and flow as a unit. That’s really hard because sometimes it happens in a way that might feel really good for the dancers but isn’t always so easy for the orchestra, depending on where they are in the phrase.”
With productions involving so many disciplines and requiring all to come together to create that one vision, what is a typical week in the life of a ballet conductor?
Rowe describes how initially dancers work on the choreography for three or four weeks with a pianist and that when he comes into the studio, there’s this sort of “moulding of clay”. About two weeks before the premiere, they had five, three hour rehearsals with the orchestra as this production of Stravinsky’s The Fairy’s Kiss was totally new, not only for the dancers, but also for the orchestra. In addition, not only was it ten years since Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird was last staged at DNB, but the orchestra were also preparing a production for NDT. Quite a lot of material!
“Once we get with the dancers, there’s no orchestra rehearsal time, so we have to be pretty much ready to go. With the premiere on Saturday, the Monday before was the last orchestral rehearsal, followed by three hours with the dancers on stage. Monday evening was on stage with everyone. Tuesday was back to piano rehearsals. Wednesday was a free day. Thursday afternoon, both ballets on stage with the dancers, and then again in the evening for a pre-general. Friday evening was a general rehearsal and then Saturday – the premiere. Basically, there is very little time. If you compare it with opera, it’s absolutely nothing.”
How does this translate in the concert hall? Does all this understanding equal an enhanced musical experience for all involved?
I attended Rowe’s last production in his current role with DNB to see for myself.
From the outset, I was struck by how different these two performances were to that heard in a concert hall. In interview, choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky notes how the incredible variety of rhythms in these works allows every detail of the action to be heard. However, I would go further. Performed within the confines of the ballet world with Rowe at the helm, the music had an added freshness. As Stravinsky famously said, the music found freedom within restraint.
Clean orchestral colours dominated with a wistful clarinet setting the tone. Rowe was adept at extracting colour from the score, metaphorically depicting the colourful costumes on stage, not just enabling, but enhancing the story-telling process. Ballerinas all clad in scarlet red costumes were equalled by the dazzling colours from the orchestral pit.
Free from any restraints familiar to the world of opera and matters of balance with singers, Rowe unashamedly unleashed the power of the immense brass section as tubular bells and low trumpets heralded the cruel sorcerer; muted brass created dark, rasping menace; and stomping horns and tuba depicted the grumpy young child in The Fairy’s Kiss.
In contrast, the opening of The Firebird featured shimmering ponticello strings as steam gently billowed from trees generously garnished with red caps; the oboe, cello and harp depicted the trials and joy of young love; lyrical violins calmed the waters after the danse macabre; and shimmering niente strings with an optimistic horn solo revealed the maiden, anew in virginal white. All accompanied by clever and visually enticing choreography. It is hard to truly imagine what effect this must have had on the Paris audience of 1910. Such an amazing ballet score and story.
There is an economy of gesture in Rowe’s conducting style – a flick of the finger, a jaunty rocking of the shoulders. Rowe allows the music to breathe, and cleverly finds tempos that just work, both musically and for the dancers. Taking just that extra moment to place an upbeat before a brass fanfare, the music always perfectly in unison with the dancer’s steps; all the while maintaining tight orchestral ensemble in the very wide Dutch Opera House pit – the undoing of many a conductor. Furthermore, with an informed and keen eye on the nuances of dancer’s steps, Rowe navigates this world of precision and perfection with ease, where even the slightest fluctuation from the carefully rehearsed and agreed, could potentially end in disaster.
Some final thoughts to conclude…
Do any rising ballet stars stand out?
“They’re all special. I am constantly in awe of dancers and what they do on a daily basis. It gives me just as much pleasure to work with the students at the Academy who are all hoping to be the next big stars as it was for me at the premiere on Saturday night with Anna Tsygankova and Maia Makhateli. It’s entirely different, but still incredibly inspiring.”
Favourite moments conducting the DNB
“Last Saturday night conducting Stravinsky was one… It’s so hard – I’ve been working in the company for 20 years. So many things, it’s impossible!”
One moment which made you wake up in the middle of the night…
“That happens almost every week… I think the constant quest to solve the puzzles. Quite often I have to solve things without the opportunity to either speak to anybody or to rehearse anything because we have so little time together with the orchestra and dancers. So sometimes you’re left wondering; how am I going to make that work? How can I help the clarinet on the far left hand side of the pit who is trying to play a duet with the trombone on the far right hand side of the pit, and they can’t hear each other?”
One moment you would rather forget
Suddenly the mood changes, and after collecting his thoughts, a very pensive Matthew concludes: “In any leadership job, we all make mistakes, and you just have to go, yeah, I made a mistake. As a conductor, of course you make mistakes, but you have to move on. We’re all human and we all make mistakes. I just believe in being honest. If you make a mistake, hold your hands up. It makes it easier for everybody. There are lots of things that I would do differently given a second chance, as a parent, a husband! That’s part of the part of the thrill of the journey.”
If not a conductor, what would be your dream career?
Immediately the mood lightens as Rowe is transported into another realm. His eyes light up at the thought of what might have been!
“I really, really love cooking, but I’m not sure I would want to be a chef because I would be scared of losing my love of cooking. I often think about those kinds of moments where you make choices about your life, and I wish I’d studied history of art. My son is studying International Development at the moment and writes really interesting essays about how the world could be a better place, and I sometimes think I should have done that. There are so many things I would have loved to do, but I just feel so extraordinarily lucky to have had this extraordinary opportunity. If somebody had said that I was going to end up with this amazing ballet company and have the chance to work with all these amazing artists, I wouldn’t have believed them.”
What legacy do you hope to leave behind from your time at Dutch National Ballet? How has the company changed or grown in these 20 years?
“I think that’s for others to judge. What I would like to think is that I have shown the value and importance of live music within ballet. For whatever reason, live music is often under threat. My determination to constantly have music at the table continues. I feel that the link between the ballet company and the orchestra is stronger. And I think there’s probably a better understanding of how these two languages, these two art forms, mesh together. It’s hard to be asked what difference you have made, because you’re in it. For me, it was never important to have a legacy. What was important was to be a strong advocate for music in all its forms, and to try to make things as good as they could possibly be.”
I will leave it for colleagues at DNB to put into words Rowe’s contribution, in quotes taken from a beautiful video compilation found below:
“Matthew has unbounded energy and optimism. He manages to keep the inspiration levels, the energy and also the general positivity very high, and I think this is part of the reason the orchestra has blossomed in the past few years and reached a very high level that very few ballet orchestras have.”
Sarah Oates | Leader of the Dutch Ballet Orchestra
“It’s very special how he gave support to projects from beginning to end alongside the dancers, the ballet master, the choreographers in the studio, from the first rehearsal until the premiere. And this is very important for a company like ours.”
Rachel Beaujean | Associate Artistic Director | DNB
“The orchestra and the music really has to flow within the dancer and Matthew really helps stimulate that flow. He really has found a way to be extremely comfortable with us, the jumps or the partnering. He really became an expert at his craft.”
Timothy van Poucke | Principal Dancer | DNB
“It has been a joy and a privilege to work with Matthew on so many projects. His understanding of choreography and what dancers need, and his innate musicality has been such a great contribution to the success of DNB… I look forward to working with him in a different capacity from next year on.”
Ted Brandsen | Artistic Director | DNB
Whilst still maintaining a close connection with DNB as principal guest conductor, initially joining forces again with Alexei Ratmansky in October 2024 for Don Quixote, pastures anew beckon. The 2024-25 season will find Rowe working with the Royal Danish Ballet and Vienna State Ballet, both in Vienna and on tour in Madrid plus much more. Interesting times ahead.
Rowe will be succeeded by regular guest conductor Koen Kessels, currently musical director of both the Royal Ballet Covent Garden and Birmingham Royal Ballet, with the intention of building closer ties with the UK companies. Exciting times for all!
Interesting fact:
Rowe was a coach on the original BBC Maestro series in the UK and worked as a mentor to BBC newsreader Katie Dereham. Many might argue that this project helped launch her successful BBC Radio 3 career where she presents In Tune each evening and is now the face of the BBC Proms. Sitting on the judging panel were conductors Sir Roger Norrington and Simone Young, violinist Maxim Vengerov and double bassist Dominic Seldis.
Read more from Clare
The only way is up: Kerem Hasan
Inside the Rehearsal Room with Klaus Mäkelä and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
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Clare attended the performance at Dutch National Opera and Ballet on Friday 21st June, 2024
