German-Japanese conductor Elias Grandy is acclaimed for his technical precision and deep understanding of the psychological nuances in great music. This award-winning artist delivers evocative interpretations of operatic and orchestral masterpieces.
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00:00German conductor Elias Grondi has won worldwide acclaim for his evocative interpretations
00:09of operatic and orchestral classics.
00:12Elias has been praised for his technical precision and an ability to grasp the psychological
00:18depth of great music.
00:20In recent years, he's wowed audiences with acclaimed productions in cities as diverse
00:26as Frankfurt, Portland and Tokyo.
00:30The award-winning music star has come to the Middle East on a mission to make classical
00:34music accessible to all.
00:38Elias, we're here at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
00:50You're preparing for a big performance with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.
00:54You come here a lot, don't you?
00:56What's the draw of this region?
00:58Of course, as an artist, we always have the privilege that we can see the world and go
01:04to so many different places.
01:07In my line of work, very often it's places with a long tradition, or orchestras with
01:14a long tradition.
01:16And here, I think the beauty is that it's such a young orchestra, an orchestra that
01:23was founded 15 years ago, and so that has a completely different atmosphere to it.
01:29And of course, you can feel also, same as with the orchestra, that the city is very
01:37dynamic, evolving very quickly.
01:40And to come here regularly and to see how things change every time other things stay,
01:46and to be able to witness that, it's just a wonderful thing for me.
01:53Your own life in music began learning the cello as a child.
01:58When did it first become obvious to you that you perhaps had a talent that could turn into
02:03a career in music?
02:05I come from a music-loving family, but not professional musicians.
02:11And so it was just part of our education that we learned an instrument, and then with me
02:17and with my brother, it turned out in our teenage years that actually we might be good
02:21at that.
02:22The other part, of course, is you have to love it.
02:25You have to, you find what this music, what classical music, how rich it is, how fulfilling
02:34it is to spend time with it and to get to know it and to discover this universe that
02:42every piece has, a universe of emotions, of stories that are in these pieces.
02:50When we listen to it and we take it in, then it is a comfort also that we are all searching
02:56for something in this life, on this planet, whichever our situation is.
03:02And then we come together, in this case with music, and we realise, oh, we can also be
03:07together because we share the same questions.
03:12And you were a cellist for many years in many different orchestras before you became a conductor.
03:19So you know what it feels like to perform from two different perspectives.
03:23I always like to say an orchestra is one of the most beautiful things that humankind has
03:31created.
03:34It has an enormous complexity to it.
03:38Each single player has to be extremely good on their own instrument, but then they have
03:44to play together as well.
03:46An orchestra therefore is as a whole also like a living organism and to have been part
03:54of that organism and to understand and to feel what is important for each single part
04:02of that entity was very helpful for me to make sure that these parts can come together
04:11and live and breathe.
04:16Thank you so much for inviting us in behind the scenes into your world.
04:31You've got a passion for making music more accessible, experimenting with ideas to connect
04:37more with younger people.
04:39Why is that so important to you?
04:41People sometimes believe classical music is not so accessible or it's hard to understand
04:46or have to know a lot about it.
04:48But actually it's just spending a little bit of time with it and sometimes, and this is
04:54where I believe my part comes in as well, or our part as musicians and as artists, sometimes
05:02we just also have to help and guide a little bit and say, look, if you know this little
05:09bit about it, then you will experience the music in a completely different way.
05:15And because I do it quite a lot and I see what it does to the audience and how much
05:21it helps.
05:22So I'm a strong believer in that.
05:26You've very obviously had a lot of success, but along the way, have there also been challenges,
05:32difficulties too?
05:33I mean, what's your attitude towards perceived failure or challenges in general?
05:39We always talk about talent as if it would be something that is given, but everything
05:48is always a combination of talent and hard work.
05:53And every challenge, every failure, everything that doesn't work out is just an incentive
06:00to work on yourself, to better yourself.
06:02And that is something I actually love about the job that I'm doing because it has this
06:07demand all the time.
06:08The music has this demand because the music is absolute and in itself perfect, but we
06:17are not perfect.
06:18Failure is always part of the way and part of the process and in some way almost then
06:26also imminent to the process because then the human side of it, the humanity comes out.
06:33Talking more about the human side of things.
06:36I know you've said that actually working with individual musicians is a really important
06:42job of the conductor.
06:45Can you tell me a bit about your approach to that type of leadership?
06:50First of all, leadership comes only through competence.
06:54You work with musicians who are highly trained, who are doing this for their whole life.
06:58You have to know how to inspire them, how to give something to them and which way to
07:09do that.
07:10Each orchestra has its own personality.
07:12How does an orchestra work musically, but also as people, as a group of people?
07:18What kind of dynamics can be in there?
07:21What do I have to deal with?
07:22How will I deal with that?
07:25And to then find a way to focus everyone on the meaning and the message of the music
07:34that we are going to perform and to find common ground, to say, okay, this is how we want
07:40to perform it together.
07:43I'm sure that people all over the world will be looking forward to seeing much more of
07:46you throughout this year and the next.
07:49Elias, thank you so much for allowing us into your world and being our guest on the dialogue.