Since winning the 1st Prize of the renowned “Lovro von Matacic” International Competition for Young Conductors in 2007, Jimmy Chiang’s conducting career has brought tremendous international attention, both on concert stages as well as in opera pits.
His wide-ranging repertoire covers from Viennese Classic to living contemporaries.
2012 saw his convincing interpretation of the Spanish premiere of Elliott Carter’s Cello Concerto with the Orquesta Sinfonica Castillo y Leon in Valladolid. Equally highly acclaimed by critics was his Mozart Gala with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hansestadt Lübeck as “elegant and cultivated with his Vienna connections”.
Jimmy Chiang has worked as the assistant music director of the Wagner’s “Ring” cycle at Theater Lübeck as well as numerous opera productions at the historic Eutin Opera Festival.
In 2009, he was appointed Kapellmeister at Theater Freiburg in Germany. Moreover, he has appeared as a guest conductor at the Komischen Oper Berlin, Theater Heidelberg and Schloßtheater Schönbrunn in Vienna.
In addition, his many years of experience as an excellent vocal coach and collaborative pianist on international concert stages such as the Wiener Musikverein has made him an excellent opera conductor who skillfully unites the stage and orchestra with sensitivity and leadership. This has been proven, among others, in his successful production of Ligeti’s opera Le Grand Macabre with prominent stage director Calixto Bieito in 2010.
Born to a musical family in Hong Kong, trained as a concert pianist since he was four, Jimmy Chiang also studied cembalo, organ, cello and composition. He received his main musical training from England (FTCL), the U.S.A (Bachelor of Music) and Vienna/Austria (Magister Artium), where he was protégé of Seiji Ozawa (Vienna State Opera) and Leopold Hager (Vienna National Opera). Moreover, he inherited the tradition of Russian and German School of piano playing from renowned pianists Krassimira Jordan and Wolfgang Watzinger respectively.
All these together with his multicultural background (being fluent in English, German and Chinese) cultivated his versatility yet genuineness musically.
(Q): Question
(C): Mr. Jimmy Chiang
C : Let’s say I always had a feeling that I could do it. My father said when I was five, we were sitting on the beach, and I picked a stick and started conducting. I think conducting is a personality; it is not really a job. I have always been put into a leadership position, as a prefect or a class leader. And then, seeing my mother conduct in her choir, singing in her choir, I got in touch with this kind of relationship. I think I know how to do it by nature, but it did not make me decide until when I saw the video of Leonard Bernstein conducting the Beethoven Ninth in Berlin. This was the year when the Berlin Wall was broken down. Germany was united and there was a big celebration. I never heard of him until the news that a famous conductor had passed away! My father bought this video of Bernstein. When I saw it, I thought, “That’s it.” I was going to be there. I regret that I did not meet him personally. It has touched me and has almost changed my life.
C : There is a big difference, of course. In Hong Kong, or even in Asia, people see music from the outside, from a distance; while in Vienna, people see music as a part of themselves, something inside. I could make an example. In Hong Kong, the concert halls here are public, they dim the light and it becomes really dark, and the musicians are up there with the spotlight. It is an event, which is important, but there is a wall between the artists and the audience. In Vienna, it is one. For example, the light in the New Year Concert in the Golden Hall is always the same, at the centre they play and we are so close. We play blouse concerts, we play in castles or palaces, and people could just sit around us. This is how it was in Schubert or Brahms’ time. People would exchange ideas. The public has more contact with artists and they respect that. I think it is only this country that has this Visa, in which you are allowed to state if you are a professional as a free artist.
Here in Hong Kong, people will say that music is just a small part of them. If you have the time and money, then you may go to a concert. For people in Vienna, if they have to go to a concert, they will get up to work earlier. Here, I just see people rush into concerts. Once I was really paying attention to the people on the streets. They could be coming out of taxis, listening to so many other noises, and a minute later they went into a concert hall next to a parlour. To me, that does not fit.
I don’t know whether it is a cultural or a social difference.
C : I think a conductor has to know both. There is, of course, a difference in how you move your gesture and how you show innovation. I personally think that one cannot just say I am a choral conductor or just an orchestra conductor. People just categorize things nowadays. Like an orchestra conductor who just leaves the choir to the choral master, and knows nothing about it. You cannot do it, because a piece of music is one piece. You cannot just say I can only cook noodles but nothing else.
Generally, clearness on how you beat should be for both. For voice, a lot of emphasis is put on breathing, but playing violins also requires breathing. You must be able to exchange ideas between them. We always tell instrumentalists that they must sing, and we tell vocalists to use their breathing like a bow. Actually, they benefit each other. So, the most ideal conductor is to be able to do both. I had both experiences. My mother was a choir director and I sang in her choir, so I know both very well and it really helps. I believe in complete and rounded knowledge.
C : I think it has to come from the individuals. If you consider Festive Chamber as a group, and you want to be self-directed, i.e. without a conductor, then you have to reach the level of the Vienna Philharmonic. That is to say, each of you must have the responsibility of your own, the responsibility of knowing the music, at the same level. You need a system where every member has the same spirit and agree on the same level of commitment. This spirit will drive you to be self-directed.
What I meant by my website is actually a goal of being independent. You learn all your life but you cannot depend on your teachers. You cannot do things because of what your teachers say. You have to develop what someone taught you, you have to be able to explain it to yourself, and you have to be able to teach it yourself. You have to be able to self-criticise which means to be honest. If something is really bad, you must be able to say to yourself that it is really bad and beat yourself up.
Then, you expand it back to the group. If you really treat this as your goal, then it requires a lot of work. You must ensure that no one becomes defensive. You have to be open to pointing out the mistakes of each member. You have to be your own coach. Every person has to make a vow to a certain constitution that everyone is equal and they need or live up to it. If you want to pass on the spirit, you must train your own successors, just like how Vienna Philharmonic works. There are no open auditions; so you must be a student of one of them to be part of it.
C : I cannot change this tradition. Music is something from which you cannot earn more. In a society like this, the only thing people think about is how to earn more. You will end up making music bad, and in fact, it is already going in that direction. Nowadays, people only support superstars, like Lang Lang. They only want to have one person famous and sell as many CDs as possible to make a profit. It has nothing to do with how they play or their taste or their musicality; the marketers are just selling us (musicians) as products. If you go on that level, there is nothing you can do about it. Yes, it is important, because everyone needs to survive, people have to go commercial, but if you focus too much in that direction, you may end up losing your own identity. Unless the education of music can go in a different direction, the music culture can not change.
In Hong Kong, people learn music just for exams and competitions. When you do music, people immediately ask you, “What grade did you pass?” “Are you grade 8 yet?” Or “Are you AT?” When I ask someone “Can you play the piano?”, they would immediately tell me what grade they are in, but when I ask them what pieces they have played, they cannot name one sometimes. That is really sad. If you tell me, that recently you are working on Beethoven Concerto No.1, then I would already know what level you are at. I do not need a grade to know how much you can manage. You don’t have to be good, but it is a concept and approach that has to be changed. To change the core is the hardest.
