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Victoria Symphony’s new conductor targets millennials

The Victoria Symphony’s new conductor hopes to bring “the lost generation” back to classical music. That would be the millennials — the folk born between 1982 and 2004.
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Victoria Symphony conductor Christian Kluxen will not be keeping a home in the city.

 

The Victoria Symphony’s new conductor hopes to bring “the lost generation” back to classical music.

That would be the millennials — the folk born between 1982 and 2004. Conductor Christian Kluxen knows something about that, being a 35-year-old millennial himself.

“I want to focus on the lost generation of classical music, which is my generation,” said Kluxen, whose appointment as the Victoria Symphony’s music director was announced in October.

The 2017-18 season marks Kluxen’s takeover from music director Tania Miller. Miller will be feted at a gala fundraiser on Friday (details below). Kluxen, who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, is in town this week for the gala and the Victoria Symphony’s formal announcement of its upcoming season.

Symphony orchestra seasons require long-term planning. So it fell to Miller to create the skeleton of the upcoming season. Kluxen had a hand in “tweaking” it, however, he said.

It was, for instance, his choice to include Ravel’s Piano Concerto in D Major for Left Hand. It’s an unusual work for which, as the title suggests, the pianist uses only his or her left hand (it was originally commissioned by pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in the First World War).

“I think it’s a masterpiece. It’s so funky. It’s so light and yet rather dark,” Kluxen said.

The conductor’s other touches include booking guests with whom he has previously collaborated: conductors Nathan Brock (for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1) and Jordan de Souza (for Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1), as well as singers Kari Postma and Peter Lodahl (for Verdi’s Requiem).

It was also Kluxen’s choice to program Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Symphonic Rhapsody by Carl Nielsen, arguably Denmark’s most prominent composer.

Kluxen, who is bearded and exuberant, has a theory about millennials. He thinks being a generation raised in the galeforce of social-media technology blunted the impact classical music had on them — at least compared with their parents and grandparents. Nonetheless, he also believes that, as millennials get older and live through profound experiences such as having children, the allure of fine arts increases.

“I want to catch them. It’s at my age that people start going to museums without doing it because their college says they have to,” he said.

Kluxen said the secret to attracting younger audiences is not just programming, but how concerts are presented.

“I’m not sure I want to tell you yet completely about our plans. It will possibly be creative,” he said.

Victoria Symphony executive director Kathryn Laurin said Kluxen’s plans include adding audio-visual elements to concerts to “enhance the overall experience.”

He will be here for 10 weeks this season, conducting and overseeing administrative tasks. When interviewed last October, Kluxen said he was considering retaining homes in Victoria and Copenhagen. Now, he says he will not rent an apartment in this city.

Basing himself in Copenhagen makes it easier to maintain a career in Europe as a freelance conductor.

Kluxen’s upcoming season includes engagements with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and trips to Belfast, Italy and Romania.

Kluxen said he originally imagined the orchestra would make living in Victoria a prerequisite. This hasn’t been the case. Laurin said the Victoria Symphony realized finding the best candidate would mean accepting that he or she might not live here. (Miller, Kluxen’s predecessor, is based in Vancouver.)

“After thorough consultation with the [orchestra’s] board, where some members initially thought that residency was required, they completely and unanimously endorsed Christian’s candidacy,” Laurin said. “Some of the finest conductors now hold positions with two and sometimes three orchestras, and travel the globe.”

 

• The Victoria Symphony will perform works such as Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 and the overture from Strauss’s Die Fledermaus at the Tribute to Tania Gala on Friday.

The evening at the Victoria Conference Centre, which includes dancing, a dinner and an auction, pays tribute to departing conductor Tania Miller.

The event is a joint fundraiser for the Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera Victoria. Tickets, which cost $300, can be purchased by phoning 250-385-9771.

achamberlain@timescolonist.comc