Peter McCoppin was one of this city’s best-known conductors.
Whatever happened to him, anyway?
As music director of the Victoria Symphony in the 1990s, McCoppin was the “great communicator” — a guy who charmed audiences with a laser-beam bonhomie that radiated to the concert hall’s back row. He cut a dashing figure: tall, slender, elegant, with the longish (but not too long) hair.
He seemed, well … like a real maestro. Charismatic and dynamic. His friend, the late Ed Oscapella, dubbed him “media-genic.”
Certainly, McCoppin was good for the Victoria Symphony’s visibility and financial health during his decade-long tenure. He co-founded Symphony Splash, the annual Inner Harbour barge concert that last year drew an estimated 40,000. In 1997, announcing his intention to step down, McCoppin was credited with helping eliminate a dangerous $289,000 deficit, boosting the number of Victoria Symphony concerts by 40 per cent and more than doubling its audience.
Today McCoppin — who still lives here — is a keynote speaker and coach for speech writing and public speaking. He coaches executives on how to present themselves and develop leadership skills. Some 350 government workers have taken his three-day leadership course. McCoppin’s credits include a six-year contract coaching Telus employees.
“Now, at this time in my life, I’m living a much more quiet and private life,” he said. “I want to see other people shine.”
McCoppin, 65, still conducts on occasion. Last May he conducted the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. Next year he’ll return to China to conduct the Shenzhen orchestra for a recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto and other works. But his main focus is giving workshops on communication and leadership.
I met him at his Saxe Point home, a redesigned vintage bungalow with a large back garden. McCoppin, ever public spirited, says his park-like garden is open to anyone who wants stroll through it. His furnishings are sparse and elegant. Downstairs in his study is a large oil painting of himself, baton in hand. There’s an upright piano, where he likes to end his day playing Bach.
McCoppin says he got into coaching public speaking almost by accident. In 1997 he was also music director of the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina, a post he held for eight years. After conducting the orchestra through Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, he and others went to dinner.
Among their party was Sue Becht, an executive with Duke Energy (the largest electric-power holding company in the U.S.). She’d just been offered the position of vice-president of investor relations. In her words, it was a “dream job.” But she’d likely have to turn it down because it required public speaking.
And this terrified her.
Becht had noticed how McCoppin spoke to the audience from the podium. Would he consider coaching her?
That weekend the conductor hastily devised a public-speaking program. Becht was so impressed, she asked him to coach other executive-level colleagues at Duke Energy as well.
McCoppin decided his interest in being music director of an orchestra was waning. He still enjoyed guest conducting. But the music director’s position calls for many tedious tasks, such as non-stop fundraising and endless administrative duties.
And the travel could get crazy. When McCoppin was music director of both the Victoria and Charlotte orchestras, he’d sometimes arrive in one city, catch five hours of sleep, then catch a 6 a.m. plane the next day.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh,’ ” McCoppin said.
So he decided to shift into teaching communication skills, while keeping a hand in guest conducting.
McCoppin see similarities in his new and old vocations. As a conductor, you help others create music for an audience. As a public-speaking coach, you help others present themselves to an audience.
“I love that empowerment, where I can stand in the background and see other people shine,” he said.
His background in public speaking is far reaching. In years past, McCoppin hosted national CBC Radio shows such as Mostly Music, RSVP and Arts National. He was also host of Classic Theatre for the Knowledge Network.
McCoppin and his ex-wife (an amicable split, he says) had no children together. He keeps busy in his spare time practising yoga, and exercising: swimming, biking and lifting weights.
And he meditates daily. In conversation, McCoppin exudes a Zen-like civility, meeting some questions with a “thank you” before answering, and greeting another with: “It’s not nosy at all, thank you for your care.”
Years ago, when he first took over Victoria Symphony, I quizzed Vancouver critic Michael Scott on McCoppin’s strengths as a conductor (McCoppin came to Victoria after serving as the Vancouver Symphony’s music adviser and conductor). Scott said he admired McCoppin’s attempt to understand music at its most elemental and mystical. He added: “I have heard him play music that can just carry you away because he is lost in it.”
At his house, McCoppin recalled his most memorable concerts: cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Nigel Kennedy, Verdi’s Requiem, Carmina Burana.
What’s it like conducting, I wondered, when everything seemed to work perfectly?
“It feels effortless, it feels everything is inevitable,” McCoppin said. “It’s the most amazing meditation I can imagine.”
