| General Information | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
OPERA PREPARES ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTING STUDENT Mike Williams Special to the Rice News When Thomas Hong speaks, he looks you straight in the eye, but his hands are in constant motion. It's a trait you'd expect of a conductor, even one so young.
Hong completed his final major project at the Shepherd School when he served as student conductor for the last of four sold-out performances of "L'elisir d'amore" ("The Elixir of Love"), Gaetano Donizetti's 1832 opera, performed by the Shepherd School Opera and Chamber Orchestra at the Wortham Opera Theater. "It was out of this world," Hong said of his first experience conducting a fully staged production. "It was unbelievable. An opera production encompasses so many facets of not just musical art but also theater and drama." He began studying performances of "L'elisir" on DVD last summer while serving as an assistant to famed conductor Kurt Masur with the Orchestre National de France. "You have to know the opera cold," he said, explaining he felt it necessary to study the production visually as well as musically before diving into the score. "I wanted the whole experience." Bado's baton Hong's turn at the podium March 24 followed three performances under the baton of Richard Bado, professor and director of opera studies, who helped him learn how important it was to understand the tendencies of each singer. "He knew their voices better than they did," Hong said. Bado, who recently conducted the singers in an opera scenes performance, was delighted to pass along his passion for opera and knowledge of the singers to Hong, one of the Shepherd School's two current conducting students. "In order for a conductor to thrive in the operatic world," Bado said, "he or she must embrace the art form, love the sound of the classically trained voice and have a sense of drama." Bado was impressed with Hong's adaptability. "He absorbed so much during the rehearsal process," Bado said. "You would never know that it was his first fully staged opera." "L'elisir" also provided Hong his first opportunity to work with a director -- Debra Dickinson, artist teacher of opera studies. Dickinson and Bado had selected the opera for its "bel canto," or beautiful singing, style, an Italian method that originated in the 17th century. "It's a style that's important for our students to know," Dickinson said. "We choose the operas based partly on what singers we have who will fit specific roles, and partly to provide experience in a variety of operatic styles that will prepare the students for operatic careers. This is training, and audition material, for what they will do in the future." "It was so challenging, but I certainly got, in this one experience, as much as I could get in terms of understanding opera traditions," Hong said. "I also learned from Debra about being creative, imaginative and willing to adjust at a moment's notice." The road to Rice Hong, who holds degrees in orchestral and choral conducting, spent four years as a visiting assistant professor of music at Haverford College in Philadelphia before coming to Rice. Studying at the Shepherd School was a major step forward for Hong, a native of Korea whose family settled in Pennsylvania. "I was already modestly established in Philadelphia, but I came here for the teacher, Maestro Larry Rachleff," Hong said. Rachleff is the Walter Kris Hubert Professor of Orchestra Conducting at the Shepherd School. "His reputation among the conducting profession, both as a pedagogue and a performer, is unparalleled. Everybody wants to study with him because he has such charisma and such a genuine love for the art and a genuine care for his students." While Hong takes the long view of his career -- "It is absolutely true that conductors peak at 50 or 60. That's when you're at the top of your game," he said -- his choice of Rice is already paying dividends. With Rachleff's help, he was invited to audition for positions as assistant conductor with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as well as the Orchestre National de France, and he got both jobs. "With my teacher's help, I was able to go to Paris and within five minutes convince them I was their next assistant conductor," Hong said. He'll spend the summer working in Paris with Masur, who he said will conduct a complete set of Beethoven overtures and symphonies this year. In the fall Hong returns to take up his position in Fort Worth. "I came to study at Rice at the right time because I had enough experience to fully take in my teacher's suggestions and the things he wanted me to learn," Hong said. "He has been in every way a role model." Though Hong's last major project at Rice is in the books, he'll continue his studies until commencement May 10. "I might do a few things for friends, a chamber orchestra or something like that," Hong said. "But I have worked so hard, and I've been busy like never before during these two years here. So I'm very much looking forward to some down time!" |
