INTERVIEW STEVEN MERCURIO :  I enjoy composing, arranging, and conducting the most.

 Mit Steven Mercurio sprach Markéta Jůzová

Steven Mercurio. Foto: Jan Maly

  Maestro Steven Mercurio, an internationally acclaimed conductor and composer and currently Music Director of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, served as Music Director of the Spoleto Festival for five years and Principal Conductor for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. A sought-after collaborator on many award-winning recordings, arrangements and film projects, he received his master’s degree from the Juilliard School. 

 Maestro Mercurio (*1956), a former long-time assistant to Leonard Bernstein, is the court conductor of the famous Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and has toured with him many times. He has conducted various operatic and symphonic television broadcasts, including the internationally acclaimed „Christmas in Vienna“ series featuring the celebrated Three Tenors (José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti) and more than sixty operas for the stage in seven different languages …

 You come from the state of New York, where you also live. Your surname refers to the Italian culture that you were exposed to as a child. You studied in the U.S. and decided to become a composer and conductor…

Although I was born in Bardonia, New York, I grew up in a family that was influenced not only by American but also by Italian culture. My grandfather moved to the U.S. from Italy before my father was born by just a few weeks. I am proud of my Italian roots, which are clearly reflected, as you say, in my surname Mercurio.

I studied classical music composition in the U.S. first at Boston University where I received my bachelor’s degree in composition. I later became a composition student at the Juilliard School in New York, where I completed my Masters degree. I also taught music theory, harmony and counterpoint at the Juilliard school.

After my studies, I had the great fortune to meet and work with Maestro Leonard Bernstein with whom I created an important musical bond, especially during the last three years of his life. I am deeply convinced that his mentorship profoundly influenced me since his energy, his soulful understanding of the role of music and his even deeper commitment to making a difference in the world through music was incomparable – even to this day. I think a lot of young conductors might dream of becoming famous but I truly believe that throughout those seminal years when I was an assistant to Bernstein, I learned above all to keep my ears, heart and mind open and in service to the music. That was something that could only be learned by watching from somebody as brilliant as Leonard Bernstein.

Steven Mercurio, Markéta Jůzová. Copyright: Archiv

In professional circles, Leonard Bernstein is considered a genius…

Yes, he certainly was a genius. Leonard Bernstein was not only an intellectual, but also a very emotional artist. He composed, conducted, and, was a teacher and promoter of music. He attracted a huge number of people to his profession, many of whom fell in love not only with his compositional works and interpretations, but also with his style of teaching and presenting music on the concert stages around the world. Suffice it to say, he was a great inspiration and role model to me personally.

From Leonard Bernstein, I learned not only the way to communicate with an orchestra, but also how to communicate with the listeners. He taught me the art of being a conductor who belongs to the orchestra. He was not the type of conductor who gave orders to the orchestral players, which they must carry out, but rather, he was a true teacher who felt that the music must come through him and be shown to the orchestral players.

I believe that the listeners at most concerts will also sense this relationship. I really liked how Lenny was able to relax the audience and awaken stronger emotions inside the concertgoers. When I spoke to him after rehearsals, I often saw how completely dedicated he was to the music itself. I was always aware that physically, he wanted to convey to the audience the emotional message that the composer had in mind within his composition.

You are not only a great conductor, but also an excellent concert presenter. You are able to lead the audience emotionally, instructively and humorously.

Thank you. It makes me very happy to hear this. You know, communication with the audience was something I learned by watching Lenny. His famous concerts for young listeners – the “Young People’s Concerts” – were famous and a great inspiration for me. It was always especially true to witness the happiness the orchestra and the audience felt afterward.

To this day, I always want the listeners – the audiences I have the privilege to perform for – to leave the theater feeling that they saw, heard and felt something special. I prefer to welcome an audience into a theater as if they are entering my own personal living room – almost as if they are part of my  family. Then, I invite them inside for a listening experience which is not passive, but rather, an active invitation to sit simply and enjoy the music.

Your dream after graduating from the Juilliard School. You have been composing throughout your career and often arrange. How do you write down your compositions?

I usually compose a new piece with a piano and record the notes on paper. I hear the music in my mind. I like to compose directly by hand onto score paper which sadly is not a practice held by many modern day composers. I still like to feel the connection of pencil to paper. Then, I hand the manuscript over to my copyist to prepare a Sibelius program’s printed score and parts. These days, my calendar is quite full. Ironically, when I worked with Leonard Bernstein, I once asked him if he felt that he was missing something when he was very busy professionally. He told me that he wished he had spent more time composing. I feel the same way. I would like to write more but one has to be alone with his or her musical thoughts which is not always easy.

I am very happy that, for example, the world premiere of my large scale orchestral work For Lost Loved Ones was given its world premiere by Maestro Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Mercurial Overture was performed in its world premiere by the Oslo Philharmonic at a concert for Médecins Sans Frontières honouring the Nobel Peace Prize-winners, broadcast live on television. And my symphony A Grateful Tail, which is based on American playwright Eugene O’Neill’s „Last Will and Testament of Silverdene Emblem O’Neill,“ was performed in its world premiere by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.

As I know, you also enjoy arranging very much. You have collaborated with a number of famous performers …

I have always enjoyed doing crossover projects with various artists, including Andrea Bocelli, Plácido Domingo, Bryn Terfel, Chick Corea, Hauser and Sting and I’m working to this day with some young, emerging artists. For example, I remember Sting fondly not only in connection with numerous joint concerts abroad, but also from the realization of the DVD Symphonicities, a live recording for the Deutsche Grammophon label.

I also enjoy helping artists with orchestrations as well as trying to create an environment whereby they feel comfortable so that they can perform at their best. With the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, we also recorded music for the solo album The Player by the renowned cellist Hauser for Sony Music Masterworks. I myself also enjoy playing the guitar, which was my own first virtuoso instrument, but all in all, I enjoy composing, arranging, and conducting the most.

You have also closely linked your artistic career with the famous tenor Andrea Bocelli, with                whom you have celebrated thirty years of his career collaborations…

I met Andrea Bocelli in 1998 and since then we have been performing and preparing new musical programs. I love conducting the opera and symphonic repertoire. In addition to the touring around North America, South America, Australia and Europe. In New York with Andrea, I also conducted a gala evening for him with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

We have also made a number of recordings. For example, in Prague with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra the extremely successful album Believe was a great source of professional collaboration and pride. I know Bocelli’s voice extremely well and I know how he feels about musical drama. Andrea Bocelli´s 30th anniversary celebration of his wonderful career was for me also a celebration of our long term musical friendship.

You are Music Director of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. What do you like about the orchestra?

I love the fact that the Czech National Symphony Orchestra is able to play a wide range of repertoire – compositions across varying genres, and to do so very successfully. I am happy to be their chief conductor and our collaboration is a great joy.

We happily play symphonic, concert, opera and film music, musicals and sometimes jazz compositions. I enjoy passing on my American experience to the players, including when it comes to practicing difficult rhythms in compositions by classical or musical composers from my homeland. It’s great that the Czech National Symphony Orchestra is able to interpret works from multiple genres in a stylish way. I must say that I am proud of our fantastic recordings. I take pride  in developing the orchestra as we gain world renown.

We have toured, for example in my own country, in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. When I saw how the orchestra played with love and the players gave their committed musicianship to the performances, I was extremely proud.

You were Music Director of the Spoleto Festival in Italy and Principal Conductor for the Opera Company of Philadelphia. You have conducted more than sixty operas for the stage in seven different languages. Which premieres were you particularly proud of?

For the Spoleto Festival in Italy, I performed, for example, Gian Carlo Menotti’s Goya (recorded for Nuova Era) and Giacomo Puccini’s Il Trittico, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Nose and John Corigliano’s Symphony No.1.

Among my accomplishments in Italy, I conducted the highly acclaimed Italian premiere of the complete version of Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg for the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, the premiere of Andre Previn’s Streetcar Named Desire in Torino, and the premiere of Kurt Weill’s Lady in the Dark in Palermo and Rome. I also conducted the U.S. premiere of Mieczysław Weinberg’s extremely powerful opera The Passenger.

In other countries, I have conducted a new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata for the Staatsoper Bonn and London’s English National Opera, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème and Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman for the San Francisco Opera. In addition to my operatic performances, my symphonic commitments have taken me across the globe. I have appeared throughout Europe and the United Kingdom, Australia, the Far East and the United States. I have also conducted various operatic and symphonic television broadcasts.

During Advent and Christmas, many classical music lovers still enjoy listening to your album, which you recorded with the famous tenors Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in the Austrian capital for Sony Classical Records.

I also enjoy listening to CDs during the holiday season. The concert of the Three Tenors Christmas in Vienna featuring Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, has only been conducted in concerts and recordings by Zubin Mehta and James Levine. I became the third and final conductor of their joint recording, which was a great honor for me.

That beautiful concert was in Vienna in 1999 and the CD was released the following year, but we recorded it in December. Performing a beautiful Christmas program with these three iconic tenors is something, to this day, I regard as a very special project.

Your work with the Three Tenors and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra was very interesting for you…

The work with the Three Tenors was for me a joy because they are very different. It was a great time. I had worked a lot with Luciano Pavarotti in the U. S. I knew him the best of the Three Tenors because he had his own vocal competition in Philadelphia, where we worked together as I was Principal Guest Conductor there. I had known him since 1987. His voice was wonderful and he was a great artist, a very generous person especially for the people he trusted.

With Plácido Domingo, I performed not just the Christmas in Vienna recording projects, but also performed Umberto Giordano´s Fedora at the Teatro dell´Opera in Rome. Domingo is a very open personality. José Carreras was the only one of the tenors that I didn’t know.  He’s a very kind man and the funniest of the three. The Orchestra and children’s choir for this project were excellent.

 You also conduct film music, you have been invited to Hollywood projects…

Film music is fun. Yes, I have also participated on a number of Hollywood films. I also collaborated with director Julie Taymor on the film Frida, a gripping drama about the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, played by Salma Hayek. I recorded the music for the film, which was composed by Elliot Goldenthal, in Los Angeles, New York and London.

Film music is a very intense collaboration with many spontaneous changes. It requires a skillful and flexible approach with the director. When recording, it is extremely important that both the director and the composer are satisfied. Everything happens relatively quickly because recording is very expensive.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak with you and your audience. I hope to see you all at a concert near you soon.

Markéta Jůzová