The Bobby Bones Show - Jonathan Cohen - Artistic Director of The Handel + Haydn Society

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

In this episode of Takin' A Walk Buzz Knight is speaking with Jonathan Cohen. Jonathan is the Artistic Director for The Handel + Haydn Society. H and H is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra that has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815. Jonathan Cohen is one of H and H's youngest artistic directors ever.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing.

Greg Gillespie and Michael Mianini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. this is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Ikew, I got you. And I'm I go on. My next guest, it's Will Farrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever.

He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck.

Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Dr. Maya Shunker, a cognitive scientist and hosts of the podcast, a slight change of plans. A show about who we are and who we become when life makes other. plans. I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change. We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes. You can have opinions. You can have like a strong stance. And then there's your body having its own program. Listen to a slight change of plans on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Taking a walk. Music has its demands as well. When we're a musician, sometimes we're a bit like an actor and we have to be what the

music needs us to be sometimes. We have to draw on all our temperamental possibilities, I think, to being able to realize the music. So there's that as well. There's who we really are and who we are for the music and there's many levels. Welcome to the Taken a Walk podcast, where your host Buzz Knight features guests that share their stories and speak of their love of music. On this episode, We explore the world of chamber music with a man who has had a remarkable career as a conductor, a cellist, and a keyboardist. The H&H Society was founded in 1815, and Jonathan at the age of 44 is one of their youngest artistic directors in history. The new season of H&H is called What's Old is New Again. Let's join Buzz and Jonathan in Boston on Taking a Walk.

Well, Jonathan, thanks for having me here. Can you describe what is on this wall here first, Jonathan? Well, there's a lot of music there. That's all nicely organized. Look, there's Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat, Massin G minor. There's a tonne. I won't read out all the names, but there's a lot of repertoire and music

that the organization's been performing for years here, I'd imagine. Yeah. Is it someone's responsibility to put these in files here? Oh, yeah, I would imagine absolutely a. We have to keep them nicely ordered. A lot of sheet music, you know, musicians, we write our bowings and markings

in there, and so there's a lot of history in those pages, yeah. Well, congratulations on the new appointment as the artistic director. Tell me how it feels. How excited are you? I'm very excited. It feels great. It's a wonderful chance

to do really great music here in Boston with fantastic musicians, and I'm thrilled to be here. And how about just being in Boston in general? How does that feel? Yeah, it's a fantastic place. I'm very, I'm really, I feel a lot of energy here, you know.

I don't know if that's, if you feel that too, but it feels to me that there's a lot of, a lot of love and love for music, a lot of energy of culture here. It's an exciting place. It is. I always feel that way, coming into the city, I live out in the suburbs, but coming to Boston is always a true joy, and getting to meet you is a joy. Since it's called taking a walk, do you like taking walks in cities like Boston?

I do. I like walking a lot. I often walk to rehearsals, and, you know, especially if it's a nice day like today with the sun shining. It's a pleasure. I like hiking as well, actually. I do quite a lot of that. Something very healthy and lovely to be outdoors, I think.

And when you're in the midst of a long day of rehearsals, is it a welcome moment to just go clear your head and take a walk? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. You know, being in one room all day working, it's nice to get out, isn't it, and go find a spot of lunch and nice coffee, walk around a little bit. Absolutely. So talk specifically about some of your background that you think has essentially really

prepared you for this new work you'll be part of? Yeah, well, I was a cellist to start off with... Well, actually, that's not entirely true. I was a pianist. I started piano when I was very little. And then I got into the cello when I was about aged eight. And I, you know, I did a lot of chamber music. I think that helped prepare me a lot

because I think baroque music is a lot about chamber music. So I played in string quartets, and I used to go on summer courses as a kid to change. chamber music courses, you know, playing chamber music. And, yeah, so I found baroque music a little bit later. When I was at Cambridge, I went to university and I studied music there. And I got into the, you know, with those beautiful chapel choirs and the music there. I used to enjoy putting things together.

And I had lots of friends who were singers and instrumentalists. And I always sort of, you know, found a nice piece of music from the library, something a bit interesting and said, hey, wonder what this sounds like. Let's get together and play it. So I was always fascinated with the idea of just bringing people together to play music that we didn't know. And that was always my sort of driving motivation, really. And is it still something that you have the same passion as to when you started? Absolutely.

I always love discovering new music. And there's so much music. It's almost like you'll never run out. In the past, you know, it's music from everywhere. And that's one of the great pleasures about music, really. It's never-ending possibilities and new combinations, infinite combinations of notes to put together. And, you know, each time we make it, we make it anew.

With people, with different people, and you make a note, and then it disappears, and it's gone forever. And you then get together and do it again. That's the great thing about music, isn't it? So is there going to be a particular theme to this new set? season? Yeah, well, you know, I think there's, we're liking, we very much think that what is, what is old is new again. And that's a nice, I guess, summary of what's, what music's all about, really, and especially baroque music, because it is new again. We pick up the score, and we reinvent it.

And that's happening all the time. That's one of the pleasures of doing this kind of great music. So what are typical days like leading up to when you will be opening? So this week's going to be very busy. We're opening with Israel and Egypt by Handel on Friday and Sunday, first of the new season. And we'll be rehearsing frenetically all week, actually, which is great. This is really diving into this fantastic, monumental piece of Handel. the chorus yesterday

we met them for the first time in this piece they're sounding absolutely fabulous so we'll meet the orchestra today and we'll gradually put it together over the week so that's a lot of fun how long are the rehearsals three hours generally per rehearsal and then we do like two or three of them sometimes a day

and you know I'm going around working we'll put it together we'll work the chorus separately and we'll look over things the sort of little, all the details about how to, you know, where we're putting the consonants and ideas about the, about the music specifically relates to the chorus. And then today, I'll take the orchestra by itself and just, you know, we'll get to know the music and look at what concerns the orchestra. And then tomorrow and the next days, we'll start putting it all together.

And it just sort of grows bigger and bigger. And we sort of zone out, you know, just thinking musically less about details and more about the big picture as it grows and grows into the performance, I think. Is there a little chaos in the process at all? Well, a little chaos, never hurts. It's good. I mean, it's good to be creative, and I suppose creativity is where chaos lives. But I try to be as planned as I can, especially when you're organizing people's times.

It would be a little too chaotic to be saying, let's rehearse this, and then without the right number of people there or things like that. So I try to be as organized as I can be. Do you have somebody that's the equivalent of a chief of staff, of the whole operation that assists you, or is it just you bringing everybody along? No, I mean, there's a huge amount of organization work that goes into this. I mean, organizations are very lucky to have IRA working,

looking after all the musicians and organizing that and, you know, and musically, I'm there running the rehearsals. So, yeah, yeah. I worked for somebody that, as I was managing radio stations and on-air talent, who suggested to me that managing talent is similar to conduct, an orchestra and having the players in the orchestra play the notes that I'm asking them to play. I wanted to get your take on that in terms of what's important to be that leader, that director, and understanding the temperament of people and how you finesse that. Yeah, I mean, there is a, I think that's a great similarity.

Being a conductor, it's actually sort of being a leader of, I mean, you know, if you think of that, in terms of in a business or something. It's something similar. It's the same sort of... You want to bring the best out of the people that are in front of you, and you want to enable people to really have the chance to invest their personality, their experience, their skills, and you want to create an environment and condition

where people are happy to give their best, you know, and I think that's what is important for a conductor to bring out of musicians, I think, you know? Is there some psychology involved? I'm sure there is with everything in life, no? I mean, yeah, a little bit. I like to, I like to, you know, think a lot about people's temperaments and how we can, you know, get the music sounding.

Because music has its demands as well. When we're a musician, sometimes we're a bit like an actor, and we have to be what the music needs us to be sometimes. We have to draw on all our temperamental possibilities, I think, to be able to realize the music. So there's that as well. There's who we really are and who we are for the music. And, you know, there's many levels.

What does it mean to you, when you think of the historical perspective here of the society and its history? What does all that mean to you in terms of how you're going to guide it moving forward? Yeah, it's an immense... I suppose it's humbling, you know, this organisation is an illustrious organisation over many years. It's done a lot of great work, great music, and I feel like I'm a part of the story now, you know. It's maybe a little chapter in the story of H&H, and I'm keen to respond to what needs to happen today. and I feel very privileged and lucky to be able to be involved.

So when you go through a performance, is there a post-mortem after where you sort of look and say, hey, everybody, we did this brilliantly, we need to work on this point? We often have two performances during a week, and there's a little tiny rehearsal before the second one. So sometimes after the first one, if there are items. Yeah, I mean, I will go away after

and sort of get the score out again the next day and try and think over, you know, how can I improve what was good, what could be better, always, you know. And the second performances, it's interesting actually, second performances are often very different to first performance. I found that in a lot in the opera sometimes.

Because, you know, people, as we were talking about psychology, people often have achieved a rather great thing in the, on their first performance and the energy is often different on the second one. Maybe it's a little bit wiser. You never know. But maybe less energy, but a bit wiser.

So there are challenges to a second performance. It's interesting. Who are some of the leaders in your career that have shaped you and really influenced you? Yeah, I was lucky to work as a young assistant conductor with William Christie for a long time, four or five years actually in France. with his organisation Les Arlese Floreson.

And I learned a great deal from Bill. It was a very exciting time. You know, I got to watch things close up and I was lucky to have a responsibility. He gave me a lot of responsibility, you know, go and rehearse this and go and sort things out with these singers. And it's often difficult, I think, as a conductor.

I mean, people train as conductors, you know, now in music colleges and things. and it's very difficult to get... You have to have pilot hours, you know. It's like, you know, you have to actually learn to fly the real plane. Simulators are not... I mean, it can be useful, but being with people and having the chance to do that is extraordinarily valuable for a musician.

I was very lucky with Bill, because he gave me a lot of time with the orchestra, a lot of responsibilities to undertake, and it was, you know, form. time for me. Is that the biggest thing that he taught you, that freedom that he gave you? Just being part of that musical community,

it was regularly doing wonderful music and big operas and staged operas and things with singers and orchestras and chamber music and all sorts of things. Just being part of it and sitting in on rehearsals and then taking rehearsals and being part of the hustle and bustle. I got to see what does it take to make a schedule

or what do directors, how do they need to collaborate with conductors? What do singers need? What kind of, you know, ornamentations, all the preparations, and how do they go about experiencing that and what's important to them, you know, kind of emotionally as well, how does it feel? That's very, it's very important there. So is there an element of balancing the historical perspective of the society with also bringing new audiences into the joy of the work?

I mean, is there a balancing act with that? Well, you know what we said about our sort of new season of what's old is new again? I don't think of it as doing old music. I mean, you know, it's like saying that somehow Shakespeare or, you know, Charles Dickens or some kind of any book not written right today is somehow irrelevant. But as you know, music and art is a collection of human experience over time, and I think there's a lot to learn, especially with music that we reinvent it, you know. So it is new.

And I don't think we have to apologise to audiences for that. I think often people come because of that. That's my view. and I think if there was a message because, you know, I'm very keen on accessibility. I love that we work hard at H&H for that and it's important to invite us to say, this is music for the world, you know,

and we want you to have the chance to come and hear it. I think that's so... And, you know, and it is extraordinarily relevant in the way that any kind of art that encapsulates the human condition over time has a lot to teach us and to invigorate and to, I don't know, just to kind of touch the heart and give us hope and joy, you know. There is a part of the society that does this great work with young folks.

Yeah, that's fantastic. Yeah. From 2 to 12 for sure, right? I mean, it's really bringing them sort of into the fold early. Talk about how joyful that is for you. That's amazing to see that. And I think it's a vital part of the H&H mission, the education, giving young people the chance to read music, to experience music together.

I think it can change the life. I mean, you know, I think it's a wonderful thing to do. And it's our future audiences, our future musicians too, you know. but it brings people all sorts of great benefits for children. My son himself does a lot of singing, and I saw when he started doing that a transformation actually in his personality, his ability to concentrate, his kind of joy and energy.

He always looked forward so much to singing in the choirs, and I think it's a really great opportunity. We produced this other podcast that's called Music Saved Me, and it's about the healing power of music from musicians standpoint and from some of their fans. Do you think music and the music that you are part of has therapeutic healing power? Absolutely. There's no doubt about that, actually. It really does, you know. It's an extension of our...

spirits of our soul somehow and it's the way of sharing that together and and over time as well you know it's like you can connect with people in different places you can cross boundaries you know cross you can cross time spans countries experiences and you can share humanity i think that's that's what music's all about and you see it you see the power of it in the concert halls you see it uh you see it to you see it to constantly just turn around and I see the audience and I see someone in row, whatever, who have a giant grin on their face, a lovely smile and eyes sparkling, and they've really taken in that piece of music, and it's made a difference, you know, that's lovely.

And does it feel different in a, let's just say, a post-pandemic world that people are even more joyful to experience? I certainly felt that actually especially when things came back again there was a real sort of feeling of absolute relief actually that we can get back to kind of living a more

normal type of life and shit I think it's like a plant isn't it if you stop giving it water it sort of shrivels up and that's how I felt a little bit when everything was isolated I mean of course it was necessary but it's nice to get back to things it felt like

re-flourishing actually yeah well lastly I want to ask are there any guilty pleasures musically that someone might be surprised that you enjoy knowing the the disciplines of your work on a regular basis it's a very hard question to answer because I don't feel particularly guilty I mean you know now I'm quite sort of open and I love listening to all sorts of different things, not that I necessarily know very much about the things, but you know, I'm not sure you can enjoy music without, without knowing lots of things about it. But I certainly, with my son now listening to all sorts of things, which I've got no idea who, so, you know, no, I've tried, yeah, tried to,

try to remain open-minded and listen to it as much as I can, yeah. Is that guilty? curiosity. No, it's just honest. You don't close your ears to anything. No. In general, I think I, you know, I think in general, if I'm, maybe I don't feel guilty about this, things that are extremely loud tend to, but maybe that's because I became attuned to working, you know, with instruments that aren't sort of magnified by electric amplifiers. So sometimes, especially if I go into a nightclub or a bar and then just live music. I sometimes really think, that's fantastic. It's so exciting. It's so loud. And I sort of, you know, so it takes a bit of getting used to for me. Maybe that's where I feel the most guilty. Thank you for being on, and congratulations.

And it's an honor to meet you. Thank you. You too, Buzz. Thanks. Thanks for listening to this episode of Taking a Walk. If you like this podcast, please share it with your friends. You can find this podcast on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts.

In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice in so-ins, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Marantini. My mind was blown.

I'm Stephanie Young. This is love trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this.

He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I got you. Everyone, I'm Ego Wode. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat, just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Yeah. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Amy Roboc alongside T.J. Holmes from the Amy and T.J. podcast. And there is so much news, information, commentary coming at you all day and from all over the place.

What's fact? What's fake? And sometimes what the F. So let's cut the crap, okay? Follow the Amy and T.J. podcast, a one-stop news and pop culture shop to get you caught up and on with your day. And listen to Amy and T.J. on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.