Orchestrating Interdisciplinary Research

IMCIC Conference March 14, 2019 Melissa Allen, Research Scientist Oak Ridge National Laboratory Diana Skinner, Mezzo Soprano and Violinist

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC for the US Department of Energy https://www.pbs.org/video/great-performances-boston-symphony-orchestra-andris-nelsons-concert/ Outline

• Create a Culture – Set an Expectation – Facilitate Collaboration • Don’t Miss the Music – Harmonize Simultaneous Stories – “Perfection” may not always be the goal – Maximize the ensemble • Acknowledge the Players – Spotlight the Orchestra – Solo Bows

2 Create a Culture

Itay Talgam, “Conductor of People” Create a Culture: Set an Expectation

• Individual players must prepare parts meticulously on their own and bring these well-honed parts to the collaboration • Understanding of the ensemble – Who has the solo line? – Who is accompaniment? – Who decides the bowing? – Musically preparing the entrance and exit of players—timing— orchestral score as “Gantt Chart”

4 *https://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like_the_great_conductors Create a Culture: Set an Expectation

• Different project leaders “conduct” projects differently. Many different styles can accomplish excellence, but players must understand what it is that is expected*. – Riccardo Muti – Herbert Von Karajan – Richard Strauss – Leonard Bernstein

5 *https://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like_the_great_conductors Create a Culture: Facilitate Collaboration • "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." – Mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker regarding Composer/Conductor/ Pianist Benjamin Britten: “He didn’t push you or lead you. He anticipated what you were going to do. That was accompaniment of the highest order.” – Imagine instead we’re walking side by side, but at times I anticipate your pace and you anticipate where I might slow down for a turn. We find ourselves wonderfully in sync and much more attuned to each other’s inner rhythm and breathing. I know when you need a little room and am happy to accommodate. You sense when I need to pick up the pace, and you’re right there with me. – The same is true in a musical stroll. It’s not my walk. It’s not my pace. It’s ours. What we create is honest, collaborative, and, getting back to music, truly respectful of the composer.

6 https://www.violinist.com/blog/castadiva/20184/25784/ Don’t Miss the Music

Charles Ives, Composer Don’t Miss the Music: Harmonize Simultaneous Stories • Each orchestra has a history • Each musician has a life story • Each instrument has a maker who lived in a time and a place • Each composition has a composer influenced by events • Each performance hall has a designer and a construction • Each audience member is living a life • Thus, each artistic realization has the contribution of a unique set of minds. They come together at the performance. • Each scientific accomplishment has a similar set of contributors. Each accomplishment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius#/media/File:Stradshp.jpg reflects the ideas and values of those who collaborated on it.

8 Don’t Miss the Music: Perfection may not be the goal

• Charles Ives, American 20th Century Composer: – Worked for Mutual Life Insurance company of New York – Developed an accepting ear that welcomed dissonance and cacophony. He cultivated an ability to hear beauty and harmony in conflicting sounds and tonalities. – Learned from his father, George Ives: “Not every dissonance needs to be resolved” – “Beauty in music,” Ives wrote, “is too often confused with something that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair. Many sounds that we are used to do not bother us and, for that reason, we are inclined to call them beautiful.”

https://www.violinist.com/blog/castadiva/20187/27357/ 9 Don’t Miss the Music: Sometimes you write your own arrangement

Met Opera And Mr. Met performance, Lincoln Center, New York City. • Work with and assign well the talent involved within the projects you have • Develop projects around the talent involved • Nurture and coordinate the interests and the camaraderie of the talent and the sponsor

http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Mr.+Met/Vincent+Lionti

10 Acknowledge the Players

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/12/4/ meet-the-first-femaleconductorofamajorusorchestra.html Maestra Marin Alsop Acknowledging the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Acknowledge the Players: Solo Bows

Pierre Boulez acknowledges Piano Soloist J. Michael Holmes, Chicago Symphony, Daniel Barenboim (Bartók’s Concerto #1) solo bow from Maestro Riccardo Muti

https://csoarchives.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/boulez-bday- https://www.flickr.com/photos/61290047@N04/32418022362/ concert-04-01-95-eisenberg.jpg

12 Acknowledge the Players: The Orchestra

https://blair.vanderbilt.edu/precollege-adult/NYOP.php

13 Acknowledge the Players: The Composers and Donors /ums/programs_19910403e /ums/programs_19910403e aadl.org https://

14 Acknowledge the Players: Thanks to all of you!

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