1. Tell us a bit about your background and career. How did you first become inspired to go into conducting?
When I was 8 or 9, I heard Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons on the radio and loved it. I gathered some of my money (pennies, nickels and dimes) and purchased an LP at the local record store. Not knowing that I had to look under a composer’s name to find his composition, I just snatched up the first “season” I spotted in the stacks. As soon as I arrived home I tore off the plastic and placed the LP on the turn table. What came over the speakers was not Vivaldi. What came over the speakers was a sound I had never heard: beautiful, percussive, massive, and rich with colors. I had purchased Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring by accident. From then on my arms have always wanted to move.
2. What are some misconceptions or little-known facts that people have about conducting?
One has to be overly prepared (as opposed to simply prepared), especially in opera. Opera is a “fluid situation”, which means the person holding the stick has to be flexible. Conducting is about creating, shaping and allowing special moments. I equate it with chamber music: a constant communication between all forces.
3. If you were on the other side of the baton, which one opera would you love to sing?
Pelleas in Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande.
4. What makes are your favorite things about facilitating a masterclass? What are some unique challenges that a facilitator faces?
I love dissecting and examining the critical musical moments in the architecture of the phrase and piece as a whole. It is always important to ask some major questions: What makes the music work? How can the singer-actor recreate these moments? Is it true to the intent of the words, music, and style? Having an audience during a class is such a perk as the singer-actor has the opportunity to see if their musical and dramatic choices have succeeded.
5. What’s on your iPod right now?
Actually, I am probably the last person on earth who doesn’t have an iPod.
Maestro Mechavich will lead a masterclass for our Studio Artists on Sunday, April 25 at the Wilson Center for the Arts. (More info here.)
Recently, he was named Principal Conductor and Music Director for Kentucky Opera where he has led past productions of Werther, Of Mice and Men, Il trovatore and The Pearl Fishers. A native of Long Lake, Minnesota, Maestro Mechavich studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the Yale University School of Music. Maestro Mechavich has held a variety of positions such as serving as Principal Conductor of Opera Birmingham for six seasons, cover conductor for The Santa Fe Opera for four seasons as well as Director of Music for Orlando Opera and Assistant Conductor for The Minnesota Opera.
