Orchestrated journey

-- Marc Taddei has made his way to the capital of the Commonwealth as the fourth candidate of nine to audition for the position of music director of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra when Mark Russell Smith leaves the post next season.

Taddei (pronounced tuh-day) is a native of Elizabeth, N.J., who knew at an early age that he wanted to be a musician, even though his parents were not connected with music.

"My brother, sister and I were very fortunate to grow up in a town that had a wonderful school system that had excellent music programs," Taddei, 37, said in a recent phone interview from New Zealand, where he is music director of the Wellington Orchestra. "It is a story oft told that one's teachers at an early age can have a tremendous influence on a person's life. Such was the case with me. I was allowed to participate in band and orchestra when I was in the fifth grade, and that was my start."

Taddei obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Juilliard and was looking through a trade magazine when he saw that the Queen's (N.Y.) Philharmonic was auditioning trombone players, his primary instrument.

"Along the way, I mentioned to a colleague that I was considering applying for a similar position for the New Zealand Symphony," Taddei said. "I auditioned and they offered me a three-month trial period. I figured worst-case scenario was I would get a three-month holiday in New Zealand with all expenses paid.

"It worked out great, and they offered me the principal trombone position," Taddei said. So since 1987, Taddei has plied his trade Down Under and also has become a conductor.

"I had a wonderful time playing, but I had an aspiration for conducting," he said.

Taddei began conducting university music concerts, modern music programs and eventually began knocking on orchestra doors.

The New Zealand Symphony had Taddei conduct a program of Brahms and Wagner, and things snowballed from there.

He had so many requests to conduct that he took a year's leave from the New Zealand Symphony and led programs with a number of regional orchestras. During that year, the Christchurch Symphony offered him the position of music director.

Christchurch was his professional turning point. He increased audience attendance by 60 percent, made several recordings and caught the eye of a number of other orchestral administrators by finishing each year with a budget surplus.

"I like the connection I was able to establish with the audience at Christchurch," Taddei said of his six years there. "Orchestras are there to serve the communities in which they reside. And fortunately, most of the things we did resonated with the public."

His next step was to the Wellington Symphony Orchestra as music director, and his horizons expanded.

Taddei is an advocate of new media in performance and musical collaboration, but his relationship with the listeners -- and patrons -- is what he most values.

"Ultimately it's about gaining the trust of the audience," Taddei said. "The role of a conductor is analogous to that of a curator of an art gallery. I live and die through the choices I make and bring to the audiences. So my taste needs to be in accordance with, and bring favor to, the audience. I'm very much involved in feedback from the audience and what they want to hear.

"When I took over at Christchurch, the orchestra was playing the same old standards over and over, and they found their fan base was decreasing," Taddei said. "Beethoven might be the bedrock of the repertoire, but if we don't try and broaden the horizons of the listeners things will grow stale."

Two years ago when he programmed Ralph Vaughan-Williams' "Antarctic Symphony," Taddei utilized video projection of the Natural History Film Unit and obtained Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, to narrate the text about an ill-fated expedition to the south pole by Robert Falcon Scott almost 100 years ago.

The concert also was broadcast by satellite to Antarctica.

"It was a vision of how people push themselves to the brink to accomplish new things," Taddei said.

He read about the opening for Richmond's music director in a trade publication.

"When I made the Richmond application, I started researching Richmond and it seems like it's a groovy town," Taddei said. "I love all the history."

Taddei was scheduled to conduct the Richmond Symphony Pops concert last night, and will conduct the Masterworks Concerts Friday, Saturday and Jan. 19.

Taddei said he and his wife, Justine Cormack, would move to Richmond if he was offered the position. "With a program as large as the Richmond Symphony has, I think it would be a disadvantage for the music director not to be living in the community," Taddei said. "The music director must be a visible and vocal advocate for the orchestra."
Contact Walt Amacker at (804) 649-6247 or .