News Story
In the Autumn of last year, we announced a number of exciting new musical partnerships: Alice Sara Ott, Jess Gillam and Rushil Ranjan as Collaborative Artists, and conductor Ilan Volkov as our new Principal Guest Conductor – a role in which he’ll work closely with the orchestra and help shape several exciting concerts every year.
Ilan Volkov is known around the world for his bold and imaginative approach to orchestral music. His fearless programming and deep curiosity lead him to create genre-spanning, surprising programmes for audiences. We’re thrilled to be working more closely with him, not least because of his commitment to bringing Birmingham’s audiences closer to music they might never otherwise experience. We recently sat down with him for a chat when he visited the CBSO Centre.
I've always had such amazingly warm encounters here [in Birmingham], with everybody in the management team, the audience and of course, the orchestra.
Although this is officially a new role, Ilan’s relationship with the CBSO goes back almost two decades – which means he knows the musicians and the orchestra’s style incredibly well. He explains that both him and the orchestra have developed a confidence in each other over the years and, as he puts it, “listening to an orchestra as a conductor, you never stop learning.”
People can often pinpoint key moments that changed their lives. When we asked Ilan about the moment that changed everything for him, he told us about trying conducting for the first time at just 13 years old.
Realising that he loved it so much, he committed to studying it seriously just two years later and at that moment he fell in love with orchestral music. It’s a common misconception that classical musicians only listen to classical music, even in their spare time, but Ilan loves all music: folk, African and pop.
There’s something special about the concert experience. After it ends, it can never be repeated in the same way. There is something beautifully fleeting about that.
For Ilan, one of the most unique things about any kind of live performance is that everyone has an individual experience and the concert hall gives people the space to feel, explore, and appreciate. “When there is a true silence in the room and everyone is really listening, you have to really grab the moment”. On stage, Ilan’s role as conductor goes way beyond keeping everything ticking; he’s listening to the music, guiding and supporting musicians and giving space to those who are playing; it’s a job that is changing constantly.
If you’re thinking about coming to a CBSO concert, perhaps for the first time, maybe Ilan’s words will inspire you:
If you have an open heart and open ears, you can find yourself in a new place that you’ve never explored, or a place that you know very well but never wanted to touch.
