{"id":100930,"date":"2023-12-18T10:55:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T15:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=100930"},"modified":"2023-12-19T11:03:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:03:15","slug":"interview-conductor-tania-miller-talks-about-her-passion-for-the-music-the-unique-opportunities-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2023\/12\/18\/interview-conductor-tania-miller-talks-about-her-passion-for-the-music-the-unique-opportunities-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Conductor Tania Miller Talks About Her Passion For The Music & The Unique Opportunities Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tania
Tania Miller conducts the Warsaw Philharmonic (Photo:\u00a0Deluga.Art )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think what’s so incredible about being a conductor is that opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds and different cultures,\u201d says Tania Miller. There are different approaches, with one constant thread. \u201cWe meet with the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tania Miller’s career has taken her literally across the globe. In the 2023-24 season alone, she debuted with Vancouver Opera, and conducted a concert with soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and Vancouver\u2019s Opera West, along with first time engagements with the Baton Rouge Symphony and Illinois Symphony, and repeat engagements to the Springfield Symphony, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and London Symphonia \u2014 and that’s not the whole list.<\/p>\n

In previous years, she’s been to South Korea, throughout Europe and the United States, as well as Canada.<\/p>\n

Tania is recently back from a guest conducting engagement in Warsaw. \u201cMusic is such a connecting force,\u201d she says. It\u2019s about working with artists who have a singular focus, what she calls \u201cthe collective search for the meaning in the music. It\u2019s the connection,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe come together and have fresh ideas. I think that’s one of the fascinating aspects of orchestras and making music together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interpreting the music is always the challenge. \u201cWhat is the music saying to us, and how we express it, it’s always changing. I find it fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing a new group of seasoned professionals who expect her to lead them through the music is, in a way, like meeting old friends every time. \u201cNo matter who it is, I know we’ll always meet on a common ground, starting through the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tania Miller (Photo: Todd Rosenberg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A New Beginning With Brott Music<\/h3>\n

Her recent appointment as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Brott Music Festival<\/a>, the National Academy Orchestra of Canada and BrottOpera offers an opportunity that’s unique in its sheer variety. The Brott Music Festival presents a concert series that incorporates classical music, jazz, pops and children’s educational concerts. The National Academy Orchestra of Canada and BrottOpera are summer programs that offer intensive professional level training for advanced orchestral and opera students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really excited and inspired by the potential of the Brott Festival,\u201d she says. Tania appreciates the work and care that the organization has put into developing young Canadian musicians as well as the audience in the Hamilton and Niagara areas for 36 years.<\/p>\n

Working with young musicians and opera singers offers its own rewards. \u201cYou are sharing music and inspiring [them],\u201d she says. The young artists of the National Academy Orchestra go through the rehearsal process as well as experiencing workshops and benefiting from professional mentors. \u201cWe are all working together to create the musicians of tomorrow […] with the opportunities and understanding of what their futures will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s hoping the upcoming auditions for 2024 will draw young musicians from across Canada, and add to a sense of national connection. With both the National Academy Orchestra and BrottOpera, she\u2019s looking forward to working with a highly talented group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m excited,\u201d she says. \u201cIt gives us the opportunity to truly find connections between people […] and music.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a group of young musicians, with their energy and willingness to try new ideas, she\u2019s looking to experiment with different modes of presentation, including immersive concert experiences. The details are still being hammered out. \u201cTo focus on [the idea] that music is an experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shared experience, and one that brings communities together. \u201cI want to find ways to build those connections in Hamilton.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outdoor and pop-up concerts are a possibility. Along with many industry leaders, she believes that expanding the music beyond the confines of the concert hall is the key to its future as a vibrant art form. The concert hall and all its formality and protocols isn\u2019t dead, but it can\u2019t be the only way to experience the music. \u201cI think that’s where the industry needs to go now.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she notes, Brott Music already has a track record of presenting diverse concerts and genres. \u201cI want to expand on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hooking a younger demographic into the Western classical tradition is also a key to the art form\u2019s future. \u201cIf we in the orchestra \u2014 the arts sector \u2014 look to young people, and really engage with them \u2014 what inspires them, what makes them passionate? \u2014 I think we have a lot to learn from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tania Miller conducts the TSO in Julien Bilodeau’s La fantaisie du pendu (Hangman’s Fantasy) in 2018:<\/p>\n