{"id":40561,"date":"2016-12-12T16:52:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T21:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=40561"},"modified":"2017-01-09T21:23:54","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T02:23:54","slug":"qa-38-questions-for-nicholas-mcgegan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/12\/12\/qa-38-questions-for-nicholas-mcgegan\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A | 38 Questions For Nicholas McGegan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nicholas
Nicholas McGegan (Photo: Steve Sherman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every so often MT poses 60 questions to a local or visiting artist in Toronto who has made our classical music community that much more interesting. They pick and choose. The minimum response is 20 answers. A kind of Rorschach personality test, if you will.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

British-born conductor Nicholas McGegan is as a frequent visitor in Toronto. He last led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra through Handel’s Messiah<\/em> in 2012, prompting\u00a0John Terauds to call it the best he had seen in 12 consecutive years.<\/p>\n

As a\u00a0specialist in Baroque and Classical period repertoire, he has a point-of-view that is refreshingly undogmatic and completely open to discovery.<\/p>\n

You can hear\u00a0Nicholas McGegan lead the TSO plus Yulia Van Doren (soprano),\u00a0Abigail Levis (mezzo-soprano),\u00a0Isaiah Bell (tenor),\u00a0Daniel Okulitch (bass-baritone) and the\u00a0Toronto Mendelssohn Choir on December 18 through 23. Details found, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Default drink\/cocktail of choice?<\/h3>\n

Good but not grand wine. Ideally local.<\/p>\n

Name your favourite concert hall\/venue anywhere.<\/h3>\n

Musikverein Vienna. The sound is amazing and the place isn\u2019t too big.<\/p>\n

Your favourite smells?<\/h3>\n

Coffee and croissant.<\/p>\n

The first thing that comes to your mind when you think about Toronto?<\/h3>\n

Terrific places to eat. I love to visit the market downtown, plus the Portuguese and Hungarian areas.<\/p>\n

The historical personalities, both good and bad, that fascinate you the most?<\/h3>\n

Haydn, Samuel Pepys, Casanova. I would love to have met Queen Elizabeth I but I\u2019d have been terrified if it actually happened.<\/p>\n

The dumbest thing that you\u2019ve ever done to your hair?<\/h3>\n

Grow it long. I looked like a scruffy thatched cottage.<\/p>\n

If you could board a plane this afternoon, where would it be taking you?<\/h3>\n

Venice. It is so wonderful there to be away from the sound of cars and constant traffic.<\/p>\n

The three books that you read that made an impact on you in your formative years?<\/h3>\n

Dante, P G Wodehouse\u2019s Summer Lightening, Vanity Fair.<\/p>\n

Where was the last place you traveled to for work or pleasure?<\/h3>\n

Boston.<\/p>\n

What is your biggest phobia?<\/h3>\n

Being at the top of tall buildings. Living in earthquake prone California, I don\u2019t relish the prospect of being on the 50th<\/sup> floor of a building that could topple at any moment.<\/p>\n

Where did you go to school?<\/h3>\n

Cambridge.<\/p>\n

What did you major in as an undergraduate?<\/h3>\n

Music.<\/p>\n

The strangest talent that you possess?<\/h3>\n

Folding napkins.<\/p>\n

The different career path that you could have gone on?<\/h3>\n

Archaeology.<\/p>\n

Your ancestry?<\/h3>\n

English\/Scots\/Irish.<\/p>\n

Your three favourite films?<\/h3>\n

The Life of Picasso, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Pride and Prejudice<\/p>\n

Under what circumstances would you join the army?<\/h3>\n

None.<\/p>\n

Your major character flaw?<\/h3>\n

Finding TOO MUCH amusing.<\/p>\n

The character flaw in others that you can\u2019t abide?<\/h3>\n

No sense of humour.<\/p>\n

What is the best thing about your work?<\/h3>\n

That I can still do it and still enjoy every second of it.<\/p>\n

What is the worst thing about your work?<\/h3>\n

Airports and flying.<\/p>\n

The relatively normal piece of clothing that you believe you\u2019d look the most ridiculous in?<\/h3>\n

Anything in Spandex.<\/p>\n

The talent that you wish you possessed?<\/h3>\n

Dance well.<\/p>\n

What are you listening to as you answer these questions?<\/h3>\n

I can\u2019t put music on in the background. I try either to listen attentively or not at all. I hate music in restaurants.<\/p>\n

What musical instrument do you secretly long to play?<\/h3>\n

Cello.<\/p>\n

What sport did you give up and why?<\/h3>\n

Hopeless at every one.<\/p>\n

What is the one animal that scares you the most?<\/h3>\n

A hippo.<\/p>\n

Have you ever fired a gun? If so, what were the circumstances?<\/h3>\n

NO.<\/p>\n

Scariest situation you\u2019ve ever been in?<\/h3>\n

Nearly drowning off the French Coast.<\/p>\n

Your favourite word?<\/h3>\n

“Lovely”.<\/p>\n

Your least favourite word?<\/h3>\n

Like. Sometimes when I hear a teenager talking on a cell phone, I try to count the number of times he or she says \u2018like\u2019 per minute. I think that my record was fifteen.<\/p>\n

The thing that makes you the happiest?<\/h3>\n

A free evening with a bottle of good wine and good friends.<\/p>\n

Name three pieces or composers that you never want to hear again?<\/h3>\n

The Pachelbel Canon, Lohengrin and anything by Delius.<\/p>\n

The first album that made you love music?<\/h3>\n

The Marriage of Figaro in a recording conducted by Karajan. Schwarzkopf and Irmgard Seefried were the ladies, and they were perfect.<\/p>\n

Three pieces, songs, or arias that you could listen to on repeat for an hour?<\/h3>\n

Deh Vieni<\/em> from Figaro, Qual nave<\/em> by Handel,\u00a0Ave Maria Fadista<\/em> sung by Amalia Rodrigues.<\/p>\n

The one place that you have the least interest in ever visiting?<\/h3>\n

Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

The first three things that you do every morning?<\/h3>\n

Coffee, more coffee, and then email.<\/p>\n

The best way to die?<\/h3>\n

In one\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n

To read more from our Q&A Series, click HERE<\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? F<\/em>ollow us on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or Twitter<\/a><\/span> for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MT finds out more about British Conductor Nicholas McGegan, including his fear of Hippos and a secret talent for folding napkins. There’s a lot more too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":40562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,4967,29,5009],"tags":[2202,2396,3360],"yst_prominent_words":[7499,7494,6767,6715,7247,7495,7493,7498,7500,7502,7504,6806,6616,7496,6844,7501,7497,7492,6741,7503],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/12\/Nicholas-McGegan-2-credit-Steve-Sherman.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-ayd","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40561"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41415,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40561\/revisions\/41415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40561"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=40561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}