Artist Profile: Ross Jamie Collins and Na’Zir McFadden on a Young Conductor’s Craft

The role of a conductor in any orchestra is a fearsome one — standing in front of dozens of musicians and moving them to play without uttering a word. Recently, Finnish-British conductor Ross Jamie Collins and American conductor Na’Zir McFadden sat down with The Crimson to discuss exactly that daunting and awe-inspiring task.

Collins, 23, and McFadden, 24, recently conducted the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 29 and 30 in a concert program featuring Jean Sibelius’s “Finlandia” and Edvard Grieg’s “Holberg Suite” and “Piano Concerto.”

This momentous occasion is a testament to Collins and McFaddens’s musicianship, especially early on in their blossoming careers. Both conductors have significant backgrounds as instrumentalists, with Collins starting on the cello and piano and McFadden on the clarinet.

Collins credited his upbringing in Finland — well-noted for its comprehensive public school music education — and his luthier parents for his early exposure to music. In fact, it was in his parents’ home violin workshop where he met the young, prominent Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who became Collins’s first conducting teacher. Mäkelä agreed to teach the young Collins how to “wave” his arms and later introduced him to his own old teacher Jorma Panula.

McFadden came from a similarly musical family of active church musicians. He recalled being captivated by the role of the conductor in church music-making very early on.

“At the time I didn't know what he was doing, but I knew that he was able to embody the music by just using his hands or his facial expressions or his body movement,” McFadden said.

Many broken clothes hangers — which served as makeshift conducting batons — later, he landed his first big engagement at 16 conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in their “Pop-Up” series.

McFadden and Collins met at the Tanglewood Music Center, one of the most prestigious summer music academies in the world whose alumni include conductors like Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Claudio Abbado, and Zubin Mehta. They both got the opportunity to work closely with Andris Nelsons, the current music director and conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as many other distinguished faculty.

“For a young musician to experience that level of intense music-making, but also the overall sense of community was one of the most inspiring and transformative things I’ve ever done in my life,” McFadden said.

Both conductors also acknowledged the privilege of being in a cohort of only two conducting fellows, which gave them the opportunity to not only exchange what they had learned in a more intimate setting but also to develop a deeper bond with each other.

Collins also spoke warmly of Nelsons as a mentor.

“He’s got that kind of heart-warming, room-lifting smile that just brightens everyone’s day, which is infuriating, because I wish I could do that,” Collins said.

From suggesting the minutest adjustments in conducting technique to sharing his generous, welcoming conducting style, Nelsons was a large part of both conductors’ positive Tanglewood experience and undoubtedly responsible for many eureka moments in their eight weeks in the program.

On the topic of conducting styles and personalities, both conductors advocate for the role of the conductor as a confident yet humble leader.

“The role of a conductor has always been to unite the thought and vision of a whole work, and I feel that is going to be applicable for a very long time,” Collins said.

Collins also paid homage to his childhood as a competitive athlete as having influenced his music-making.

“When you’re trying to create history with a performance that could change somebody's life or get a four year old interested, then you can’t leave anything on the table,” Collins said.

Especially when working in the midst of other musicians whose years of experience may far outnumber their own, young conductors walk a fine line between self-assuredness in their own skills and respect for their colleagues regardless of age. According to McFadden, responsibility, and not power, is the name of the game. Gone are the days of the diabolical conductor-dictator; some of the most celebrated conductors of the past were notorious for poor rehearsal etiquette.

“The moment we think that it’s power, the moment we should probably stop doing the job,” McFadden said.

In a social media-driven and hectic age, conductors also find themselves increasingly beholden to finding new audiences and bringing classical music into educational spaces to keep it alive.

“Not only does the conductor have to be an influencer in the music, but also in the marketing and the public view or perception of what classical music is. That means talking to patrons or students, explaining why it’s so important for the arts to be in the mainstream media or present in people’s lives,” McFadden said.

From winning the respect and artistic unity of no less than dozens of musicians at a time to finding one’s place in an industry that is grueling as it is rewarding, young conductors undoubtedly face a daunting task. Coupled with upholding long-established performance practice while simultaneously trying to bring fresh perspectives to any work of music, the demands on conductors as budding musicians can seem overwhelming. However, it is abundantly clear from Collins and McFadden that this is a challenge they welcome and tackle with vigour.

McFadden cited understanding past tradition as well as reinvigorating centuries-old music with a unique interpretation as some of his top musical priorities.

“I love tradition, but I also love being a rebel, and both things can be true,” McFadden said.

Collins echoed the same sentiment of individuality.

“Be yourself. It’s okay to have fun, because that’s why we’re here,” Collins said.

—Staff writer Lara R. Tan can be reached at lara.tan@thecrimson.com.