Comments (0) |

New conductor raring to go

By Rich Copley rcopley@herald-leader.com

Since being named the Lexington Philharmonic's music director in April, Scott Terrell has planned a debut season, moved to Lexington from Charleston, S.C., studied, and immersed himself in local life.

"I'm ready for some music," Terrell said in the Philharmonic offices two weeks before his debut MasterClassics concert. "Can we get the season started?"

Friday night's concert will mark the first time since 1971 that the orchestra has started a season with anyone but George Zack at the helm. Terrell's hire was the result of a two-year search for Zack's successor.

And Terrell gets quite a collaborator for his first Singletary Center concert: Evelyn Glennie, the world's most famous percussion soloist. That's the beginning of one of the Philharmonic's most star-studded lineups in recent memory, including tenor Ronan Tynan in October and violin star Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in April.

"I've heard from a lot of my colleagues in the industry: 'Wow, what a great lineup of soloists you have,'" Terrell says, noting he thinks a few other soloists this year, such as pianist Joyce Yang in November, are also formidable talents. "That's good for us. It really raises the bar very quickly, and I think the orchestra will respond."

Terrell himself is a rising star in classical music.

Teaching wasn't for him

A native of St. Johns, Mich., Terrell calls himself "a product of public school music."

He began studying organ at age 6 and picked up viola in fifth grade. He entered Western Michigan University as a music education major, and he took a lot of conducting classes. He imagined he would be a high school orchestra conductor, until student teaching opened his eyes to everything that was involved in being a music teacher, including dealing with parents and administration.

"I liked the conducting part and not all of the other stuff," Terrell said in an interview when he came to Lexington to audition last October.

He was accepted to the University of Minnesota conducting apprentice program, where he threw himself into conducting anything he could "and learned by screwing up and figuring out things on my own. ... I had the fortune of a lot of trial and error," he said in 2008.

He also had the fortune of connecting with a few influential people, including marquee conductor David Zinman.

Terrell was one of the first conductors in Zinman's summer conducting institute in Aspen, Colo., and he returns there every summer.

He served as assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra from 1998 to 2003, then moved to the Charleston Symphony in 2005 after a fortuitous guest-conducting gig.

Keeping things fresh

Much as he did with his Lexington Philharmonic audition, Terrell was on hand for two concerts in Charleston, including a Halloween family concert. He became the orchestra's resident conductor and education director. He conducted at events such as the Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto festivals and created some series for the orchestra like "Backstage Pass," geared toward younger audiences and featuring newer compositions.

One of the intriguing things as Terrell takes over the Lexington Philharmonic is what sorts of long-term changes he'll bring in terms of the orchestra's artistic growth and programming.

"For me, I'm looking at broadening what we do, both going backwards and going forwards," Terrell said earlier this month. "The orchestra will play, and the community will hear new music — new music that's been written in the past 20 years, commissions coming in the future, things that are written for the orchestra.

"I think that's a way to keep things fresh, and that is crucial in any situation."

Anyone who thinks that means a lot of atonal, academic music can look at one of Terrell's upcoming engagements.

In March, he will travel to Portland, Maine, to conduct a performance of Mandolin Concerto by Chris Thile of the hit bluegrass group Nickel Creek. Working with Thile opens the door to a conversation about working with other regional artists.