This week, Rafael Payare will end the OSM’s 2021-2022 season, of which he is the musical director appointed in January 2021. In California, where the San Diego Symphony signed him in 2018, he is expanding the public, inaugurated an outdoor stage, has just released a first recording and is committed to renovating the concert hall. The duty went to feel the pulse of the “Payare effect” in San Diego, because Montreal could also be the site of a major project.
The place, the Rady Shell, is striking: the seaside, the port, the smells of the sea, a giant white shell with an orchestra inside. It is here that Rafael Payare gathered 7,000 people on Friday and Saturday for the 9e Symphony by Beethoven. “Our concert hall has a maximum capacity of 1,900 seats. See the expansion! Rafael Payare is delighted to have doubled his audience, thanks to this place inaugurated in August 2021, where part of the public, seated, soup before and at the break of the concert, a service regulated with small onions, set up on the Hollywood Bowl model in Los Angeles.
When I’m at the head of an institution, I try to take everyone on a journey. When we do this or that, there is always a reason.
When you have the privilege of having an hour to discuss with Rafael Payare, you realize the importance of construction for this musician. “My first meeting here with the orchestra director, Martha Gilmer, started at 10 a.m. and ended at 7 p.m. We talked about what we wanted to do, the skeleton, the structure. Later, we discussed ways to achieve this, while bringing the audience with us and making it exciting for everyone. »
Martha Gilmer, who worked for three decades in audience development and artistic planning for the Chicago Symphony, was the driving force behind the construction of Rady Shell, in conjunction with the Port Authority of San Diego, and the commitment of Rafael Payare.
Loyal and determined
San Diego and Montreal are “two cities with two traditions and two very different audiences”. In California, Payare builds, explores and seeks to anchor habits, in its own words. But, in both cities, he proceeds by closely examining the repertoire performed over the past twenty years.
“I have my repertoire and I’m looking for needs. The goal is not to make nice concerts with sympathetic soloists. When I’m at the head of an institution, I try to take everyone on a journey. When we do this or that, there is always a reason. »
In San Diego, Payare started with a three-year contract. “I came here because I believe that we could achieve objectives, a level of excellence. And that’s why I extended my contract, beyond the initial three years, even though I already had Montreal. I could have dropped them once I had Montreal, but that’s not my style. »
Moreover, the equation is the same in Quebec: “I came to Montreal for the same reasons. I did not accept because the orchestra is prestigious, but because of the chemistry with the musicians, a project and the agreement with the programming team, aware that we could achieve an objective. »
The musical project in Montreal goes without saying. With many vacant positions and retirements that will follow one another in crucial positions, Rafael Payare finds himself in the situation of Charles Dutoit in the 1970s: he will have to hire many musicians and forge the OSM of the future. .
From 2014
Thus, the Venezuelan leader finds himself in the position of a builder. This mission fell on him almost by accident in his first position with the Ulster Orchestra. “I started in September 2014, and we didn’t know if the orchestra would survive after December. The “chemistry” with the musicians was great, and I told myself that if we got through this, we were going to be able to do great things. The orchestra was saved, but the 2e season still being weighed down by deficits, Rafael Payare has agreed to artistic compromises that he swears not to make again. “But we worked on the sound with Beethoven, tested the limits with Tchaikovsky before attacking Brahms. And in my 5e season, we programmed Strauss and Shostakovich: the orchestra [62 musiciens à la base] had never played with this size. »
In San Diego, Payare has already attracted a new label, Platoon, which distributed the recording of the 11e Symphony of Shostakovich: “It was my 6e concert with the orchestra, the day of my 40e anniversary. A fantastic concert, without alterations. We were happy to have the label come to us, because the San Diego Symphony Orchestra really deserves to be heard. The conductor is reflecting on the editorial policy concerning the OSM. He appreciates the physical support and notes that apart from certain platforms (except Tidal, Idagio, Qobuz), “part of what we do goes into the streaming as we work very hard on the sound material”.
Exposure
Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, people of all backgrounds in San Diego need to be exposed to music. “The park in which Rady Shell is located invites people to stroll. Formerly in the summer, they built a removable summer stage. The permanent structure attracts people like a magnet”, rejoices the conductor, because, one day, they come to listen to a concert. Grafting newcomers around a loyal audience is his goal in California.
“In my freshman year, we gave a free one-hour concert at the baseball stadium. The lawn was full. After the concert, one of the stadium volunteers in his fifties came up to me and said, “You seemed to be having a lot of fun. I spent my whole life next to this music. I think I should listen to more of it.” ” In Northern Ireland, Payare played, open doors, in a center bordering the two communities: “People could come in and out just for the pleasure of listening to music, without realizing who they were rubbing shoulders with. Coming from El Sistema I think exposure to music is the most important thing, because you can never predict the benefits that will result. »
As for the pressure of the inclusion-representativeness-diversity triptych on programming, Rafael Payare remains moderate: “I will never program in order to tick a box. There are pieces that have been overlooked or left out and deserve to be heard, many don’t, even in the mainstream repertoire, where there are overplayed works that aren’t so good. »
Christophe Huss is the guest of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.