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Conductor Nicholas McGegan At 63

The renowned British conductor and early music expert Nicholas McGegan's 63rd birthday is January 14th. As WRTI’s Jim Cotter discovered, he’s a musician with a special talent for talking about music. 

Nicholas McGegan’s uncomplicated, witty discourses on the works of the great composers have made him an in-demand speaker at places such as Oxford, Cambridge, and London’s Royal College of Music. What does he say is his reason for mostly conducting without a baton? He’s a klutz. "The less things I have to drop, throw, or break, the better."

In truth, says McGegan, his focus on Baroque, and early romantic repertoire means that his communication with the musicians has a different goal to those doing later and modern works.

MCGEGAN: Generally, when I'm doing the kind of music I d,o which is essentially 17th, 18th and 19th century music, the beat is fairly stable. So I don't have to do those fancy beat patterns that (you) have to do if you're doing The Rite of Spring. We don't have to count in eleven, I'm not sure I can count to 11! What I am doing is trying to communicate the gestures in the music -  and hopefully there's enough of a beat that the orchestra can play together.

COTTER: Often he leads not from the podium, but as an instrumentalist, which presents a different set of challenges.

MCGEGAN: When I'm working with, say, a period instrument orchestra, I'm very often playing the harpsichord as well.  And so if I were to use a baton I'd have to put it between my teeth, and then I would probably look like Carmen with a rose.