One leader headed to our nation’s capital aims to bring people together - not through political speeches, but through music. WRTI's Susan Lewis has more on the National Symphony Orchestra's music director designate, who’s passionate about the power of music even beyond the concert hall and opera stage.
Radio Script:
MUSIC: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 1
Susan Lewis: Conductor Gianandrea Noseda says as a child and a young man, he loved music but didn’t realize its full potential to change society for the better.
Gianandrea Noseda: Now, I really believe to perform the great music we receive from the genius of the past, or genius of today, connects people more than 100,000 speeches, or convention, or meetings where people are talking, talking, talking.
SL: In particular, music without words, he’s says, speaks directly to the human heart, mind, and soul.
GN: Sometimes, you know, words are destroying many things. You mean something, but you use the slightly wrong word, can offend other people. With music, you don’t risk this.
SL: It's also important, says Noseda, for those who hear it to really listen, and to be willing to be surprised, even with familiar fare:
GN: No matter if they know the symphony by heart, …tonight, tomorrow, in one year's time, that symphony will speak to you in a different way, if you are open, if you are ready to accept what the music is going to tell you.
SL: Gianandrea Noseda serves as music director of the Teatro Regio Torino and artistic director of the Stresa Festival in Italy. He’ll succeed Christoph Eschenbach as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2017.
