A Q&A with RNO CEO Sergei Markov

Full text of a March 2006 e-mail interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal

Q. I understand you were impressed with the RNO's performance in Mexico City when you were posted there in 1993. What was it about the performance that made you take serious notice of the orchestra?

A. Hard to describe music in words... I heard many Russian orchestras, which all play with passion and warmth, and I admired them... but this one left me with an impression of something transcendental... like an angel walking into a crowd of humans, though good people and dear friends they are. There was precision and some quiet energy, some light glowing from within their music - not to the detriment of the passion and warmth I had known, but giving them a clearer meaning. There was more individuality, courage in handling the tradition of the Russian music, which was treated without too much awe, but with great ease and assertiveness... this conductor and this orchestra knew they were equal to the greatest ones who came before them.

Q. The orchestra has attained high stature in a short period of time. What do you think makes it stand out above other orchestras?

A. These musicians take music-making not as a job but as a challenging spiritual exercise. They know they must be the best for their orchestra to carry on, because it does not have an ongoing government subsidy like all other Russian (in fact, also all European) orchestras do. The business model on which the RNO is based doesn't allow for being second best - only THE best. Only the winner can attract the amount of sponsorship we need. A runner-up cannot command so much attention. The moment this orchestra ceases to be the best, it may not be able to carry on, and the musicians know it. It was formed 15 years ago by brave people who were not afraid of giving up their guaranteed jobs and embarking on a crazy musical adventure. This spirit of adventure and back-against-the-wall attitude has carried through the generational change and characterizes the RNO to this day.

Q. What events led up to your getting the job as chief executive?

A. Between 1990 and 1994, the country changed radically. Many people's lives changed dramatically, too, for better or worse. I was not satisfied with the job of a cultural attache giving advice from a distance to the scrambled government of a country which was ablaze with change, and busy building its new institutions. My advice could not be heard - there were bigger problems at stake at the time. My desire was to take part in the creation of these new institutions, hands on. This is why I left the diplomatic service and returned to Russia and decided to become involved in building this great cultural institution, the RNO, which was then a baby.

Q. The RNO began in 1990, which I understand was a tough year for any arts organization in Russia. How did it survive, especially since it wasn't a state-funded organization?

A. I cannot answer, I do not understand it. The RNO shouldn't have survived. Stronger orchestras were falling apart, the entire country was falling apart. But probably, God needed the RNO to exist, for the sake of Russia and the world, so He gave it a miraculous way of getting through.

Q. What has been the toughest part of your job since taking the job as chief executive?

A. Dealing with the artists. They are very different, often vulnerable and self-destructive, spontaneous and ever-changing, and they have very thin skin. They discharge so much beauty in their music-making but they may sometimes be unbearable outside the concert hall. I guess there is some law of balance here. You give a lot and then you need to take in a lot. They sure do require some special effort to deal with.

Q. Would you give some background on the Conductor Collegium and Magic of Music program?

A. All that I know, I put on the website: http://www.russianarts.org/rno/conduct.cfm and http://www.russianarts.org/rno/magic.cfm. My only addition regarding the background on the Conductor Collegium is that I do believe the time of musical titans like Karajan and Mravinsky is gone. The generation which applauded them was the one which grew up in the times of political titans: Stalin, Hitler, Churchill... Some conductors still try to imitate Karajan and behave like him (as some politicians still try to imitate Stalin) but this is no longer a drama - it is a farce. Ours is the time of more sophisticated but less autoritarian talent, and the audiences prefer diversity, finesse and intellectual joy rather than raw energy which dominates you... We have six excellent conductors in the Collegium, and it gives so much diversity to our audiences and makes the orchestra so multifaceted... Even if some titan conductor were still around, I would still be in favor of our model... but I can see no titans around anymore anyway. Maybe some of my colleagues think differently, but then they choose to work with different conductors.