Violinist Ulrike Schumann-Gloster describes what is important for debuts.
In my observation, every orchestra as an organism reacts differently to a new person on the podium. It doesn't matter what prior knowledge some of us have going into the first rehearsals. There are certainly some in the orchestra who have already formed an opinion; they may have experienced someone as a temporary assistant elsewhere, heard something indirectly through colleagues they know or listened to recordings. But you can't predict what will happen with us on this basis; each time a relationship develops with an individual dynamic.
I experience our general attitude as open and constructive; we are happy to welcome all conductors who bring the qualities that make our work exciting and possible. For me, it's all about conveying a sense of meaningfulness and significance, guided by a convincing concept of sound and the perception of individuals and everyone. A lot is about body language: in my experience, someone "sounds" when conducting without doing much on their own; he or she has a natural disposition that can either evoke sounds and colours or not. Gestures and eye contact, presence, phrasing and timing are central, because you can't speak in a concert: Only what is communicated non-verbally can be realised in sound. Nevertheless, knowledge and wishes on a music-historical or performance-practical level as well as emotional comparisons with which conductors convey their ideas can also play a role in rehearsals; they can either make sense or be rather unconvincing.
All in all, a debut is a blind date in which we trust our management, their judgements, collaborations and contacts. In the end, we carry the musical work and the result in our hands and fill a score with life and imagination so that our audience experiences the evening as something unforgettable.
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