{"id":18,"date":"2015-02-18T14:40:53","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T14:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/188.166.168.151\/2015\/02\/18\/interview-with-ben-glassberg\/"},"modified":"2020-05-20T19:43:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T18:43:27","slug":"interview-with-ben-glassberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/encoremusicians.com\/blog\/interview-with-ben-glassberg\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Ben Glassberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the seventh interview in Encore’s Rising Stars series, we chatted to Ben Glassberg<\/strong><\/a>. Starting his musical career as a percussionist, Ben has since migrated to the front of the stage where he is quickly becoming one of the UK’s top young conductors.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your earliest musical memory?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first thing I went to see was a Philharmonia children\u2019s concert presented by Kevin Hathway, the principal percussionist at the time. They started the concert with Ravel\u2019s Bolero<\/em> and had the musicians walking through the auditorium as each section played, which was really effective. Kevin\u2019s trick is to play the entire snare drum part with only one hand. Seeing him play a lot when I was younger is probably one of the reasons I wanted to go into playing percussion. He\u2019s a real character.<\/p>\n

When did you start conducting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I started doing a Saturday class at Junior Academy<\/a> when I was about 13. That was when it started to become interesting and I thought, Actually, I really quite enjoy this.<\/em> I\u2019ve been having lessons with Peter Stark for six years now, so it has been a fairly long-term goal.<\/p>\n

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British conductor Peter Stark<\/small><\/center>Does being a percussionist help as a conductor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely. I conducted some Birtwistle back in November and the rhythms were so complex. As a conductor, you have to be acutely aware of what every instrument is doing so that you can help them out if they have any problems. Having the experience of working with complex rhythms and being able to (hopefully) maintain a steady pulse is really useful.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t limit yourself to orchestral conducting, do you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely not! I enjoy being able to do as much as possible. I remember one night back in November where I literally ran from conducting Birtwistle to a panto rehearsal. I’d be so happy if I could do that for the rest of my life! I\u2019ve been able to MD quite a few shows in Cambridge and elsewhere as well. I\u2019m doing a show in London at the moment, which opened last week at the Soho Theatre. Don\u2019t tell my Director of Studies\u2026<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the show?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s called \u2018Dracula (Mr Swallow – The Musical)\u2019<\/a>. We did it up in Edinburgh for a month at The Pleasance and we\u2019ve now transferred to the Soho Theatre for a London run.<\/p>\n

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The London Youth Symphony Orchestra<\/a> is your brainchild. How did that come about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I set it up when I was seventeen. My school, Mill Hill in North London, were really helpful and gave me a rehearsal and concert venue, some players, and even the school choir for a performance of Vivaldi\u2019s Gloria.<\/em> It started very small at a fairly low level, and has just gotten bigger and better. We\u2019re starting to take it in a slightly different direction, as lots of our members from the start are now graduating from music college. We want to keep improving and also take on some more musically challenging projects, such as Schoenberg\u2019s Chamber Symphony.<\/em> There\u2019s also potentially a tour to Abu Dhabi this Christmas, which I\u2019m currently chatting to someone about, and that would be quite fun!<\/p>\n