Hilton Head Island hires new principal symphony conductor

The maestro is in: John Morris Russell Monday, 30 April 2012 11:5 By Mark Kreuzwieser For a rehearsal day in early April, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra’s new music director and principal conductor John Morris Russell sure was laid back and relaxed. Why shouldn’t he have been? He’d just put away a breakfast biscuit and gravy platter at Bluffton’s Squat ‘n’ Gobble restaurant and was sitting in beach shirt and shorts on the terrace contemplating an 85-degree spring day in the bosom of the Lowcountry. Your average resident or tourist passing by probably would not know that they were in the presence of a world-class maestro. Russell has been serving the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra as principal guest conductor for the 2011-2012 season, and has expanded his role in our community while also continuing as conductor of the world-renowned Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. In past years, he served as associate conductor of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, and for the past 11 years as director of music at the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Ontario, Canada.Typically, Russell was in a chatty mood the day before conducting the annual April 3-4 Symphony Under the Stars. Probably the only time he isn’t ebullient conversationally is when he’s at the podium conducting. You might say he is a lover of life, and the player of musicians. Q: How did you catch the music bug? A: I’m a product of public schools (in his home town of Cleveland, Ohio). I had a fourth-grade teacher who walked up and down the aisles of our classroom, asking each of us, ‘what instrument do you play?’ If you didn’t come up with an instrument, you were (put in) choir. I played cornet. Music played an integral part of my education from the earliest age. Music was just a way of life. Everyone in my family played one instrument or another. In junior high and high school, I played in band, marching bands and orchestras. I was a trumpet player. We even had a jazz band, and that was pretty revolutionary back then, so they called it the jazz lab band. Can you imagine? Lab band! It made us sound scientific, I guess, and acceptable. Our poor band director, he had to work so hard. He’d get to school at 7 a.m. and work all day. Q: We heard you were a frustrated Tower of Power-wannabe... A: In high school, I joined a garage band. We were a band of horns, with a rhythm section and two female African-American singers. They were hot, and they made our band hot. We’d play at parties and proms, covering all the big horn bands at the time, like Chicago, Ohio Players, Average White Band, with some jazz thrown in like Chuck Mangione. I would sneak into the Cleveland Symphony concerts after waiting for an intermission. I had a strategy (he says with a mischievous grin, noting that he doesn’t advocate this scofflaw behavior). Q: What makes music so enthralling? A: Music has no walls. Music, all music, is just music, no matter what style it is. Look at the masters, the great composers. They are still listened to and performed today because their music crosses all boundaries. Beethoven, Mozart, all of them, they were rock and roll. The classical composers of the past were entertainers. Now, for me, it’s all about making their music come alive. Q: Who do you admire among symphony conductors? A: George Szell, who was the long-time music director of the Cleveland Orchestra. Jesus Lopez-Cobos, a Spanish music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 2000. And, Erich Kunzel, who was the founding music director and conductor of the Cincinnati Pops. Hmmm... they all have Zs in their names. I’ve seen Leonard Bernstein conduct, but I’ve not met him. He was one of the few great composers who also are great conductors. Q: Being a symphony conductor must be a power trip. A: No, it’s not an ego thing. My approach is to ask, what does the music need to honor the composer? When I conduct a Haydn composition, I want people to say, ‘wow that Haydn was brilliant’ - not ‘wow, that Russell guy is brilliant.’ I always feel humble at the feet of the great composers. I could never, ever compose something so brilliant. I am blessed being able to conduct composers’ works. My role as conductor is to empower musicians in their performance, and my ego is not the way to accomplish that. I must work to earn the musicians’ trust and respect, and to be a good coach. The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra has very, very fine musicians. Q: Why did you choose Hilton Head? A: The symphony, the musicians and the community at large are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated support system in the (symphony’s) board of directors, led by Mary Briggs and Edward Parrish, president/ CEO and chairman, respectively. The corporate sponsors are very supportive. It is all about the art, but we must remember and be aware that it still is business. It’s good business to have this wonderful symphony orchestra for the overall community, including residents and visitors, plus the businesses here. The music attracts visitors, tourists and new and creative businesses. Q: We understand you have a special interest in Gullah culture. A: I look forward to immersing the symphony orchestra in the Lowcounty’s Gullah community and traditions. I find it fascinating and enlightening that many West African traditions came here and were forged in the terror of slavery. Gullah culture is just so rich - the spiritual music, the connections here with the north up to Canada through the Underground Railroad, and then you have the music, I think, evolving into gospel, blues, jazz and rock and roll. I recently learned that the term, and the song, “Kumbaya” really originated in the Gullah community right here on Hilton Head Island. Q: How are you acclimating to our Lowcountry and our unique cuisine? A: I have recently been on an exhaustive search for Frogmore stew. I’ve been over to Beaufort looking for it, and I haven’t been successful.