First published in The Herald on 21 March, 2019
“I would say that the monstrous conductors, the really mean bastard conductors…” Pekka Kuusisto pauses to choose his words carefully. “Well, at least maybe there was a clarity to that role. Everyone in the orchestra knew exactly where he stood in relation to the mean bastard conductor: he became a common enemy. It’s going out of fashion, thank goodness, but the question then opens up of what kind of relationship should replace it. And that is a really interesting and actually very exciting question.”
Kuusisto is a poster boy for the new guard in classical music. Not just in terms of the contemporary music he plays, or his integration of non-classical music into his programmes – though he does all that brilliantly. It’s also about his approach to core classical repertoire. A violinist of elite international credentials (Indiana University, Bloomington; first Finn to win the International Sibelius Violin Competition) Kuusisto is now also a conductor, composer, folk musician, improvisator, curator, and generally one of the most holistic and politically engaged musicians in the business. For 20 years he curated a chamber music festival on the shores of Lake Tuusula in Finland, where programming included Amnesty International spokespeople and indie rock singers alongside Bach and Sibelius. It was the kind of lateral approach to programming that makes us listen afresh – that can’t be faked, can’t be forced and has been way too slow catching on elsewhere.