New Zealand-born conductor Gemma New is building a résumé with lots of little “first-ever” asterisks.
Like her months-old appointment as principal guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony beginning in the 2019-20 season.
It was the first time the Texas orchestra has given that job to a female conductor.
She was the first woman to be named music director of the Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) Philharmonic Orchestra and the first woman to lead the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in its season-opening concerts, which she did last October. New is resident conductor of the SLSO and music director of its youth orchestra.
But when she surveys her young and fast-moving career, the 32-year-old alumni of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Dudamel Fellowship Program, said she doesn’t consider gender or the glass podiums she is shattering along the way.
“I feel like I’m treated like a professional, and gender doesn’t have a big component of my work,” she said. “It seems to be significant for others, and people just share that with me sometimes before or after a concert or after working with me. … I don’t necessarily think it changes anything, but it’s a first for them, and it’s something that they wanted to share. I respect that, and I feel privileged to be that first time for them.”
This weekend, New adds another first to her résumé — her first time conducting in Arizona — when she leads the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s MasterWorks concert. The concert will be performed three times this weekend.
“I’ve never been to Arizona, so I’m excited,” she said from Miami last week, taking a break between upcoming guest conducting gigs here and in Toronto, not far from her Hamilton orchestra.
“I’m having a wonderful time. Every orchestra is amazing. I am so privileged to work closely with fine musicians on some beautiful programs,” she said. “That’s the way I see it, and I always want to be as prepared as I can be when I meet the orchestra for the first time and then we work together toward the final goal, which is the concert.”
She will lead the TSO in a program that she describes as “inventive,” from Mendelssohn’s conventions-defying Violin Concerto with its three movements melding into one seamless work to Mozart’s three-movement 28th Symphony “Prague,” punctuated with harmonically rich counterpoint.
The two traditional masterpieces are complemented by two more contemporary works — “Songs and Conversations” by TSO Composer In Residence Dan Coleman; and Pulitzer Prize winner George Walker’s Lyric for Strings — that New said are masterpieces in the wings.
“We have a very interesting, vibrant program,” New said. “Traditional favorites by Mozart and Mendelssohn that people are most familiar with, and they are absolute masterpieces, and then we have absolutely brilliant, I would say, masterpieces by composers of our time. George Walker is one of the most prestigious American composers, and this is an extremely popular piece. It’s so warm and personal. It’s really well crafted.”
New said Lyric for Strings feels like a giant hug.
“It’s just such a heartwarming dedication to his grandmother. It makes you smile,” New said. “Usually an elegy, which is what he saw it as, is so sad, but I think you can tell how much love and happiness he had for his grandmother and their relationship. I think this is a wonderful piece of music that’s going to stand the test of time, too.”
And then there’s the Coleman.
“This piece by Dan Coleman … is five miniature movements that have been inspired by the Baroque style. You have four soloists out front and the string orchestra,” New explained. “Each of the five have a different character to it. … It’s something that everyone will say, ‘Yeah, I can relate to it.’ ”
TSO Concertmaster Lauren Roth will solo on the Mendelssohn, which New, a violinist from age 9, knows quite well. New said she has played the piece a number of times, so when she leads Roth this weekend, she’ll be ready to follow her lead and anticipate her moves.
“I have an intimate knowledge of the violin part. That means that I can kind of breathe and move with Lauren,” New said. “I can tell just a little more instinctively what’s going to happen and how things are phrased and how they are going to move. Having that closer connection will help the music to blossom.”
