Nic McGegan: The 70th Birthday Edition – An exclusive interview on Nic McGegan’s fifth decade on the podium, his inspiration, his dream vacation, and love of French opera.

Query

Jan 14

Conductor Nic McGegan. Photo credit: © GARAS Kalman

Nic McGegan is a celebrated conductor with a resume spanning nearly five decades on the podium. The 2019/20 season marks the final year of his 34 year tenure as Music Director of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale. Best known as a baroque and classical specialist, McGegan’s approach — intelligent, infused with joy and never dogmatic — has led to appearances with many of the world’s major orchestras, two Grammy nominations, and an appointment of OBE (Order of the British Empire) for his contribution to music.

We sat down with Nic to talk about his inspirations, his dream vacation, his love of French opera, and so much more. One thing that might surprise you about Nic? He’s hilarious in every way: so we hope you’ll enjoy his story as much as we did.

We started off our conversation by asking Nic what the most positive surprise in his life has been. His answer was, unsurprisingly, his profession. Although McGegan was clearly born to do this job, he said he never thought he would be able to make a living — and have fun — following his passion into a career.

“I don't come from a musical family, so every bit of music I've had to deal with has been dealt with by friends rather than family,” Nic said. “Some people, of course, come from musical families, but I absolutely don't. My parents were both artists, so they would much rather I was a painter than a musician. So, I failed.”

Despite not following in his parent’s footsteps, Nic has become quite the artists in his own right. His ability to engage players and audiences alike has made him a pioneer in broadening the reach of historically informed practice beyond the world of period ensembles to conventional symphonic forces. His guest-conducting appearances with major orchestras include the New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong Philharmonics; the Chicago, Dallas, Milwaukee, Toronto, Sydney, and New Zealand Symphonies; Scottish Chamber Orchestras; the Amsterdam Concertgebouw — and too many more to list.

Nic has also released more than 20 recordings with Hungary’s Capella Savaria on the Hungaroton label since the 1980s. His success, and his happiness in life, has been based off of the simple fact that he derives deep happiness from conducting. If he didn't, he says, he wouldn't do it.

“I know a lot of people who work at one thing, but really enjoy doing something completely different,” he said. “I'm a dedicated musician, partly because I don't think I'm competent at much else, but that's what I do and I love it.”

His advice for young artists, unsurprisingly, follows the same thread. The resounding motto of Nic’s life seems to be, for all intents and purposes, joy and appreciation for the craft that he has so thoughtfully perfected over the years of his career.

“Being a musician, of course, is so much easier than being a dancer or a gymnast because you can have a career that lasts a great deal longer,” Nic says. “I've often worked with musicians where you can just tell that the wattage in their bulb is slowly fading, and I know musicians who are in their nineties where that bulb is glowing brightly. If you find you're not enjoying it, don't do it.”

Another thing that Nic enjoys is traveling. Though originally from the UK, he splits his time between the west coast of the US and his home base in England. He says that living in two different countries for nearly 40 years has impacted his work as a musician, but that sometimes, there can be a bit too much traveling.

When we asked Nic, one of the hardest working men in classical music, what his dream vacation would be, his answer surprised us.

“The thing about musicians is that we travel for a living. If I really want to have fun, I'd probably stay home for a week. The difference is, of course, that staying home for a week is good fun. Staying home for two weeks is unemployment. So one does have to be careful.”

Though Nic may get that week at home soon, unemployment surely isn’t in his future. His schedule is packed with appearances in early 2020, but none more exciting than his upcoming concert in April — at the Palace of Versailles.

“One of the things I love doing is opera,” Nic says. “18th century French opera is my absolute favorite, partly because it's the silliest, the most extravagant and has lots of dance in it. So, as a conductor, I've got plenty to look at.”

Aside from being entertained while conducting, Nic also loves opera for the culture it represents. Because he views it from a British perspective, he said he finds it fascinating “because it's so different.” He compared the French and British relationship to a sibling rivalry, referencing their wars and occasional disagreements since the 1300s. The one thing that Nic says the French do better? Opera.

“The French do culture much better than the Brits,” Nic said. “We tend to write nice novels, but the French have great art, and of course they've got fabulous food and wine. So I love going to France.”

When not gallivanting around France, wine in hand, Nic spends much of his time living in the music that he’s working on and dancing around...well, dancing around wherever he is at the time.

“I sometimes just lie in bed and think about the music,” he told us. “I can just run it through my head, because being a conductor is about having ideas. Because I don't have to play it, I’m not limited by technique. I can just dream how an ideal performance would be and then I have to try and live up to it by explaining it to other people who are actually going to play it, which is much harder than being a conductor actually.”

Because he’s been conducting for so long (50+ years, in fact), Nic says most of the performances he does, he’s done before. That means that he can improvise and live more in the moment, without worrying about a new piece. He also loves replaying past pieces because there are no two performances alike!

“I also have the great joy of being able to change my mind,” he shared. “If I did it one way 20 years ago, I can say, ‘Well that was rubbish. It's too fast, it's too slow.’ Another thing is that if you're doing something like an opera, the cast is always changing. What works for one set of people doesn't work for another, so you have to constantly rethink to make something fit and make it work for the people that you're doing with at that time.”

It’s clear that Nic has no intention of slowing down — whether it’s his jokes or his career.

“Where do I want to be in five or 10 years time? Well, since I'm about to turn 70, I suppose I should say, ‘Above ground,’ which would be an honest answer,” he told us with a laugh. “Actually, still working. The nice thing with conductors is that there's no solid retirement age. So long as I can still hear and I can still see and I still got one arm that works, I can actually keep going and that's great.”

We’re looking forward to 10 plus years more of seeing Nic at the conductor’s podium, doing what he does best, all while dancing to the music and enjoying the tunes.