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Since 2021, Tung-Chieh Chuang has been the General Music Director of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and the Artistic Director of the Anneliese Brost Music Forum Ruhr. The conductor from Taiwan laid the foundation for his international career in 2015 by winning the International Malko Competition in Copenhagen.
Mr. Chuang, you are a trained statistician and conductor. Does that reflect your family roots?
TC:
My parents are both musicians, I grew up with music, I learned horn and piano. Even in the youth symphony orchestra, I realized how great an influence a conductor can have on the music. That inspired me.
Was there a specific point when you said: Conducting – that is my path?
TC:
There is a recording of the first symphony by Johannes Brahms with conductor Bernard Haitink. I believed at the time that I already knew the repertoire well. Then I heard this recording. It felt like a shock. It seemed to me as if I could no longer trust my ears. Of course, I cannot say with certainty today that this was the moment I decided to become a conductor, but this experience certainly had an important influence.
How can the influence of the conductor be determined?
TC:
In the way a conductor interacts with an orchestra. I have great respect for the individual musicians, as each one possesses their own qualities and has their own ideas. On top of that are my concepts, and I have to bring the whole thing together.
When is a conductor successful?
TC:
When each individual concert sounds different – lively, independent of place and time.
Now you have a permanent engagement in Bochum. What were your reasons for saying yes?
TC:
Already at the performance of a Tchaikovsky symphony, I felt a freshness and openness, even from the Bochum audience, who started to clap after one of the movements because they were so moved by what they had just heard. In that respect, a kind of love at first sight was formed.
When musicians meet for the first time, they usually know very quickly whether the chemistry among them works. How can this be determined?
TC:
This 'chemical process' is hard to put into words because, internally, things unfold in a very short time that one feels but cannot assign to rational criteria. As a conductor, it is my job to convey and coordinate things, and one quickly recognizes how open an orchestra is to this, how it asks questions. It's not about right or wrong, but about the willingness to discover something together and bring a certain sound to life. Being a musician also means bringing one's own creativity into society.
What goals do you have with the orchestra?
TC:
I want to further develop the unique sound of the symphony orchestra.
An orchestra's own identity, what should this look like?
TC:
The orchestra can play very finely, with an intimate character. In addition, it has a wide range of colors. I want to develop this into a unique sound by initially experimenting in as many directions as possible, whether Haydn or Ravel, Mozart or Brahms. Afterwards, we will see where the journey leads and where we might be able to set focal points.
