Left: M o li na Visual s ; R i ght: Hans van d er Wo er d.
I
For many in
the audience
and on the stage,
Stenz turned
an old chestnut
into a revelation
ndeed, says BSO President and CEO Paul Meecham,
during that visit, Stenz seemed to establish chemistry with the Baltimore musicians, who applauded
enthusiastically after the piece. Stenz, a native of the
Rhineland, didn’t deliver “a big-boned, typically
German ‘Eroica,’” Meecham remembers. Instead,
his rendition was “imaginative, while definitely
influenced by the historically informed performance
movement”—also known as the Early Music movement, which calls for smaller ensembles, brisker tempos and less
This May, Stenz helps to wind down
vibrato. For many in the audience and on the stage, Stenz turned
the
current season with Strauss’ Four Last
an old chestnut into a revelation.
Songs, written just before the composer’s
The maestro’s ability to make every performance feel like
death. The piece, based on three poems
a premiere, says Meecham, is one reason Marin Alsop and the
by Hermann Hesse and one by Joseph
BSO have invited Maestro Stenz to become its principal guest
von Eichendorff, “displays the essence of
conductor beginning with the 2015 –2016 season. “He’s got a
Strauss’s abilities,” says the conductor. The
very fresh approach to things,” Meecham says. “His interpretaprogram also includes Schumann’s Second Symphony, which
tion of the classics is as if you are hearing them for the first time.
Stenz describes as “legendary” with its frenetic energy and pacing
You sit up in your seat.”
in the second movement, and refinement of the third movement
The appointment means that Stenz will be in Baltimore for
to exhibit, says Stenz, “the profundity you can only find in the
a total of three weeks each season, divided in the coming season
greatest composers.”
into two visits. He’ll be here for a week in October to conduct an
After Tanglewood, Markus Stenz served as the artistic direcall-Mozart program, and return in March 2016, for two weeks—
tor of the Montepulciano Festival b