Michael Repper
Valentina Peleggi
Michael Repper
// A Boy with Great Reach
Valentina Peleggi
// A Conductor in Overdrive
Valentina Peleggi met Marin Alsop in 2014 when , a student at the Royal Academy in London , she was invited to participate in the Inverno Campos do Jordao Festival in Brazil , an event Peleggi describes as “ the Tanglewood of South America .”
“ I was stunned ,” says Peleggi , a native of Italy . “ I had heard about her but never met her .” At that first encounter , the young conductor recalls , “ I asked her so many questions I think she thought I was crazy . She said don ’ t rebound . I asked what that was , and she explained it , and I asked why , why , why ? I was so interested in learning from her .”
Knowing that her time with Alsop was limited , Peleggi stayed up nearly all night practicing to keep her movements aligned with the music , to not recoil or disconnect from the sound . The next day , Alsop expressed amazement at her progress , Peleggi says .
For her part , Peleggi felt that she had found the teacher she ’ d sought . " I finally felt that I had a teacher . I ’ d finally found someone who wanted to give me something important . I felt supported and understood as never before ,” she says .
As it turned out , their time was anything but limited . Peleggi won the opportunity to conduct with the São Paulo Orchestra ( OSESP ), where Alsop is music director . Peleggi opened that program by conducting Joan Tower ’ s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman .
As Peleggi was preparing to head back to London , the artistic director approached her and asked her to stay on . “ The next conductor had a complication with a visa ,” Peleggi says . “ I had to learn the program for three subscription concerts in one day !”
In 2016 , Peleggi was invited to be assistant conductor of OSESP . At the same time , she became a Taki Concordia fellow , working closely with Alsop . She conducted Capriccio espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov with the BSO in January .
Peleggi recalls her first time standing in front of the BSO . “ It was like WOW . It was like driving a Ferrari ,” she says . Though Peleggi concedes that she ’ s never actually driven the iconic sports car from her homeland , she now knows just what it would feel like .
Michael Repper met Marin Alsop when he was participating in the pilot of a TV show for HBO about young musicians . The producer , Leslie Stifelman , told him that her friend , Marin Alsop , was conducting Bernstein ’ s Mass at the Hollywood Bowl , “ and I think you should go and meet her ,” Stifelman told him . Repper , a 14-year-old student at a Los Angeles arts academy who was interested in becoming a conductor , went with his grandmother to see Alsop conduct at a rehearsal , and then visited her backstage . “ She invited us into her dressing room ,” Repper says .
Alsop also invited him to observe a conducting workshop she was leading at the Cabrillo Festival .
He remembers watching Alsop work with a conducting student there . “ She was trying to get the student to do something ,” says Repper . Finally , she stepped up to the podium to demonstrate . “ The exact same musicians , the same room , the same music ,” Repper marvels . “ Four seconds later , it was an entirely different sound .” What made it different ? “ It was more unified . The phrasing was much more calculated ; it was just more musical ,” he recalls .
At the end of the conducting session , the young observer was given the chance to stand in front of the orchestra himself , and Alsop seemed to like what she saw . “ She came over and said she wanted to work with me ,” says Repper , who now , a dozen years later , seems to remain astonished by this turn of events .
Since then , Repper has studied at Peabody with Gustav Meier and Alsop , and was the Peabody-BSO Conducting Fellow for two seasons . He is currently assistant conductor for Concert Artists of Baltimore and music director of Virginia ’ s Northern Neck Orchestra . In 2017 , he becomes music director of the New York Youth Symphony , whose alumni include Alsop , a violinist with the group in the 1970s .
Alsop ’ s tutelage inspired Repper to “ pay it forward ,” by working with young people , he says . “ It ’ s her mission to support the next generation of musicians and conductors .”
As a mentor , Alsop counsels the six-foot tall 26-year-old to “ do only what I need to do , no more , no less ,” says Repper . “ She ’ s always telling me that I ’ m conducting too much .” He observes that his mentor “ uses her body very efficiently ; every movement is extremely calculated ,” while Repper with his self-described “ giant wingspan ” has to work to tighten his form .
Repper remains friends with Stifelman , a conductor herself , who is currently musical director of Chicago on Broadway . The HBO program morphed into a documentary called “ The Music in Me ,” which aired in 2006 , but Repper did not appear in the final cut . By then , he says , “ I ’ d grown a foot and my voice had dropped .”
March – APRIL 2017 | Overture 11