Salonen’s Latest: A Song Cycle for the Ojai Festival

Having entered what he calls a “creative mode,” Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen is continuing to spice up his conducting duties with a series of compositions.

In 2000, he’ll be taking a long-planned sabbatical to write an opera in collaboration with director Peter Sellars. Several years ago, he was commissioned to write a orchestral piece for Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, due to premiere in 2002. And, now, a new work by Salonen is about to be unveiled: his first song cycle, written for soprano Dawn Upshaw and scheduled to highlight the Ojai Festival in June.

The piece has been co-commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, which plans to perform it in September. Based on the writings of the Greek poet Sappho, it focuses on the phases of a woman’s life--what Salonen, 40, describes as “early sensations,” “first crush,” marriage, child-rearing, aging, loneliness and death.

“At the mathematical midpoint of my life, it’s interesting to look at the shape of life in terms of composing,” he says. “And I’ve wanted to write something for Dawn--with whom I’ve developed a direct and perfect artistic understanding--since we started working together in 1992. Dawn has amazing range as well as a unique identification with music and text. With two young children, she also has a very intense knowledge of what it means to be an internationally known musician plus a mother--one of the major issues in our society.”

Salonen first discussed the song cycle project with some European orchestras. But not until last summer--when he mentioned it to Ernest Fleischmann, former managing director of the L.A. Philharmonic and current artistic director of the Ojai Festival--did the project find a home. The music is scored for 15 players and will be performed by the Philharmonic’s New Music Group. The text is an amalgam of three or four translations of Sappho, which gives him more latitude, the composer says.

Because this year’s Ojai Festival features Finnish music and musicians, says Fleischmann, a world premiere by the Finnish conductor is ideal.

“Everything about this feels right,” he says. “I think Esa-Pekka has a very special feeling for his wife, Jane--and for ‘the feminine,’ in general. And, don’t forget, he started out as a composer. He already writes challenging music for instrumentalists, and now he’s finding his feet with the voice.”

Instead of detracting from his time at the podium, composing nourishes it, Salonen suggests. “I’ve been told that I become more interested in what’s between the notes rather than concentrating on the material itself,” he says. “My curiosity is heightened. I’d like to get in a more even balance between composing and conducting. After a drought in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, I feel completely free creatively for the first time in my life. That’s the nice thing about getting older: I know who I am and I stick with it.”

Next on Salonen’s agenda is his first opera, which, starting in January, he’ll take a year off to write. (During that stretch, the Philharmonic will be in the hands of guest conductors.) Based on “The Woman and the Ape,” Peter Hoeg’s exploration of human nature, it will first be heard in Aix-en-Provence during the summer of 2001 with the Philharmonic in the pit. After that, it will be performed by the L.A. Opera.

“My plate is very full,” Salonen says. “There’s so much conducting and music to learn--and a lot of soul-searching going on. The opera, as a result, is in a state of turmoil--everything is in the food processor now.”

Added to the mix is the high-profile Suntory commission, one of a series that has included works by such composers as Per Norgard, Magnus Lindberg and Tan Dun. Because of Salonen’s busy schedule, the orchestral piece, which he says may be a concerto, has been pushed back a year from its original premiere date and is now set for December 2002.

The conductor’s renewed commitment to composing stems from his passion for new music and determination to be part of the zeitgeist.

“Culture should reflect a healthy curiosity toward what’s being created at this very moment,” he says. “Our task is to make it accessible and channel it right. That’s where, I hope, my song cycle fits in.”

ORGAN TRANSPLANT: Royce Hall’s repaired and expanded Skinner Organ, damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, was due to be back in action this month. Because of complications, however, it won’t be up and running until next season.

Installing the organ, says Michael Blachly, director of UCLA Performing Arts, has been a handful. Each of its 6,600 pipes must be coordinated with the organ loft, the console and the air ducts. “The pipes have to run into the construction so the instrument is virtually a part of the building,” Blachly explains. “A problem with a particular key may take two or three hours to fix--and the technicians can only work when the hall is free.”

This isn’t the first postponement for the organ. It was set to star in a series of recitals beginning in November, but the concerts were pushed back a few months. The night before the Feb. 2 inaugural event, it was decided that even more time was needed.

The experience has been an eye-opener, Blachly concedes. “I’ve learned that you don’t schedule a recital until the instrument has been ‘exercised’ awhile and you’re well back in the building,” he says. “It’s not fair to the audience, to the artist or to the instrument.”

No date has been set for the retooled organ’s debut, though the first concert will feature veteran UCLA organist Tom Harmon, as originally planned. Thomas Murray of Yale University, and the University of Michigan’s Robert Glasgow will give the next two recitals. UCLA will also present a silent-film-with-organ evening, in conjunction with its Film and Television Archive.