Peter Joyce is the founder and conductor The Esker Festival Orchestra, Ireland's only national orchestra for emerging young professional and pre-professional musicians. Joyce has also played with heavy hitters in the Classical and Jazz fields such as RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the Dublin City Jazz Orchestra. With big names from pop such as Hozier, Sinead O’Connor and Imelda May all calling on his services. Joyce tells us what is required to make it as a conductor in the modern age.
How did your passion for music develop?
Although people think of Galway as a cultural city, there’s never really been much of a classical scene. However, there always been a relatively vibrant jazz scene and for a small town Galway is lucky in having a very good professional jazz, big band called the Black Magic Big Band. Neither my parents nor I knew about it when I decided to take up the saxophone aged ten, but my teacher was a member and soon introduced me to it. Even better, was that at that time it also had a second group aimed at giving amateurs, both young and old a chance to playing in a twenty piece jazz orchestra and it was in this band, now at the ripe old age of 11 that I had my first performance experience. It was this opportunity to practice and occasionally perform with other musicians that stoked my passion for music and encouraged me to keep practicing.
Unfortunately, a lot of people in Ireland -if they're lucky enough to learn an instrument at all- usually learn the piano, or perhaps the violin and never really get a chance to play music with other people and often lose interest. Of course, I have to thank my parents, particularly my mother for giving me the opportunity to learn music and the support to pursue and musical career
After this initial experience my musical life progressed steadily and I got more opportunities to perform and study, including going to Dublin for lessons, joining the National Youth Orchestra, music college and currently performing professionally with orchestras like the RTE Symphony and Concert Orchestras, Dublin City Jazz Orchestra, artists like Liam O'Maonlai and conducting the Esker Festival Orchestra. Performing, collaborating and working on good music with other musicians and artists has always been what keeps my musical passions burning.
The other thing that has kept my passion for music burning is that I've been lucky to get to play and work in a wide variety of styles. I suppose this has meant that I've never really gotten bored playing the same kind of music over and over again. While my dual education and experience in jazz and classical music has been fantastic and ultimately beneficial, it has also always been problematic as my attention has always been divided and I've never truly focused on one or the other. The result has been a kind of constant musical identity crisis, which is only recently close to being resolved.
You are based in Berlin, how does the music scene there differ from Ireland?
I have been living on and off in Berlin for the last 13 months, but at the moment I am back in Ireland working on an original musical theatre project in Limerick. We are about to start a national tour which will keep me busy in Ireland up until the end of December. Although I love working and performing in Ireland, and am very lucky to be able to regularly, there is something intoxicating about the music scene in Berlin which keeps me wanting to go back.
The most obvious difference is that is simply much bigger than the scene in Dublin and the whole the country to be honest, particularly in the jazz and classical scene. Unfortunately, in terms of state funding and audience sizes, Ireland simply doesn't compete with Berlin or really any large German city. For example, Berlin has seven or eight full time symphony orchestras compared with three on the entire island of Ireland. Perhaps the worst difference is that Ireland has no national or full time opera company while Berlin alone has three. That is not to downplay the amazing work done by some of the part-time opera companies in Ireland, who have to compete with a shocking lack of funding and a general-public not particularly disposed to opera.
Although not state funded to the same extent, jazz is hugely popular in Berlin. There are around twenty jazz clubs with live music every night and any number of once off and pop up gigs across the city every day. One of the most striking things in Berlin is how popular jazz and classical music is with young people. I think that has mostly to with the affordability and accessibility of concerts and gigs, not to mention a general positive attitude towards culture and art among young people in Berlin, on top of a desire to seem cultured and hip. It’s not all rosy though; because the music scene is so large and saturated with talented musicians it can be very hard to find well-paying work and as such it is difficult to make a living purely from music.
Jazz and Classical, do they influence you equally?
Jazz and Classical music have influenced me to varying levels over the years. Before I went to study music in Ttinity College, all I really cared about was Jazz. But, since then the balance has shifted more towards classical music. Not necessarily in terms of professional work but in terms of what I listen to and work on at home. The great thing is that hopefully I've been able to take and learn things from both kinds of music. From classical music, I've learned more about structure, self-evaluation, re-evaluation and the huge range of sounds, styles, instrumentation, harmonies and emotions possible in a single piece of music. These things that are often lacking in jazz music and can occasionally result in overly cerebral, myopic and self-centred jazz performances!
However, from Jazz I've learned the importance of interaction and spontaneity. Classical musicians are often so concerned with playing every note and phrase consistently and cleanly, or with playing exactly as the conductor or composer want, that almost no spontaneity or interaction occurs between individual players takes place during performances. This often results in boring, predictable and safe classical performances. These same problems of course apply to conductors as well! This has also resulted in a consistent love of music for Jazz Orchestra or Big Band which when done well contains the best aspects of all of the above!
More recently, this internal split between jazz and classical influences -with some from funk, folk, rock and pop- along with my love of collaboration have lead me more towards an interest in music for theatre, film and other mediums. In all of these, the lines between genres of music is being blurred and depending on the requirements of the project it becomes totally fine to mix or switch between styles as long as it helps the narrative or mood of the overall work!
If however, you were to put a gun to my head and force me to choose one style or musical activity (Harry Potter references notwithstanding) I'd probably have to choose orchestra or opera conducting! There is nothing quite like studying a great classical masterwork and getting to stand in front of and work on it with a full orchestra, soloist or singers and then perform it before a hopefully appreciative audience!
What opportunities are available in Ireland to an aspiring conductor?
This is something I think about a lot. I really think the answer to that question depends on the way you approach becoming and developing your skills as a conductor. If you are looking for opportunities to stand in front of and conduct a high quality orchestra, there are very few. Even fewer if you want to get paid! If you want to study conducting in a music conservatory then there are a few courses available in DIT and the Cork School of Music, but your only real option is to move abroad. As you can probably imagine the competition for conducting places in good music colleges is intense and you can expect a lot of rejection before you finally get offered a place.
Conducting any of the professional orchestras in Ireland will also be a rare occurrence as many of their conductors come from abroad. Conducting is a very international career and requires people to travel extensively. Finally, don't expect any of this to happen soon. Although there has been a spate of young conductors, making big-waves recently conducting is more often an older musician’s game! There is a saying that conductors can only really become good when they are in their sixties!
However, if you re-evaluate your approach to becoming a conductor, more and more opportunities begin to arise. Firstly, there are a large amount of amateur choirs, youth orchestras and musical societies that are often looking for conductors and musical directors and these might give aspiring conductors, badly needed opportunities and invaluable experience.
Secondly and perhaps most importantly is what it actually requires to be a good conductor. People tend to forget that the most important aspect of being a successful conductor is being a good musician. I think it's important for young conductors to remember that you are just another musician in that orchestra or ensemble. Of course one with a specific role, just like the first trumpet or concertmaster. The main difference is they actually make sound. Musical ones at least. Thankfully, there are countless opportunities to improve one’s own musicianship. Particularly important is working on ear training and learning an instrument to a high level.
The piano is especially useful in this regard, as it allows you to play a whole score at home when you may not have a full orchestra lying around. Unfortunately I came very late to the piano and now realising its importance, devote a lot of time to improving my own skill at it. Most important perhaps is studying and really learning the music itself. Once again, this can be done at home so you have no excuse whether you live in rural Galway or metropolitan Berlin.
The final thing you can do, and something I have tried to do as much as possible is to create your own opportunities. No one is going to come up to you on the street or at a concert and give you an orchestra or choir to conduct. So, if you want to be a conductor then you have to be very proactive about searching out opportunities or creating your own. The Esker Festival Orchestra is an orchestra I set up with some friends in 2014 to fill the gap left by the disbanding of the over 18s National Youth Orchestra. Based in Galway each summer, the orchestra is made up of young professionals and advanced students from all over Ireland. Apart from getting the amazing opportunity to conduct the orchestra and work on some incredible music it has also allowed me to get to know and work with some of the fantastically talented young musicians from all over the country; while having a great time in the process. www.peterjoycemusic.com www.eskerfestivalorchestra.com