Stutzmann’s opportunities abound, but Atlanta remains her ‘main sport’

Nathalie Stutzmann, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, was chosen to conduct Richard Wagner’s early opera, “Rienzi,” in July and August at Germany’s fabled Bayreuth Festival. “Rienzi,” which had never been performed in the historic Festspielhaus, was programmed as the centerpiece of the Festival’s 150th anniversary. In an interview, Stutzmann discussed her vision for the ASO, which opens its season with concerts Thursday through Sunday, and her flourishing international career.

Q: Let’s talk about the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where you’ve been music director for four years, and you recently renewed your contract for another three years. You’ve had time to build a relationship with the musicians, and you’ve recruited 21 musicians. You’ve just had a really successful season. What do you see as the biggest challenges going forward?

A: I think it’s a permanent challenge — you should never think you arrived somewhere. I think musicians are artisanal people. Every morning we have to try to do better. We have to start again — to practice. Why do we practice every day? Why do we question every day a score? Why do we reread a score that we have known for 40 years? We have to play it with a fresh vision, again and again. You can’t be happy about yourself. One night you had a fantastic concert. Great! But the next morning you have to stay humble and not sit on this, not say “OK, I know how to play; I know how to conduct.” That is not at all my way. My way is to every day restart, searching: What can we do better today? When we play four times the same symphony, I try every time to offer something new, something fresh. Luckily, we are sentient humans and not robots. Every day we wake up, we are different, and the music has to be alive. So for the next years, I just want to go on with this work.

Entering her fifth season as Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director, Nathalie Stutzmann will lead performances of 10 of Brahms' works, including all four of his symphonies and both of his piano concertos. The ASO is billing the initiative as "Brahms Revealed." (Courtesy of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)

Q: You talked about creating an “Austro-Germanic sound” with the ASO. Could you talk about what this means?

A: I am very sound-oriented. I think the quality of the sound should be the working base for any symphony orchestra. If you look at the list of the repertoire, the Austro-Germanic repertoire is clearly the most important — so much of the repertoire comes from those composers, from Beethoven to Strauss. That is the base, and then of course you have to go in every direction. But what creates an identity in the sound is the work in this repertoire, because it has an exigence of sound quality. There is some repertoire that you can play with a nice sound, a beautiful “international sound,” let’s say. And it works. But when you touch Mahler 2, like we did, or Strauss or Bruckner, you need to create a special identity. Otherwise, it doesn’t go … it doesn’t give emotion … it doesn’t serve the music. My origins — I’m half German, half French — all this repertoire is in my blood.

Q: Along this line, you’ve said you want the ASO to be “America’s most expressive orchestra.”

A: Yes, I grew up with all those recordings, including major American orchestras, and, at that time, they each had a very specific sound. You could hear a CD and say: This is the Boston Symphony. I remember the sound of the Boston Symphony with (Seiji) Ozawa. I remember the sound of the Philadelphia or Cleveland. Nowadays it’s very different. The general level of orchestras is getting better and better. Most orchestras have great players. I mean, technically, the quality of the musicians is getting higher everywhere. But I feel there is a danger in the uniformity of the sound — internationalization of the sound. They definitely sound more similar. I want us to be unique. I’m never talking about being the best. “Big 5″ and “Big 10″ — what does that mean? It has to be unique, like this place here (Bayreuth). The entire world comes here because it’s unique. And I want people to go to Atlanta because it’s unique. To have a sound that people can recognize is very rare in our days. My dream with Atlanta is to find this identity together. I think it’s something which also interests very much our musicians.

Q: Your recording of the Bruckner 4th Symphony was recently released on Warner Classics. And this season, you’ll be doing quite a bit of Wagner at the ASO. Do you see similarities between Bruckner and Wagner?

A: As you know, Bruckner’s biggest love was Wagner. He was in adoration of Wagner’s music; it was his favorite music ever. What is very similar is the dimension of things — the proportions. For both composers, one of the talents you need as a conductor is how to know where is the climax, because the way they build the climax can be so long, like 50 or 70 bars, or the last coda of Bruckner (from his 4th symphony), which is about six minutes. So usually people who are Wagner lovers are Bruckner lovers — and also conductors. It’s a very special skill that’s required to build up those climaxes. It’s so generous, so large … the phrasing, the shape. You have some melodies, some themes, which could last for 20 bars, which is unique. So you need to have a special sense of architecture.

Q: Are you interested in doing concert versions of opera in Atlanta? As you know, the ASO was scheduled to perform a concert version of “Tristan und Isolde” a week after the pandemic shut things down. It’s an opera that has never been performed in Atlanta, not even when the Metropolitan Opera used to come here.

A: Yes. The “Tristan” project is on my wish list. You know that this year we do the first act of “Die Walküre,” which is already wonderful. But I really hope we can get this “Tristan” done.

"I want us to be unique," Nathalie Stutzmann says of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. "I’m never talking about being the best. 'Big 5' and 'Big 10' — what does that mean? It has to be unique. ... My dream with Atlanta is to find this identity together." (Courtesy of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Rand Lines)

Q: Is conducting contemporary works something you’d like to explore more?

A: Well, I just think people like Robert Spano are fantastic in this repertoire. We all must be able to do everything. And I love to sometimes touch on contemporary music, of course.

Q: We’re here at the Bayreuth Festival, where you had great success conducting “Tannhäuser” in 2023 and 2024. And now you’re having what seems to be an even greater success conducting “Rienzi” for the first time ever in the Festspielhaus, as part of the Festival’s 150th anniversary celebration. Did you know the opera before being invited to conduct it?

A: Like everyone, I knew the overture; I knew the prayer of the tenor, but I had no idea. I thought: “It’s not really played; it must be …” I was wary that it might be a little green like “Die Feen” (Wagner’s first opera). So when I was asked by Katharina (Wagner, great-granddaughter of the composer, is the festival’s director), I said: “I need to look at the score first.” So I was looking at the score and listening to a recording, and I thought: “Why is it not played?” There is so much of Wagner, and the material is so beautiful. So I decided to say yes because I was enthusiastic about this piece. I’m really happy that we played it in the end.

Q: What Wagner operas would you most like to conduct?

A: To be honest, “Rienzi” is probably one of the most difficult operas to conduct — it has all the difficulties of a late Wagner and all the difficulties of the early Wagner. It’s what I needed to be sure that I’m ready for “Tristan” and for the “Ring.” I want to conduct all the Wagner operas; it’s very simple — it’s my dream. I hope I will do “Lohengrin.” I did already “Der fliegende Holländer” two years ago, so I’m ready, and I will do it.

Stutzmann in 2021, when she was announced as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's fifth music director. "I see how our relationship has grown," she now says of the orchestra. "We understand each other better. And the more we build up on that, the better the music is." (Courtesy of Stephanie Slama)

Q: You’ve had great success with opera. Would you consider an opera post somewhere?

A: Honestly, I don’t know. For now, I am mainly a symphony orchestra conductor. I want to focus on that. I still have so much repertoire I want to approach with them. I adore opera, and I’m lucky enough that I get to work with great opera houses across the globe. I’m in Bayreuth; I’ll be at the Paris Opera this winter — and Bayerische Staatsoper (in April-May). So if one of those wonderful houses one day offers me a music directorship, I would consider it, of course. But for now, it’s not an immediate plan.