The French world star of the oboe and conductor is back at Konzerthaus – and he answers our questions with the same charm and temperament with which he conducts the KHO with Dvořák, Mozart & Bizet at the coming weekend.

I am very much looking forward to conducting the Konzerthausorchester again in this beautiful hall and to making music together —and especially to Dvořák’s “Legends,” which aren’t performed very often. They’re short pieces with absolutely beautiful orchestration and a wide range of characters. There’s a lot for everyone to do, and it’s very tricky, but the atmosphere is great because it’s a fantastic “showcase” for us and a wonderful way to get to know one another. Dvořák wrote the “Legends” for piano four-hands in 1881, and they were such a huge success that he orchestrated them less than a year later. Brahms praised them highly—they’re somewhat reminiscent of his “Hungarian Dances.” 

Exactly 35 years ago! I was 19 and had just won the ARD competition. The competition president at the time, Renate Ronnefeldt, had a keen instinct and said: "You're a born conductor - I bet you that you'll be conducting orchestras in 10 years at the latest!" After my concerts, I regularly heard: "Come back and conduct!" When I was 25, I actually started doing that. I became general music director of the Ensemble del Arte chamber orchestra in Neuburg an der Donau.

But I have a wonderful wife, the violinist Lisa Batiashvili, who has a great career, and we have two children. As a conductor, you don't have much time, so for a long, I concentrated on being a soloist and just conducting a little. I didn't want to overdo it. Now the children are grown up and it's blossoming (laughs).

It is very important to me to avoid three mistakes that you can make as a conductor. The first is not letting the orchestra play enough. If you don't take this to heart, you can't expect it to play well. It has to warm up, grow into a piece and immerse itself in the composer's language again, even with a well-known work. Every composition is like a painting with different colour temperatures, depths, and dimensions that the orchestra must explore. 

The second mistake you can make as a conductor: Talking too much at the first rehearsal and immediately going into too much detail. You first have to provide the framework, i.e. character, articulation and dynamics.  

Thirdly, you shouldn't lack respect for the orchestra musicians, because it's one of the hardest jobs I know. As a conductor, you should give them a bit of space, because they often notice for themselves when something wasn't right. That's why it's good to simply go back in the rehearsal and only say something the second time, if that's necessary.