Photograph Courtesy of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
It must be fate that scheduled married classical-music titans David Robertson and Orli Shaham on the same program at Powell Hall on Valentine’s Day weekend. Fate or marketing, we figure.
Either way, it’s a marvy opportunity to check in with the music director/conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the virtuoso pianist, respectively, on how they make a love-match work when they’re both continually jetting all over the globe to make with the Mozart – and did we mention the twin five-year-old boys they’re raising?
As the pair demonstrates, humor—and the magic of two minds making music as one—goes a long way.
Do you both travel a lot?
Orli: There was a time in our lives when the answer to that question was yes, but now it’s complicated
David: It depends—when and how and where. The kids have now been around the world three times, though.
O: As I’m talking I’m packing their things for the weekend.
What are the keys to making a high-profile, two-career marriage with two young kids work?
O: We make it work? [Laughs]
D: That’s quite an assumption you’ve made there. First of all, Orli has an incredible brain that was put together by her scientist parents so that it would work properly. She’s really good at organizing and doesn’t let a lot of things fall through the cracks. And I’m good at carrying a lot of baggage – through an airport.
O: It’s true that it’s very hard and it’s forever a balancing and juggling act, but I see lots of families with both parents working with fulfilling careers and trying to raise kids at the same time. Ours may be a bit unusual, but I don t think it’s any harder than the hard time anybody has trying to figure out the balance of work and family.
D: I wish the moments of connection were more frequent, but that’s how things go. On the other hand, we do have great opportunities for the kids to see different things and new places. This summer for the first time Orli took one of the boys to Door County [Wisconsin] and I came later with the other boy, and both of us had such a wonderful time traveling independently with them. That’s a really special time and bond of sharing.
O: Incidentally, sweetheart, they were just complaining that they had some sort of mileage status on United and they weren’t sure what it was. [Laughs.]
Have you collaborated onstage many times?
D: We have indeed. I’ve lost count of how many times. Not enough, though.
O: Enough so that it feels like the right thing to do.
D: We’ve known each other so long we finish each others—
O: Bad jokes.
When you’re going to be performing onstage together, like at this weekend’s Bernstein/Copland/Adams “American Masters” concert here in St. Louis, do you practice together?
O: We should, shouldn’t we? [Laughs.]
D: Life gets so busy that the only time you get by yourselves sometimes is onstage with a symphony orchestra -- you take whatever alone time you can get.
O: Even if you have an audience of 2,000.
Can you two exchange looks during a rehearsal or performance to indicate, “Hey, this isn’t how we practiced this!” or “Slow down!” or other silent messages?
O: For sure.
D: To be serious for a moment, it does go way beyond that. You’re at a completely different level of communication so it never even gets to “what is he or she doing?” – it’s more like, for me, a feeling, the thoughts come from inside, and the things happening at the piano feel as though there’s no space between what she does and what I know I need to do with the orchestra. I suddenly feel the need to express and she picks up on it on the piano. It’s like she’s inside my mind.
O: Although a lot of that comes from years of being together. In fact, a lot of that was there the very first time we were together onstage rehearsing the Chopin in D Minor and I was thinking, “who is this person who is catching everything I’m doing?”
D: The very start of the relationship was musical and it turns out there are all these fantastic fringe benefits. [Laughs.] What people don’t understand is that when the relationship is that way there are certain concerts now where I know not to look at her at all, because she’s totally absorbed in what she’s doing, and to look at her would be—
O: Distracting, it might take me out of that zone, yes, because I read so much when I look at his face, it might be too much info to take in at that moment.
D: People say it’s like mental telepathy. When you’ve got two diapers to change and it’s the middle of the night, you basically become telepathic. [Laughs.]
O: Sometimes when you’re conducting you give me the same look as when you had to change a smelly diaper. I’m kidding. That’s never happened.
How does collaborating on this program compare to other music you’ve collaborated on?
D: The Bernstein is one that when Orli did it first, at the time she needed her music without any page turner, so I did all the cut-and-paste and photocopying
O: He made it usable for concerts.
D: This is the ninth orchestra Orli has done it with. I let her perform with other conductors, and she lets me perform with other soloists.
O: So many of those collaborations were with David, so I feel in many ways as I’ve grown with the piece, we’ve grown with it together. It’s grown in direct relation to what the other one of us thinks about the piece.
Orli is not playing on the Copland and Adams pieces on the program, correct?
D: Orli gives me moral support because she doesn’t have to play in those. We both love the music of John Adams, and Orli and I have played one of his pieces together with the SLSO about eight years ago. We have a long relationship with him, as well as with the SLSO as a couple—that’s where we met in ’99.
O: I have to say I think one of the many reasons I’m particularly looking forward to this concert is this is the very first Valentine’s Day where we’re in the same city since the Valentine’s Day recital I played at Powell five years ago when David turned the pages for me. We’re grateful to the SLSO for giving us the opportunity to spend Valentine’s Day together.
Do you two have Valentine’s Day plans?
O: We absolutely better because I asked someone on the other side of this phone here to make some reservations.
D: Yes, we have quiet dinner plans. Nothing more will be let out about that publicly. [Laughs.]
David, your bio says you have played the French horn and the violin. Have you ever played music together with Orli?
D: As far as the violin, I’m not sure “played” should be how you would describe what I did to the instrument. I had a dark path with the violin and viola. With the horn, I actually played music.
So have you ever played music with Orli?
O: That is something that I would love to do; the closest we’ve come is David has been trying to teach himself the guitar for a few years. We’re not there yet.
D: I’m a conductor, I’m not a musician—that’s always the joke.
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performs Aaron Copland’s Our Town; Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”; and John Adams’ City Noir, featuring David Robertson, conductor, and Orli Shaham, piano. Nonesuch Recordings will be recording the Adams piece, a St. Louis premiere, for posterity. Performances are 10:30 a.m. Friday, Februrary 15, and 8 p.m. on Saturday February 16. For more information, call 314-534-1700 or go to www.slso.org.
