WATCH | India-Born Danish Conductor Maria Badstue Weaves Identity Through Music - video Dailymotion

OutlookIndia

India-born Danish conductor Maria Badstue was in Mumbai for the sixth time to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA). The SOI Chamber Orchestra collaborated with musicians from The Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Danish Academy of Music under Badstue’s baton. The programme featured Carl Nielsen’s radiant Helios Overture, followed by one of Rachmaninoff’s most beloved works, performed by celebrated Danish concert pianist Søren Rastogi.  Between the silence of memory and the swell of a symphony, Maria Badstue has found her home in conducting orchestras. Born in India, raised in Denmark, and carried across continents by rhythm and resolve, she conducts not just orchestras, but the echoes of belonging, identity, and grace. In a conversation with Outlook's Pritha Vashisth, Badstue opens up about her layered inheritance, the solitude of adoption, and the power of a baton to bridge what words sometimes can’t.   'It is a lonely profession,' she shares.  Watch the full video to know more.  Reporter: Pritha Vashisth Camera: Dinesh Parab Editor: Sudhanshu  #Music #Conductor #SymphonyOrchestra #Mumbai #Danish #Denmark

Transcript

00:00you started your journey quite early right in music and everything so walk me through how it

00:20has been to become a conductor like you played a trumpet before so can you share a little bit

00:26about your journey well i started very early on when i was eight years old um and then sort of it

00:34just i was just struck by the music we i played in the brass band and we the there's a big sound

00:41of of brass instruments and i loved playing and and then sort of little by little i found out

00:47already when i was 12 i was i was in front of the mirror just doing something when i i sort of just

00:53did gestures to the music very early on and i really don't know why i did that i don't think

01:00my friends did for me it was normal to the music i was playing i sort of made made a gesture to it

01:07so i felt it i felt it natural to to sort of move my hands and someone and have some imagination on

01:14how that would work if you play to it sort of yeah the transition was more like

01:19uh because when a child i just playing with the gestures sort of and i actually kept that feeling

01:26but but to say to say okay i from coming as a musician and say i would like to conduct

01:33is um it's a big step because you want to go in front of everybody you you have some so it's a very

01:39different role than the musician's role and uh of course in the beginning what's what's the most

01:45challenging part is to trust yourself enough to to to think okay you're actually the one who can take

01:51the lead in in it's a very hierarchic thing the orchestra nowadays more and more less less

01:58hierarchic but still the conductor is the leader it's a leadership role and can you be that person

02:04uh to trust that um it was uh that was maybe the biggest challenge yeah you said a very interesting

02:16thing that you know it's very important to trust yourself while you are in the process were there

02:21people around you who put in faith in you like you know yeah whatever yeah of course because it's like

02:28when you're young and you're a young girl you don't look like anything like a conductor at all so you

02:33say okay i would like to conduct to say that loud first of all and then people look at you like are

02:39you going you you want to fly to the moon or something and then it's like for me it was extremely

02:44important to to meet yorema panola who's this very very famous i think the most influential now living

02:52conducting teacher in the world absolutely and he he really trusted me he said so many good things but

02:57one of his sentences has stayed with me where he said that yourself is enough so it's actually enough

03:05to and he he really supported me and encouraged me a lot which was very important because

03:11to have i i was really thinking okay if it's such a such a guy with that sort of experience in

03:18teaching conductors believes in my capacities maybe i could believe in myself as well

03:23and and when you need to trust yourself you need to have very very strong trust in yourself

03:30i believe that you know critiquing is also a very important part of trusting like that means the

03:35person is focusing in on your work and actually looking around everything so have you come across

03:42one critique or anyone who has told you that you know yeah you're doing that right and you're doing that

03:47slightly not on the right path yes a lot because i speak to musicians all the time not all the

03:54musicians because then you get confused because there's hundreds hundreds of opinions but of course

03:59i learned a lot from from from and especially from colleagues other conductors but mostly i've i've i've

04:05learned from jorma but also from watching myself actually and then some very close musician friends not

04:15many i pick few that i ask uh advice uh what did winning the 2011 lavrov won metakic competition

04:27lavrov van mattatic yeah that was important because it was just one year one half year after i started my

04:33formal studies at the master's degree so in in oslo so i just entered entered my yeah my master's so

04:42winning after half after half a year gave me a lot of attention i got 100 new friends in facebook

04:49you know some important music business people and i got an agent which also sort of i got a lot of

04:56attention in it i gained quite a lot from it i would say i didn't win the competition i got a special

05:02prize but um but it was uh it gave me some some quite nice exposure give you a push at least yes it gave

05:11me an important push it's it's important to get that that you mark yourself uh in an international

05:17context great uh you have also launched a master class and it's been running for long like what has

05:26teaching taught to you like you teach over there with one of your colleagues or mentor i'm wrong on that

05:33that the nordic master class for conductors with the ottoman panel who's my mentor and

05:40former teacher and this world famous conducting pedagog i've been teaching alongside him

05:46i was in in the jury of his conducting competition last year and what it gives me to watch the young

05:54conductors and talk to them at least it's super inspiring actually of course to be with the order and

06:00watch how he works and how he's so so to the point all the time but being with the youngsters and

06:06because i can see how how they i know what they think and i know how they are nervous in front of

06:11the orchestra i know the the route of building conductors is super long like musicians but longer

06:17even with conductors because it's like it's really a lifelong journey i can really see how i was here last

06:24year i took rehearsals for supine and of course he's such a big character in the music world and he

06:31sort of you can see all his knowledge when he's conducting or all his experience more i would say

06:36i really somehow look forward till i'm 60 plus do you think that any any uh kind of rehearsal is enough

06:46for a performance like you keep on rehearsing rehearsing and you're like still just to put

06:53it up to the mark how much rehearsal is required i think the oh it depends the program depends

07:00of the orchestra depends on many many factors sometimes you can you can always find new things to

07:07discover or do things but sometimes you can also over rehearse a piece because for the best performance

07:14it's also good when i learned that also from jorma in a general rehearsal that didn't really work out

07:19well and i i thought okay we need to keep working but actually no so we left from that general rehearsal

07:25this many years ago and everybody was a little bit like that because it was so everybody goes like

07:31this on the chair when they play so it's like they are really on on on fire because otherwise it won't

07:37work and these concerts are really really great it was a fantastic concert because because

07:43everybody's on the tip if you have rehearsed too much then it becomes boring yeah or not boring but

07:49then it's more if the energy has you need to be a little bit like this so you have performed in

07:56different countries right so have you seen some kind of difference in not just rehearsal but in the kind

08:02of performance in the kind of audience you have over there like let's say india denmark germany so like

08:11i think now the most present is of course the concert we had here at the ncpa last week

08:16and the audience here is super enthusiastic yeah that was really nice too it means a lot how the

08:21audience reacts because it's it's not only sort of our performance in in this way so we are we are

08:28all together in the room and here i feel a very warm atmosphere very relaxed not not not like that at all

08:36very easy going and very very enthusiastic i love when they clap also between the movements okay we

08:45we want to keep the concentration but still it's only enthusiasm clapping is is enthusiasm and i i've

08:53uh yes it's it's a special this interaction with the audience okay uh so uh how do you win over an

09:04orchestra for example you are a conductor of the stage but as you mentioned about the audience how

09:09do you engage the audience in it like you know let them see in your concert if i am concentrated and has

09:18some focus and i'm in the music mostly it goes also to the orchestra and that that the audience can

09:24feel you can if you manage to make make these magical moments as a conductor and as an orchestra

09:30together they feel it for sure and this you can't you can't plan it beforehand really it happens or it

09:38doesn't and it doesn't happen in every performance but it happens you you can make it you can make it

09:46happen sort of it's it's about concentration and press presence how long has it been for you

09:52performing in ncpa like in bombay i've been here first time in 17 and at that time i was performing

09:59at the royal opera house actually so like how do you see the cultural uh difference from uh danish culture

10:07and indian culture like have you been able to set apart you know differences but there's a lot of

10:12differences differences in terms of food and you know all all sorts of things but in the the human

10:20interaction is what's more interesting in a way and i now brought i've i've had the chance to bring

10:26two danish groups last year i brought the danish chamber players who's a professional danish group of

10:31yeah highly professional musicians and this time it was young professionals from the academies

10:37so i've seen now and i also of course myself and the the the interactions with people here is so easy

10:44for us in the sense that i think the human character is the same we are but it's very direct it's the

10:51sort of not not so i like when it's no it's clear easy it's no it's like not like in france when it's like

11:00too much things set between the lines of course you need to be

11:04for me and for i know for my danish colleagues it's been easy to be here

11:07easy to communicate your roots are from india and you went to denmark and uh you as we were talking

11:16you just told me that you know you used to see yourself in the mirror and you know sway your

11:21hands and you were like okay conducting you know that's that's where the journey has taken you how do

11:26you see yourself right now in a mirror yeah in terms of early on i saw myself very danish i am very

11:33danish i knew the danish music i was grown up there i all my i don't i didn't see myself indian

11:41then i came here and i can see now that having i see myself more maybe multi multi i see different

11:50perspectives after having been here a lot and i also see because my background in denmark it's a

11:57it's a different country because everybody is maybe more equal in the whereas here is it's it's more

12:05like much bigger differences in in in the social economy and i don't i don't i really don't care

12:18much about i i like people more than i've been interacting with or both in denmark and everywhere

12:27and as and also here with people who's very high status maybe even very rich and very low status very

12:34not that status but i think it's more important i like to be with with them i like all spans

12:41uh also given my background uh i i don't i really try to see humans as humans and i i really believe

12:52in india is so special because you have so many people here and and and there's so much talent and

13:00india is not playing much western classical music so i think it's the place in the world with the biggest

13:05potential of development of western classical music or if just a little bit of this little amount

13:12of present of these kids here got to play you would have thought you you would experience such a

13:18revolution because there's there's so much unused potential have you ever seen something like that

13:25you know you saw something and you're like that thing you can bring to the stage has influenced your

13:32music taste oh yes yes all the time all the time i still and still and because it's like you

13:39you experience something for me music has been also like a sort of therapy i love studying alone

13:45i actually love sitting alone and studying and of course my experience was with people maybe i was

13:53in love with someone and i i sort of had that feeling maybe i was rejected from someone and i

13:59sort of worked through that in the music maybe i maybe i was um and then of course the looking at

14:08the music the scores the composers how was their life and i try to convey that but then the interpretation

14:14of it it comes from the the feelings i think the most important thing is that is the feelings that

14:21because we are humans so we sort of we give something that's the most i think musicians are

14:29emotional people all of them every artist every yeah yeah so it's like there's this famous danish um

14:39film director last one three and he sees people he says people sees the world

14:46most people see the world like this so they see yeah like this artists see like they see like this

14:52so they see more of all the good things also more of all the bad things

14:56one of the slight reasons why you choose a journey like this conductors are rare there's not many

15:02people who chooses conducting because it's a very lonely profession and yeah you are very alone and

15:07it's you need so much determination and so much drive because it's easier to do what everybody else did

15:13like normal normal jobs but i i just like the music and the conducting and if that had anything to do

15:20with the fact that i was already sort of different from everybody maybe yes i maybe i've thought about

15:26that it was a combination also of of of just the music and the india indian side of me i didn't think so

15:35much about before first time i came here because i felt so danish i was treated very danish i grew up in

15:42denmark i i know all the danish culture and the carl nielsen symphonies and the literature i

15:48i know that sort of thing and i didn't open up i don't know anything about indian arts and indian culture

15:54because i'm so occupied with all the western culture it's super huge i have so much to learn still

16:00and but then coming here and seeing of course it's it's special to go here for me instead of going to

16:10china or or to austria or poland or whatever it's it's of course i i i have a strong wish for the

16:19future also if i can with my capacity or what i what the people i know or my network or whatever

16:27can help bringing the the western classical music and the scandinavian or denmark together with india

16:34with music because i i'm sort of embodying it in a way i really love being here because i meet so

16:39many nice people all the time it's so great to to get that experience and also for my child i brought

16:46my child here for the first time easy for her to be as well it's it's it's not like a tourist country

16:52for me of course it feels like coming home in a way in a very weird way because i i have a connection

16:58here even i don't i don't have personal connections or family connections but i have a i have many friends

17:05here now has there been something you have featured in recently and it is very one of the biggest

17:11features you have been and it is very close to your heart and your performance or yes yes i i just did

17:19the bartok concerto for orchestra in in france with the orchestra philharmonic denise and that's a piece i

17:27really i chose it myself and it's really i really love doing that piece right of spring

17:32stravinsky in general and beethoven this piece composers i really like too and then of course

17:39sibelius and nielsen i is i'm very familiar we got to bring sibelius and nielsen here

17:44last week for the first time i think they played karl nielsen here and

17:47and and yeah and then more and more strauss i like doing debussy tchaikovsky prokofiev the russian

17:57composers what they also do a lot here i know but this always develops your repertoire because you

18:03develop as a person then you get to do new repertoire big mailer i'm starting also to do more and more

18:09mailer how does life feel back home in denmark because an artist always an artist you keep traveling

18:15from this country to that country but you know when you go back home to your family or anything

18:21how does it feel and how how do you separate the two you cannot oh it's it's different i have i have

18:26my life in denmark of course my friends in denmark and and i sometimes it because i sit then in a period

18:33to study working and and then you go somewhere and have to deliver a performance so it's a it's it's

18:42this process of being alone which the most of the time and then going and performing you only see

18:48the tip of the iceberg when we are performing so how does it feel to be at home it's nice as well i

18:54have my family of course um it's very different it's very different especially here in india so

19:00the contrast you can see here we have the carpets and the golden golden stuff and and and these

19:07surroundings i'm often in as a conductor concert halls halls and then in india you get this up front

19:16the poverty just just outside the window um from where we sit now and this is hard to witness for me

19:26especially here especially when i was here in the beginning now it's not so um you sort of get used to

19:32it but but this fact that there's so big difference in in people is it's hard to witness

19:40you called conducting a lonely profession why so you are at a leadership position there are artists on

19:46the stage that is audience but why is there this loneliness which you just said about it's combination

19:54because also it's not when you do the performance you're together with the orchestra but then you leave

19:58the orchestra you leave the group even if you're in a more long-term relation with an orchestra you're

20:06still not part of the orchestra you're not in the orchestra in that way you are and you are distanced

20:12to them and they it's any leadership role um i think but maybe conducting is even more because you're also

20:19not sort of part of the group in the administration because you're not you're not in the town or in the

20:25place all the time so in that sense it's it's it's lonely but this is something you know when you

20:32enter it into the profession but to live it to be in it you didn't know or you you do know but that's

20:39that's a that's a part of it yeah if not conducting then what it's a question which i ask yeah a lot of

20:48people i i always wanted i wanted to study german actually i speak german and i wanted to do that

20:56and then i thought okay i can try to apply to the academy and see if i get in i can take a few years

21:00and then german german history and german culture language but then i stayed in the academy so yeah i

21:09would i think i would have been studying germany german you have told that you have been performing in

21:15ncpa for quite some while now and how has the experience been and how has the management itself

21:23helped you in diving into your music more first of all being at the ncpa the conditions and the

21:29surroundings are great they know how to have air conditioned holes they know how to treat

21:34instruments everything is professional but the management here has been very easy to work with

21:39people that's also it's easy for me to be here and it's a very well run organization and in terms

21:45of bringing danish players here it's just function very easily i trust them because bringing danish

21:51professional players here requires that that that okay is there anyone to do they pick them up at the

21:58airport or is the hotel okay or is the condition they what if the instrument is is it the string instruments

22:05can't take too much heat or too much rain or whatever is it is it and in that sense the ncpa is super

22:10professional and the staff behind the stages are just so nice it's so they're so sweet and everybody's

22:17friendly and easy to be with yeah okay so what's the biggest hurdle in connecting indian and danish music

22:25yeah the the most difficult thing to to connect the through two countries with music is the financial

22:33situation of course and you also have that but but in the long term and also in bringing danish

22:40musicians here we need to strengthen the relations to be able to bring more activities and more

22:46maybe involve more kids indian kids that would that would be a great wish for me music comes without

22:53borders yes absolutely yeah so as you mentioned has there been in particular something which you were

23:00not able to do because there was lack of funding or something like that has there been something

23:05like that yes absolutely because for the moment uh there's so much good feelings the academy in

23:13denmark two academies wants to work for us i've brought a professional orchestra there are other

23:17professional orchestras we have um the government has funded part of it there's so much good vibes

23:23and also my feeling from the indian side there's good vibes because we want to there's so many good

23:28things we could get but the what we need is someone to help working behind the scenes to take the

23:33meetings to make some pr and some sort of administration that's what it because many things i don't have time

23:41and and my i have an advisory board we don't we don't have time for it so we need to employ someone

23:46we don't we don't have money so it's like that's that's where it lands actually you have been a

23:51former trumpeter right you used to play trumpet and what's the one thing you know about music that

23:59most conductors miss on it's it's super important that the conductor is clear that you give very clear

24:05entrance when do they have to play and then it's super it's it's so easy to make a mistake on a trumpet or

24:14a horn or and it's very hearable when you make a mistake a child can understand it in the hall

24:19because it's a it's a super big kicks so it's they can it can be hard or nervous they can be nervous

24:27of course all the musicians can it's a high pressure job super high pressure job if i do a mistake here

24:34they are the one who's suffering if conductor doesn't help you or give wrong even give a wrong cue it's

24:41like you get like that yeah but don't you think as a conductor you should you have to know about a

24:49lot of instruments at one go of course yes yes we need to that's a part of the job you need to know

24:56the challenges for all so i don't have other other conductors knows this as well but when you've played

25:02it and you may be more you can feel it as if you're a string player you can feel other things and and how

25:09do you tackle with them all together like you know every instrument at once you know keeping an eye

25:15on everything it comes with with experience because when you're young you're more focused on the

25:22gestures or your own or you don't you can't you don't or at least it was like that for me but i can

25:28see that from my master class that's how that's happening for all young conductors you're much more

25:32on yourself the more years the more experience the more you've done the works the better you you get

25:38i don't think so much about myself now i think more how can i go there and work i don't think so much

25:47i'm not so nervous also you're not nervous at all depends where i am but but here i'm not not so nervous

26:02so

26:06so

26:08so

26:10so

26:12so

26:14so

26:16so

26:18so

26:20so

26:22so

WATCH | India-Born Danish Conductor Maria Badstue Weaves Identity Through Music

Category

Transcript

Recommended