It was back in the 2004 that then, 38-year-old conducting candidate Bob Moody joined the pool of five finalists to replace Maestro Peter Perret. Moody's exciting public audition, and megawatt personality electrified the Stevens Center audience, and a year later, he became the third full-time music director of the Winston-Salem Symphony.
Principal percussionist John R. Beck says that week's performance, and the rehearsals leading up to it, left a lasting impression on many of the musicians in the orchestra as well.
“Bob brought an energy to the whole week that was really infectious. Regardless of what he was doing—classical, or the pops that he did—it was just really fun to play with him”, says Beck. “He brought an enjoyment that the other conductors didn't necessarily.”
Corine Brouwer is the longtime concertmaster of the orchestra. She recalls the conductor's personal touch.
“What really stood out was his willingness to interact with the orchestra, not just on the podium, but also off the podium”, she says. “He really wanted to get to know all of us as individuals as well as musicians, and that's held true throughout his tenure with the orchestra.”
Paul Sharpe is the orchestra's principal double bassist. He calls Moody “a true mensch”, and says that although the conductor may lead with an iron fist, there is no iron-fisted heart there.
“He's all about the music, but yet has that clarity of beat that's very easy to follow. He's always thoroughly prepared, so you're never doubting like, ‘Does he want for me to come in here?' It's generally, always really, really crystal clear, and just full of enthusiasm for the music.”
Sharpe says that level of musical support given by the conductor extends to the musicians themselves.
“There never was a moment where I felt like he wasn't looking out for my best interests which—I mean in reality—I haven't seen that always with conductors”, says Sharpe. “But he's been steadfast in just being a quality human being, so I wish him the best as he moves on.”
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In January, Bob Moody announced that he will be stepping down as Music Director in May of 2018 to focus on his work with the Memphis Symphony where he was named Music Director in March. Over the course of his 13-years with the Winston-Salem Symphony, he expanded audiences through new educational programs, concert series, and community outreach.
Early on in his tenure, Moody established a Pops Series, and later the Kicked-Back Classics Series—traditional orchestral performances, but with casual dress, and in a more relaxed atmosphere. His interest in reaching children led to the formation of the Discovery Concerts for Kids. Moody brought the city's youth orchestra system entirely under the Winston-Salem Symphony's umbrella, and expanded it to include string ensembles for elementary school-aged children, and, most recently, an academy for Pre-K students.
Moody says that expanding audiences has been one of the keys to sustaining the orchestra's fiscal stability over the past decade. It's a model he hopes to replicate in Memphis. The Maestro's Farewell Season opening concert is this weekend featuring music by Wagner, Elgar, and the Concerto for Two Cellos by American composer David Ott.
On Wednesday, Moody led the first rehearsal of his farewell season with the Winston-Salem Symphony. WFDD's David Ford spoke with the 50-year-old conductor, and has this look back.
Highlights from the interview
On what he has learned about himself over the past 13 years.
What one begins to realize as a conductor—at least I have begun to realize—is that, as hard as it is for your ego to take, you, Bob Moody, are not the greatest conductor in every set of repertory that exists. There are certain works by certain composers that I feel really drawn to, and very passionate about, and I think—and the feedback has also been—that I have something to say with that repertory. There are other works by other composers and other eras in music where I feel less familiar. And so, part of the learning as a Music Director is to begin to hone in on your strengths …And I'm realizing at fifty that I feel, perceive and take on this business and this art of conducting so much differently than I did at forty or thirty. When you are a young conductor, it's very difficult to not let the primary focus be you. ‘What do I look like? How is my beat pattern? What are they thinking of me?' You know, if the player in the orchestra rolled their eyes in my general direction twenty years ago, that would put me in the corner of my room in a fetal position the rest of the night—completely stressed out, worried about, ‘They think I'm a charlatan, hate my tempos, hate my approach to this piece.' Now, I think to myself, number one, ‘They probably weren't thinking about me at all when I happened to catch that expression', and number two, ‘I believe in what I'm doing, so play my temp! [laughs].' So, in equal parts, you learn to care more about the human beings who are making the music, and really care about what's happening in the totality of their life that brings them to the point that they can bring something to the table, and have something to say about Elgar or Wagner or an Ott double cello concerto. And you also simultaneously care less about what they think about you.
On Moody's evolution as a conductor.
The craft of conducting detail that has really changed for me is that I used to be a much more rhythmically based conductor. Everything for me was sort of, ‘Play with me here, right when I drop the downbeat. Don't be a millisecond late. In a rhythmic, mathematical way, that's the way to hold together the ensemble.' Now I think much more about the shape of phrase and much less about my own body and hands showing the typical textbook pattern. And in the past eight months, I've given up the baton. I feel there's a lot more I can do to assist the instrumentalist in making their best creation without it in my hands.
On the Winston-Salem Symphony's most memorable concert.
So many great conducting moments are at the tip of my mind, and they involve our last Mahler 2nd Symphony performance about six years ago, both of the Beethoven 9th [concerts] that we did here, a number of the Handel's Messiah concerts…standing next to Renee Flemming is an experience that a conductor can never forget—I mean such amazing artistry. [But] I think the one that I will therefore pull will not be of me actually conducting. When we brought Yo-Yo Ma to town a few years ago. For an encore, he grabbed my hand, and made me walk out with him. And because this was the celebration of my tenth anniversary here as Music Director, he said to the audience, ‘This is your Music Director. It's your tenth anniversary. He's a cellist, so, Bob you tell me what to play'. I thought, ‘I should think of some great piece, you know, difficult, technical cello piece'. But really what I wanted to hear Yo-Yo play with me standing three feet from him, was the Bach G Major Prelude [from Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Suites], the most maybe perfect of all cello works. And so, I said, ‘Please play the Bach G Major', and he played the entire thing looking straight at me. Um, I will never in my life—I could quit now. I mean I will never forget that experience.
On the timing of his departure after 13 years with the orchestra.
It feels like a good length [of time], and, to be honest, from the day I started here, the wording we always used was ‘a decade give or take' a few years. So, the fact that we have pushed to thirteen years feels really great. And it's nice to be leaving at a time when, at least a lot of people—you never say ‘everyone', but it feels like most everyone doesn't want me to go yet. And I've always said I'd rather lead somewhere five years too early than five minutes too late.