This fall, conductor Nathalie Stutzmann officially assumes the position of music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The acclaimed French conductor, contralto singer and multi-instrumentalist first worked with the ASO as a guest conductor in 2020. Her transition to music director this year marks a new chapter for the orchestra under the guidance of its first-ever female conductor. Stutzmann joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom to talk about her upcoming 2022-2023 season of music with the ASO.
Last weekend, Reitzes attended the ASO’s performance under Stutzmann and remarked on the passionate outpouring of audience enthusiasm. Stutzmann responded, “I was so moved and, I must say, really almost in tears when I came on stage … Before I did anything, the whole audience stood up and just greeted me, like, for a minute, with only love.”
Stutzmann’s first week as the official new music director represents, for her, an essential introduction of her musical sensibilities to ASO followers. “So I wanted to have a week which was very clearly showing the directions of my passions and my work,” said Stutzmann. “And I couldn’t imagine that week, after all, what we survived all together, without performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, which is really the work of friendship, putting people together again, after having put people separately and far away from each other for so long. It was very symbolic.”
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