Dimitrij Kitajenko
Photo: Gerd Mothes
Pizzicato published today an interview with Russian conductor Dmitrij Kitajenko who is honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). Kitajenko expresses himself on various topics, such as the performance of Tchaikovsky’s music (A conductor can make many wrong decisions and turn Tchaikovsky into a jam, something sweet and whiny), young conductors (The main problem for young conductors is that they do not take enough time to study), music directors (It is my very personal opinion that today, an orchestra does not need to have a Music director, unless it expects him to deal with sponsors or politicians), the metier of conductor (We accept that every pianist or violinist, any tuba player or percussionist becomes a conductor like if no professional training was required), and the Kitajenko sound (I do not really know where it comes from. Of course, I know about the ingredients, I know what I expect in such and such work. But at the end, yes, there is always part of a mystery.) The entire interview is here.
