NEWS
Preview: "Houston Symphony hosts its first 'Tweetcert'"
The Houston Chronicle has published a preview of the Houston Symphony's upcoming "Tweetcert." This concert will feature an interactive experience encouraging audience members to enjoy "live program notes" from conductor Brett Mitchell via Twitter throughout the evening. To read this article, please click here.
Preview: "Symphony Summer Series is like a day in the park"
Brett Mitchell is featured in a preview the Houston Chronicle has published about the Houston Symphony's upcoming summer concert series, including his concert with the orchestra this Thursday evening at Miller Outdoor Theatre. To read this article, please click here.
Contract extension with the Houston Symphony
The Houston Symphony announced on Wednesday, May 12 an extension of Brett Mitchell's contract as assistant conductor for a fourth season, ending in May 2011. Mitchell will continue leading the orchestra in its classical, pops, education, and outreach programs throughout the 2010-11 season.
Front-Page Story: "Brett Mitchell to lead Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra"
The Saginaw News has published a front-page story with extensive coverage of Brett Mitchell's appointment as Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. To read this article, please click here.
* * * Brett Mitchell named Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra * * *
After a multi-season search process drawing on a pool of over 160 applicants, Brett Mitchell has been named the next music director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, effective July 2010. Mitchell will lead the orchestra in its classical, pops, and education series throughout each season of his three-year contract, which runs through June 2013. To read a story about this appointment that appeared on the front page of today's Saginaw News, please click here.
Lorin Maazel appoints Brett Mitchell assistant conductor of the 2010 Castelton Festival
After participating in last summer's inaugural Castleton Festival as an apprentice conductor, Brett Mitchell has been personally invited by Lorin Maazel to return to the 2010 Festival as assistant conductor and coach. Mr. Mitchell will prepare a new production of Puccini's Trittico (Il Tabarro, Gianni Schicchi, and Suor Angelica), and will share a concert program with Maestro Maazel during the Festival. For more information or to purchase tickets for these events, please click the "SCHEDULE" link above.
Review: "Symphony offering was raw, took risks"
The Peoria Journal Star has published a review of Brett Mitchell's recent guest appearance with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra on their subscription series finale. "The Beethoven, on the other hand, exploded. Symphony No. 7 is step-on-the-pedal, careen-around-the-corner music…and Mitchell and the musicians played it that way. The music hurried, even in the famous elegiac theme-and-variation second movement, now sounding urgent, desperate. Yes, this is majestic music; but Mitchell brought out its feverish, obsessive side as well. The third and fourth movements pulsated not with athleticism but with a crazy relentlessness. Even in the music’s most sublime moments, Mitchell emphasized how Beethoven likes to sneak up on his listeners." To read the complete review, please click here.
Preview: "Symphony candidate sees youth as a plus"
Brett Mitchell, a candidate for the position of music director at the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, leads the orchestra on April 24 at the Civic Center Theater.
The Journal Star (Peoria) has published a profile of Brett Mitchell in advance of his upcoming concert with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra:
Brett Mitchell, the next candidate in the Peoria Symphony Orchestra's music director search, said that a young face at the podium can be a plus.
"If you look at the list of candidates that the Peoria Symphony has brought this season, it's very clear that they are interested in reaching out to the next generation of concertgoers," said Mitchell of Houston, who leads the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven, Prokofiev and the music of contemporary composer Michael Torke on Saturday.
"We're all, relatively speaking, young. I think that's a great way to bring in young audiences. It seems like a superficial thing, but it's not and I'll tell you why. I go home on Monday night, if I can, and I watch 'House' just like everybody else. I'm excited about the last season of 'Lost' just like everybody else. I listen to top 40 radio just like everybody else. I think there is something really important - the relatability of the person on the podium."
Yet Mitchell, 30, is not just an "average Joe" who just happens to have a passion for classical music. Few rising conductors can impress the likes of conductor Kurt Masur, whom Mitchell can claim as a personal mentor and supporter. Connections to Masur led to three years of shuttling back and forth over the Atlantic while serving as assistant conductor for the French National Orchestra. And besides that world-class orchestra, Mitchell has led several other top-notch organizations: the London Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra, where he now serves as assistant conductor.
Nevertheless, Mitchell, who grew up in Seattle, hardly projects the image of a rarified know-it-all. His parents listened to not just classical but a variety of music, and he owes his fascination with orchestral sound to John Williams via movies like "Star Wars," "Superman," "E.T." and "Indiana Jones." In fact, for a time Mitchell wanted to be a film composer and studied composition at Western Washington University while taking lessons on his primary instrument, the piano, on which he is basically self-taught after having a few formal lessons when he was 6. (Mitchell broke out on his own because his piano teacher insisted that the young boy learn scales instead of songs.)
When he considered graduate school in music, however, Mitchell switched to conducting - partly because he decided he wasn't a young John Williams in the making. Also, he discovered he preferred collaborating with others.
"Playing the piano is a very solitary endeavor," Mitchell said. "You spend hours and hours alone in a practice room. The culmination of all that practice is that you go on stage alone again. Composition is a very solitary endeavor. You spend hours and hours alone writing your music. Once it's written, it's written. But with conducting - yes, I spend hours and hours alone studying these scores. But the end result is so different. The end result is that I get to work with 60, 80, 100 of my colleagues on these pieces. Then we get to perform them for one or two or three or five or 10,000 people. I'm such a people person. That just speaks to me and makes so much sense to me for who I am as an artist."
Not to mention the added benefit of spending a great deal of time with scores by Beethoven or Prokofiev - composers of genius. What job can be better than that?
After receiving a master's and doctoral degrees in orchestral conducting from the University of Texas at Austin, Mitchell went on to a varied career. Thanks to Kurt Masur, Mitchell received the inaugural Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship, which meant one-on-one study with Masur and helping the great conductor with concerts in Europe and America. He currently serves as assistant conductor/American conducting fellow of the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
Mitchell said that orchestras can broaden their audiences by being good representatives of their respective cities and regions. Programs, he said, should not be interchangeable: What is played in Chicago should be different from what is played in Dallas, because Chicago and Dallas are different places. For instance, the Peoria Symphony Orchestra might consider playing more music from local and regional composers as well as standards like Aaron Copland's homage to Abraham Lincoln.
"The Peoria Symphony Orchestra's programming should absolutely be reflective of Peoria and Illinois," Mitchell said. "Because otherwise we just become a symphony orchestra that just happens to be in Peoria. That is a huge mistake."
Beyond that, Mitchell would like to see collaborations with other dance, theater and other arts groups - projects he has tried to cultivate in his time with the Houston Symphony.
Mitchell, who also is in the running for the position of music director at Michigan State's Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, said he's ready for a new stage in his career.
"I've had great music director experiences with my own orchestras - but they've been smaller orchestras," Mitchell said. "They've been largely academic orchestras, in a university setting, or a youth orchestra. I've had great professional orchestra experience, including with some of the greatest orchestras in the world. I've conducted the London Philharmonic. I've conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra. I work with the Houston Symphony. These are really sensational orchestras. I feel like the time is right for me to synthesize those two things - that great music director experience that I have and that great professional experience that I have. And become music director of one of the nation's really, truly great regional orchestras."
Preview: "Seattle native next to audition for SBSO post"
The Saginaw News has published a preview of Brett Mitchell's upcoming subscription concert with the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, as he auditions to become that orchestra's next music director. To read this article, please click here.
Cover Conductor for The Philadelphia Orchestra
After successfully auditioning with The Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2009, Brett Mitchell has been invited to cover several subscription weeks with the Orchestra in May 2010. These programs will be led by chief conductor Charles Dutoit, and will feature works of Stravinsky, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, and more. For more information, or to purchase tickets for these events, please click the "SCHEDULE" link above.
"Film music finding crossover appeal on concert stages"
Brett Mitchell is featured in an article about film music and its crossover appeal in the concert hall that first appeared in the Houston Chronicle, and now appears in papers nationwide. To read the original article, please click here.
Audio: Houston Symphony (Rachmaninoff) interview
Brett Mitchell and Hans Graf spoke with Dean Dalton on today's edition of KUHF's "The Front Row" about this weekend's Houston Symphony subscription concerts, on which Mr. Mitchell will lead Rachmaninoff's youthful symphonic poem, The Rock. To listen to this interview, please click here.
Video: Brett Mitchell leads Musiqa in concert
Video of Brett Mitchell's recent performance with Musiqa of Pierre Jalbert's L'oeil écoute with film by Jean Detheux is now available. Please watch the video embedded in this post, or click here to watch the performance on Vimeo.
Preview: "Seven Conductors. One Baton."
Art & Society magazine (Peoria, Ill.) has published a preview of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra's 2009-10 season, during which Brett Mitchell will be the last of seven guest conductors vying to become that orchestra's next music director. To read this article, please click here.
Audio: Musiqa interview
Brett Mitchell and novelist Mat Johnson spoke with St.John Flynn on today's edition of KUHF's "The Front Row" about this weekend's season-opening collaboration between contemporary chamber ensemble Musiqa and literary organization Inprint. To listen to this interview, please click here.
Brett Mitchell: "New Music: It's not just for your Classical Series"
Brett Mitchell has penned a column for online magazine NewMusicBox about the viability of incorporating more contemporary repertoire into orchestras' educational, family, and Pops programming. To read this column, please click here.
Brett Mitchell named finalist for Peoria Symphony music directorship
Brett Mitchell has been named one of seven finalists to become the next music director of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Mitchell will lead a subscription concert with the orchestra in April 2010 featuring music of Torke, Prokofiev, and Beethoven. For more information, please click here.
Audio: "Blue Planet Live" interview
Brett Mitchell spoke with St.John Flynn on today's edition of KUHF's "The Front Row" about this weekend's Houston Symphony performances of "Blue Planet Live," featuring the award-winning Discovery Channel documentary with George Fenton's score performed live by the orchestra and Mr. Mitchell. To listen, please click here.
Preview: "Houston Symphony ready to dive into concert"
The Houston Chronicle has published a preview of the Houston Symphony's upcoming performance of George Fenton's score for The Blue Planet, led by Brett Mitchell, which will be synchronized with a screening of the film at Jones Hall. To read this article, please click here.
Audio: Houston Symphony (Schumann) interview
Brett Mitchell spoke with Bob Stevenson on today's edition of KUHF's "The Front Row" about this weekend's Houston Symphony performances at Miller Outdoor Theatre, during which Mr. Mitchell will lead a program featuring Schumann's Symphony No. 1 ("Spring"). To listen to this interview, please click here.