Liner Notes Episode 7: James Kahane

Meredith: [00:00:00] Coming to Hamilton in, in 2024, just sort of interested in your impressions of the city and especially the city's music scene.
James: Yeah. You guys have great food here. It's, it's, it's, I mean, and I come from Paris, you know? Yeah. So, so, so I know you have a lot of energy and people that, that work really hard, really seriously to make things happen.
And I think, I think that's, I, I was surprised I didn't expect sort of that level of commitment and love from. The people in the community towards their art scene and, and cultural scene.
Meredith: Welcome to Gritty History, a podcast from the City of Hamilton and Hamilton Civic Museums, taking you beyond the physical museums and diving into fascinating stories from the city's past and present.
In this audio series, we'll explore the people and places that make Hamilton Ontario so special. Our first series. Liner notes digs into the work of Hamilton Music. My name is Meredith Leonard and I'm a senior curator at Hamilton Civic Museums. Joining me for this series is Russ Piva, AKA stereo Russ Musician and host of Inside The Music with StereoRuss, [00:01:00] thank you so much for joining us. Let's press play
Russ: French Born conductor. James Kahane is the ninth musical director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He began his tenure in September, 2024 at the age of 28, and is also the principal conductor of the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra. James joins us today at CFMU Studios to share his experiences at the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
James, thank you so much for taking the time today.
James: Well, you're welcome.
Meredith: To get us started, could you maybe share a little bit about your musical background and how you found your way from France to Hamilton?
James: Yeah. Well, uh, my musical background is a little bit weird because I come from. A family that are not musicians.
Well, that's, that's pretty common. But I also started, uh, investing myself seriously in music pretty late, only at age 16. I had piano lessons before that, but I wasn't exactly taking it very seriously. Um, so anyhow, at around age 15, 16, I [00:02:00] sort of geared myself towards a musician's career, and I got especially interested in, uh, classical music, uh, and uh, conducting.
Sort of, um, because of the team aspect element, uh, because of the, uh, you know, being at the centre of a group and, uh, that was sort of much more appealing to me than being alone at my keyboard, uh, every evening. So, um, you know, I wanted, uh, to study conducting. I did some lessons. I went to some schools and so on.
And eventually I found my way in Finland. Uh, Finland has one of the sort of, uh, most renowned, uh, conducting classes in the world and, uh, that's how I ended up being there. I did my entire bachelor's and master's degree in orchestra conducting there. I had very good teachers and, uh, after that I worked a little bit there as freelancer and.
I joined my, uh, my orchestra, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra as principal Conductor. I also had [00:03:00] some other positions, and, uh, then I ended up working here in Hamilton as music director.
Russ: I'm curious to know, you know, what is it, or was it about orchestra music that got you really excited?
James: Uh, that's a good question.
I, I can't really say. It might have something to do with, um, uh. You know, something like with childhood, my parents, they had, they weren't really big classical music listeners, uh, but, you know, well they had hundreds and hundreds of CDs and almost none of them were classical music except one or two, which were like these typical things.
You, you, you would find at the time, like compilations of like top 50 best, uh, classical music. Pieces and so on and so on. And I just remember that my favourite tracks on those CDs were always the symphonic works. Um, so even when I started taking piano seriously, uh, I, my teacher was a little bit puzzled [00:04:00] because I kept asking her whether, you know, I could just play arrangements of, uh, uh, reductions to piano of symphonic music, which was not what she wanted to teach me.
Russ: What did she wanna teach you?
James: Oh, she, well, she wanted to teach me proper piano, like proper, you know, etudes and preludes and, and all these things. Piano suites and, uh, reductions are, are something like, you know, there are pieces that are intended for a symphony orchestra that have been transcribed for piano to, to make it sort of, uh, playable.
Russ: I wanna set the stage here for folks out there who may be new to orchestra music, you're still connected to the, the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, and you're here in Hamilton for the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. For all those out there, can you kind of explain what the difference is between Chamber and for Harmonic?
James: Yes, it's, uh, it comes down to the size. A chamber orchestra is much smaller. Usually it ranges from, I'd say 13 players to [00:05:00] maybe 30 players. Um, so whether a philharmonic orchestra will usually be at least 40 musicians and potentially up to a hundred or even a little bit more. Yeah, so, so it's, it's really just about the size.
Okay.
Russ: And so for, for context and the Hamilton Philharmonic, how many people are, or players are, are in that orchestra?
James: Um, well, we have a lot of extras, but usually in our concerts we are always between, or most of the time, between 50 players to upward to 80 players or even 90 players on very special occasions.
Russ: What does, what does a day-to-day look like for you?
James: Interestingly, even though there is the name, you know the word director in my title, uh, I'm first and foremost a conductor, so most of my day, most of my time comes to, goes to studying scores and learning music. Uh, I would say that in my workload that's at least like [00:06:00] 70% of what I do.
I mean, outside rehearsals, of course. Uh, and then the rest of the time it's a lot of, you know, like, planning ahead our seasons. I, uh, you know, I, me and, and the rest of the team, we, we choose the guest artists. We choose the guest conductors. We make the programs, we make new collaborations. We launch partnerships and all that, you know, requires meetings and lots of email exchanges and things like that.
Meredith: The HPO has got a really rich history in the city. I think 140 years it's been, it's been in the city. What's it like to sort of come into that and are there sort of stories from, from the history of the organization that have stuck with you or, or people who've been involved over the years that have maybe inspired you or, or that you sort of see coming through your work these days?
James: Well, coming to, to the Hamilton Philharmonic is like, was definitely very humbling because, um. One thing that distinguishes, especially the Hamilton Philharmonic to other regional orchestra, is that it has a, [00:07:00] a rich history of like great music directors and it's, it's a sort of very respected orchestra in North America.
Um, and, uh. Basically the, the main takeaway for me was that, um, with this sort of lineage of, of conductors that had been working, uh, I was especially impressed by their ability to sort of, each of them build on what their predecessors had been doing. Um, so basically with each music director, like the orchestra managed to reach a new stature.
And for example, there are, there are things that now I can consider and do with the orchestra partnerships that we can, uh, have and guess, you know, stars that we can bring thanks to the work of my predecessor and herself. I'm sure there are a lot of things that she was able to do and build thanks to the work of her [00:08:00] own predecessor and so on and so on.
So, so that. Sort of, that's really inspiring because it's, I really feel like each music rector has been a sort of steward and had the sort of best, uh, had at heart the best interest of the orchestra's future.
Russ: I know in the past at Super Crawl, the Philharmonic has, uh, collaborated with LT the Monk, uh, who's, uh, who's a Hamilton hip hop artist.
Uh, and I know you had one recently with, with Dwayne Gretzky, uh, for Valentine's Day. So I'm just curious what the process is like for, for maybe a non oral. Performer to kind of integrate themselves and work with someone like yourself?
James: Well, we have a big team at our office that sort of looks and thinks a lot and brainstorms about what could be interesting for us to to do in terms of concert offering.
We try to have a sort of. Uh, diverse, uh, you know, offering of concerts and programs with, uh, a lot of classical [00:09:00] music. But not only, we also do film music, and we also do like more sort of pops uh, style concerts. And, uh, our team spends a lot of time reflecting on what could work, what could be enjoyable, what makes sense artistically, uh, what are the things that.
You know, our audience would like to see here. And based on that, they, they will usually at some point reach some of the artists that, or partners that we envision for this collaborations and, and, uh, sort of start making it happen or at least work towards that. And then of course they also have, uh, some personal connections that I can reach out to myself when there are sort of very special partnerships that.
That I want to make happen, whether it's artists or institutions or whatever. Um. But to be perfectly honest, in, in my case, when I'm directly involved in crafting these partnerships, it's, it has often more to do with classical music because that's my area of [00:10:00] expertise.
Russ: So we mentioned Dwayne Gretzky, we mentioned LT the Monk.
Are there other ones that come to mind? Um, other past or present?
James: I'm, I'm quite proud of the, of the guest conductors we've had, which, which I also. Consider them as collaborators. Uh, we've collaborated with COSA for, uh, an opera production, which was, you know, the first staged, you know, full opera production that the Hamilton Philharmonic did for a really long time.
I think on like 10 years or maybe even more. And, you know, moving forward, we also have some things in the works for future seasons. We can't really talk about them before they are publicly announced.
Meredith: Stay
Russ: tuned.
Meredith: Stay tuned.
James: Exactly.
Meredith: It sounds like there are so many incredible opportunities available to people in Hamilton who are interested in this music. For those of us who are maybe new to orchestral music or, or new to this, this kind of genre, where would you suggest we start? Like what is, what's a good like, starter [00:11:00] production to go check out or, or what's one of the programs that HPO offers that might be a good sort of entryway into, into classical music?
James: I think if you've really sort of almost never been or almost never listened to, to classical music, I would suggest starting with, um, perhaps our film, music, uh, events, because that's actually one of the ways that I myself found myself really interested in classical music is. Uh, at the very beginning when I was a kid, like I, I was first more interested in film music, John Williams and, and whatever, and plenty others.
And, and that's what I was listening the most. And then, you know, I found out all these connections between film, music, and classical music and little by little I sort of bifurcated to, to classical music. So, um, I think film music is a good start, uh, than if you already are used to attending our film, music concerts.
And you want to, to come see, uh, you know, [00:12:00] get involved in more classical music, then you could have a look at our inside the orchestra programs, which are really designed for like people that want to discover more and understand more about classical music and also in a sort of, uh, shorter, more friendly format.
So our inside the orchestra concerts are one hour long or one hour and a half long. And the audience gets to sit inside the orchestra and, uh, it's basically like, uh, one piece that is sort of, uh, uh, pulled apart by the hosts or in, in one time it's gonna be, for example, in March it's gonna be me who's gonna sort of work on, on, uh, you know, explaining the piece to the audience, like, you know.
Like, uh, yes, sort of highlighting the important bits and, and, and discussing with the audience also while they're there. So I think that's quite approachable. And also you get to be inside the orchestra, [00:13:00] which, which is pretty cool.
Russ: The more knowledge you have about anything, the more you enjoy it.
James: Yes.
Russ: What, whatever your hobby, whatever your passion is, right?
James: Yeah, exactly.
Russ: And this might be a good time to plug your radio show James' Classical Time Sink on CFMU.
James: What I do there is, is mostly it's a hobby to be perfectly honest. Uh, there is just a lot of music that I like that I'm, that I'm happy to share, uh, on the radio. Um, and sometimes it's also a good opportunity to have interesting conversations with people, uh, uh, about like operas or ballets there, which is something I'm trying to do more and more like.
Like have guests and then discussing with them. So, um, what I find very interesting when I have these, uh, guests, uh, there and, you know, I force them to watch an opera or something and, and then we discuss it, is they are, they are actually quite surprised by how much they end up enjoying it. Um, even though like they didn't necessarily expect it.
And especially what I have found [00:14:00] quite. Sort of, uh, helpful for these people is, is to de demystify a little bit the experience. Like you go see an opera and you go see a classical music concert, and it's, it's all right that you don't like it. You know, like pieces, uh, even. Pieces written by geniuses are, are flawed and or, you know, uh, staging can be flawed, A conductor can be flawed, whatever.
And there are things that you see in a show, whether it's a concert or an opera production that you don't like and you know that you want to discuss or debate with whoever you are talking to or even on your own. And I think that's this sort of aura of like. Classical music, a concert is sacred and we are not allowed to say anything bad about it ever because it's, it's sort of so well crafted in the first place and so miraculous, which is, it is, it is miraculous and well crafted.
Um, but, you know, people should be able to say their opinions and I think having this freedom is also something that helps people get involved, like turning [00:15:00] on their, uh, critics mindset.
Meredith: If someone is thinking about a career in classical music, perhaps dreaming about being a conductor like yourself, what tips or guidance might you offer them?
James: It's a quite complex question because, um, it really depends of your background as a musician and, you know, if someone is, if a kid that's 12-year-old asks me this question, it's not gonna be the same that if someone who's 30-year-old ask me this question and, and some people start like conducting studies at 30 years old, it's, it's not.
So rare actually. Um, I'd say I'd really recommend looking at international options for conducting careers and, and conducting studies because especially in Europe, there are some schools that are really, really, really, really exceptionally good and. And actually you'd be surprised, but even, even though you might be humble or modest, you, you actually might have a, a shot at getting accepted because a lot of these schools assess your potential, [00:16:00] sometimes even more than your abilities at a certain point where, where you know, where you apply and so on.
So, to a young aspiring conductor, I would really say, look at Europe, look at schools. Uh, think about what are your strengths? Uh, and weaknesses and how these, like, I would say, four or five grade schools, can sort of, uh, reinforce your strengths and compensate your weaknesses and, uh, and try to maybe apply there and, uh, you know, and then to be in more in detail, like, uh, I, I would advise the young conductor to reach out to me personally and ask me some, some advice because I'm, I'm really happy to help anyone.
Russ: Say you're a young person and you end up in a position kind of like yours where you know you're in charge of, you know, hundreds of people. What advice would you give someone who might be in that kind of position,
James: um, when you think rationally about this and, and sort of take out, I don't [00:17:00] know, ego anxiety or, or whatever you have spent at the point where you start a job as a music director, you, you've probably spent a fair amount of time at school, uh, studying, conducting and training to be a conductor. And you've already gathered, uh, hopefully quite a bit of experience as conductor in, in concerts. So, um, so you, you have a sort of, a lot of, well, you have quite.
A bit of experience as a sort of al conductor and leader of a group. The musicians you have in front of you, especially if they are a lot older, like they are much more qualified in their instrument. And that's like, that's not gonna change, uh, ever. Like they, they are better at playing their instrument, obviously, that's why they're there.
And, um. Uh, but you're probably better than them at like conducting an orchestra. And, uh, you have been trained, uh, at that point you have been trained by your school to, to deal with spec [00:18:00] situations that are really specific to conducting. You have had, whether directly or indirectly you've received training in leadership.
Um, and, and it's, I I really see often, you know. Uh, people that have great careers as soloists or, or musicians, and at some point they decide that they want to transition to, to orchestra conducting, sometimes it goes really well, uh, but sometimes it doesn't because, you know, they, they think, oh, you know, if I can wave my arms very well, then, then, I mean, you know, I, I, I'm suitable for a conducting career.
Uh, I mean, first of all, waving your arms really well is actually pretty difficult. Uh, especially if you want to have a really good technique, it's not that easy. And, uh, second of all, like there is a lot of skills and, and habits and, you know, automatisms that, that you are sort of trained like through the years to do how to, you know, how to handle a rehearsal.
It's, it's not that [00:19:00] simple and straightforward.
Meredith: It actually reminds me like a little bit, just hearing you talk about like, curating, like in curating this exhibit, it's like the hard thing is not the individual part. It's like pulling it all together and, and making it make sense for an audience in that. So it's just as an interesting sort of parallel to, to our exhibition about, about music.
James: Yeah. And, uh. You know, it, it's, it's really a different kind of training. As a, as a conductor, you should know how to play at least one instrument very well, because that informs you a little bit of the psychology of, you know, what goes behind practicing an instrument. And also, well, of course, you, I mean, you're a musician, so at, at some point it's great if you can yourself produce some sound on an instrument. Um. But, you know, but it's, it's really, there are really a lot of other things that are, that are really important and that people don't realize before they actually start conducting.
And sometimes [00:20:00] even when they are conducting, they don't realize them.
Meredith: If you're enjoying this conversation, you might wanna check out the punching in exhibition, which explores the work of Hamilton's music scene on display at the Visitor Experience Center, located at 28 James Street North throughout 2026.
Now back to our conversation.
Russ: If you were to break it down very, very simply, what makes a great conductor?
James: Well, it's a lot of things together. It's, it's a lot of skills that are like individually, they're not so rare, for example, to be a great leader, you know, to, to be someone that, that makes people want to play better or, or makes.
People play better, even if they don't want to play better. Uh, but, um, uh, also to be a good psychologist and, and someone who can sort of understand very intuitively and very easily, like sort of. You, you know, get, understanding the mood [00:21:00] in the room, understanding why things happen. Also like the psychology of why things happen in a rehearsal.
All these things, um, you know, you need also a good technique and, and so on and so on. You need the first condition is obviously you need to be a very. Good musician and you know, under, like, have something to say about music. Have some vision of, of what you want things to sound like. Um, all these things, it's not so rare to find them separately.
You have people that are great, uh, leaders, people that are great musicians, people that have a great technique and so on. Uh, but finding, but a great, great conductor is someone that has like many of those. Assets in their sleeves, and that's actually pretty rare.
Meredith: What's your instrument? You said you have, there's an instrument that you have usually an expert at if you're a conductor.
James: Um, yeah. Well, originally I'm a pianist, so that's definitely my main instrument. And then I sort of did a little bit, a tiny bit of double bass [00:22:00] and also some like Tim and percussion just to kind of. Get familiarized with how it is to be inside an orchestra, uh, on the other side of the podium.
Russ: I'm fascinated by the fact that you started, uh, in music kind of so late, relatively speaking, uh, when you were a teenager.
Um, I'm just thinking about all the different routes you could have taken. Um, conductor performer. Uh, and I'm just wondering for those listening out there, maybe they want to be involved. They enjoy this kind of music. What are the other kind of positions, jobs, roles that exist at the HPO?
James: Oh, there, there's quite many and, and definitely there.
I think there is much more than people might think. Uh. Well, there are all, of course, we have all the musicians. I mean, that's already like you, you know, like, I don't know, 20 different instruments or, or whatever that, that you can pick if, if you are interested in actual performance. Uh, and then on the more administrative side, we have like, uh, you know, we have people that are, we have an artistic planner.
An artistic [00:23:00] planner is someone that sort of. Well, you know, uh, help helps me like sort of design a season and like think about guest artists and, and, uh, and collaborations and all these things. And basic, and also participates into bringing to life, uh, the vision I have for, for a season or for the orchestra as a whole.
So that's a really interesting job because it's a mix between something administrative and also you still have quite some. You know, artistic inputs. So, so you also think, like musically in a sense. Um, then you have an the executive director, which is, you know, the, my, uh, sort of work partner and equivalent for the operational side.
So it's really the person that is at the head of the orchestra's operations and make sure you know that, that everything is planned, that this orchestra. Actually functions in practice. Uh, then we have, uh, people that are, uh, [00:24:00] various managers that either deal with hiring musicians or deal with the whole, or deal with instruments and, and hiring.
Uh, you know, I don't know, uh, making sure there are enough stance on stage and things like that. Uh, you have a librarian who is the person that, that, um. Um, you know, we'll make sure that musicians have their music on their stands and in, you know, and handles the orchestra's library. Uh, sometimes, I mean, we don't have our own sound engineers in the orchestra, but the hall has sound engineers, which are, and light engineers and things like that, that are in charge of, you know, all that side of things.
So, so there is really a lot of. Things and then marketing and you know, and development and and so on and so on. Uh, there is a lot of ways to be involved in classical music, even without being a musician.
Meredith: There's so many of us who are like, so interested and love the arts, like music and film, and we're, we're, it's not our talent area, but it's, it's so nice to hear that there's ways [00:25:00] that we can support that and further the goals of those organizations, um, by using different, different talents that we bring.
James: And I think there are actually quite interesting jobs. Like for, for the most part. Um, my mother told me recently that when she was a student, uh, she's German, uh, and she, you know, she moved to France and she told me that, uh, so, you know, she had lots of like little small jobs and, and so sort of, and that one of the most fun times she ever had, uh, when she was working as a student was when she worked at the opera house as translator.
So her job was like, you know, it was before the apps on the smartphone and things like that. So you would have a production with like, I don't know, German guests coming to Paris Opera and my mother would be with them all the time and translating, uh, things back and forth. And she said it was so interesting to be involved in the sort of like inside an opera house.
Um, and, and [00:26:00] she said it was like one of her most fun like work experience as a student.
Meredith: I'm sure your mom's part of a lot of people's really great memories of opera in Paris.
James: Yeah, and and I think also what makes this, in my opinion, a lot of jobs around classical music fun is, I mean, first of all, you get to enjoy a lot of classical music.
So if you like, like classical music, that's of course a big plus. And also, I must admit that. You know, uh, compared if, you know, if you're a doctor and, and, or, or something, or even a politician or whatever, like, it's, it's stressful, but you have good reasons to be stressed. You know, what I think is great for, in classical music is that there, there is a lot of stress around.
But it's nice that at the end you can go home and think, okay, at the end of the day it's a concert and we want to have a great concert. But you know, nobody's life is at stake. And I, I think that sort of the fact that you have this privilege of being excited and [00:27:00] stressed about something that at the end of the day, you know, nobody's gonna die, I think is also something that participates into making these jobs like fun.
Russ: I just wanna know as far as like the Hamilton Philharmonic Yeah. How it compares on the world stage as far as Philharmonics and, and kind of what's special and unique about the Hamilton one specifically.
James: Well, it's a regional orchestra, so you know, like there we have basically, uh. I, there are different levels of orchestras, of course.
It's, it's not like categories, uh, original categories. It's more like a spectrum where you would find like, uh, you know, the bare like national orchestras or like the Berlin Philharmonic typically are, you know, the, the best orchestra in the world and so on. And then. On the lowest end of the spectrum, you would find like community orchestras and, um, you know, those are a bit different, right?
Because musicians are not paid. But, but even sort of, uh, like very small regional orchestras are, are sort [00:28:00] of like, you know, like, uh, much smaller in size and, and, and, uh, capacities than, than. The sort of biggest orchestras in the world. I, I'd say that the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra is a very good regional orchestra.
Uh, it's definitely punching above its weight. Um, which, which is very, that's very
Russ: Hamilton.
Meredith: That's, yeah. And it's very
Russ: sorry.
James: Yeah, no, it, it definitely is. And uh, it's, it's quite incredible. I mean, I, I would say even when you look at other regional orchestras in, in Canada, like. You know, I, I think it's quite impressive what, what the Hamilton Philharmonic is capable of pulling off.
Meredith: I know the, the Philharmonic performs in a number of spaces around the city. Um, can you highlight some of those? Like where, where could you see the Philharmonic in, in Hamilton?
James: Well, the, the. The big, you know, the, the most typical place where you can see us is the first Ontario Concert Hall, uh, which looks much better on the inside than [00:29:00] on the outside.
So don't, don't get deterred by the, don't
Russ: judge a book by its cover.
James: Yeah. Don't get deterred by this. Block of concrete that you see from, from King Street or, or Jackson Square or whatever. Um, so that's where we are the most often. We are some, once a year you can find us at Cotton Factory. Uh, a couple of times you, you might find us in some church like St.
Catherine of Sienna. And, uh, and then our, we also have chamber ensembles that will sort of perform a little bit everywhere in the city, but those are like usually four to eight musicians, uh, which you can find a little bit everywhere, whether I, I dunno, at the public library or in the summer, uh, during super crawl, like on the stage there and things like that.
Meredith: just you coming to Hamilton in, in 2024, just sort of interested in your impressions of the city and especially the city's music scene.
James: Yeah. Uh, okay. So there are, there are lots of positives and then there is one negative [00:30:00] that I, I'd still want to mention even though maybe it's not very Canadian too.
Yes. You know, I dunno, uh, the, the, the great stuff that I have, which are frankly overwhelming are I was surprised by, uh. And impressed by the friendliness of people. I, I was impressed, uh, by the food scene. Like, by how much, you know, you, you have, you guys have great food here. It's, it's, it's, I mean, and I come from Paris, you know, so, so, so I know, but, uh, but you are, it's, it's pretty amazing, frankly.
Um. You have a lot of energy and people that, that work really hard, really seriously to make things happen. And uh, and I think, I think that's, I, I was surprised I didn't expect sort of that level of commitment and love from the people in the community towards the, uh, you know. To towards their art scene and, and cultural scene.
Uh, now the negative thing [00:31:00] that I was a little bit surprised is like coming from Europe, I'm used to have a little bit more, um, a little bit more support and, and energy coming from the city and the politicians. And, and I dunno, I, I have the feeling that the city is not really doing much for the art scene in general.
And that sometimes the art scene is basically. Doing things in spite of the city. And I'm not talking about us as the Hamilton Philharmonic, I, I mean us the artists, because there is so many things the city could do. Uh, and I see it in Europe very easily, with basically no cost at all. That, that they just don't do because they, they, they don't know.
Russ: It's interesting you say that because as someone who does do a lot of traveling, um, I'm always aware of, you know, how they do. Culture and arts in different cities. Um, so I'm curious to know from your perspective, uh, you know, what are some things that you've seen from other cities that you think Hamilton could, could bring and do to really support the arts?
James: Well, I, I'm gonna cheat a little bit with this question and give [00:32:00] two elements. I think the first thing that, that is very prevalent in European cities. Sometimes it's even really impressive. Uh, is like the city could do much more to advertise the art scene because I think it's a, it's a little bit sad that if I go outside in the street, I see all these banners that say Hamilton City of Music, but then in the entire city I don't see a single advertisement for any music at all. And I think that comes across as somewhat ironic, to be perfectly honest. As a European, in Europe, in Paris, they have some rule, for example, where, um, I don't remember the exact number, but like 10 or 15% of advertisement must be reserved for the arts. And if we. Something along those lines. Or if the, or if the city directly helped advertising the arts themselves, like that would be so incredibly helpful and ring [00:33:00] reinvigorating for the art scene as a whole. And there are so many easy ways to do it that basically don't cost money. So I hope that we see some development there. And then the second thing that, uh, that is also really prevalent in, in European cities is that they are very invested in their art spaces very often.
So for example, uh, in many cities, the concert hall is not just a concert hall. They will turn it into a sort of. Hub where you will have a cafeteria and you will have a restaurant and you will have like workshops and you will have whatever, maybe even in some small museum. And when I see something like, um, I know it's privately owned, but when I see first Ontario Concert Hall, I, I see, you know, well you are at the center of the city.
Like there are basically built in restaurant and cafeteria in theory. I, I don't know about the logistics and, and so sort of, but you could really easily open, have a [00:34:00] coffee shop open there, like during day business hours and make maybe the little plaza that is in front of First Ontario Concert Hall.
Make it, turn it into something a little bit nicer, plant some trees and whatever. And I think you could. Like, that's what the European City would do, basically. And, and it's quite effective, to be perfectly honest.
Meredith: Yeah. I think there's something so wonderful about using culture and the arts as an anchor, and then, so you're like bringing people in.
Like when we've, um, in, in our museum buildings, when we have a cafe and we have school groups and we have people co-working, it just brings a kind of a vibrant energy to this space.
James: Yeah. And it has a, I mean. You might realize it or you might not, but it has also a lot of positive effects on, on the whole city because, you know, people talk about, uh, you know, a lot of people say the center is not safe and you know that there are problems and whatever.
Uh, if you, you know, uh, if you have, if you give people reasons to go downtown. Then [00:35:00] automatically, that's one of the first things that will contribute to make an area safer, uh, especially at nights and evenings. So if you sort of create things and create spaces where people just will hang out for a coffee and you put them in the center, that's, that sort of helps, it helps the businesses around that.
It helps the, um, it, you know, it helps the arts as a whole. And it also helps the the city, because you turn Hamilton into a nicer place to live in.
Russ: Not just a conductor,
James: not
Meredith: City planner. City builder.
James: Yes. Yes. So fortunately I don't have to do any of that. I can, I can go home after this interview and just study scores.
Russ: This has been a wonderful interview and I've learned so much about orchestra music. I've learned so much about the HPO. Um, but there's been a question that I've been thinking of since the very beginning that I'm dying to ask you. And it, it goes back to when you first started loving this music, and I wanna know.
What's your favorite film score and why?
James: [00:36:00] Um, you know what I'm gonna, I'm gonna provide with a surprising answer be because of course there is a lot of film scores that, that I love. Um, but there is one that you might not expect that I really love. Um, there is a movie by Studio Ghibli. Uh, you know, it's the studio that made spirited the way and, uh, Princess Mononoke and so on.
And I mean, I, I love all those scores. But this studio also produced like, I think 10 or 15 years ago, a movie called, uh, tales of Earth Sea, which was a total flop. You know, didn't earn any money and, and, and maybe not a great movie in its own right. Uh, but that movie has, uh, uh, exceptional score and exceptional music.
Uh, one of the best, or at least one of my favorite music scores for a movie. It's incredible. It's by this one. Um. This one composer who, [00:37:00] who wrote, you know, who basically wrote only that and, and didn't do any other movie or maybe some TV in Japan. And, uh, I know him personally, but, um, you know, and, and he's very humble and and so on, and he's a great guy.
And, and he wrote this amazing score for, for this movie. So, yeah, I, that would be sort of my answer. Check out the, the music from, uh, tales of Earth Sea, by the son of Miyazaki, Goro, Miyazaki.
Meredith: I'm gonna look that up right when I get home. Are there any HPO things that you wanted to promo, anywhere you wanted to send people?
Is there anything that you wanna hyper give a shout out to?
James: Well, the inside of the orchestra I'm really excited for. Yeah. Um, that sounds
Meredith: amazing.
James: To, to sit inside an orchestra is gonna be very special and it's the first time for us. Uh, and you know, have a look at our season because there is really a lot of different things in there.
And I'm hoping for, or, you know, I'm hoping to see, to see people in the concert hall as much as possible. I think people [00:38:00] are. Always surprised and impressed by, you know, the difference between what they received, uh, in the concert hall and the experience they had versus what they expected not knowing, you know, like not having the experience of going to a classical music concert.
Meredith: That sounds amazing. And a great thing for us to do during this like year of music is like get out and experience these things, these gems that exist in our community that may we maybe walk by and are like hustle and bust of downtown. So thank you so much for sharing.
James: You're welcome.
Meredith: All of that. It's been really inspiring and exciting.
James: Thank you so much, James. You're welcome. Thank you.
Meredith: Thank you for listening to the Gritty History podcast. Brought to you by the City of Hamilton and Hamilton Civic Museums. This episode was hosted by Meredith Leonard and Russ Piva. Produced and edited by Stereo Russ Media. Original music by Emma Whale. This series episodes were recorded at CFMU studios at McMaster University, Catherine North Studios and Bridgework. If you enjoyed listening [00:39:00] to this podcast, please share it with someone who also loves all things Hamilton and history. If you'd like to explore more, you can visit us online@hamiltoncivicmuseums.ca. Please give us a like, comment and subscribe. Thank you for listening.