Interviews

WUSF: "After a Hurricane Ian delay, English conductor Nicholas McGegan will lead the Sarasota Orchestra"

"McGegan ushers in the orchestra's Discoveries season with a program titled 'London Calling'".

Read or listen to the full interview on WUSF.

WCLV ideastream: “Nicholas McGegan Leads the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom on Saturday Evening, August 12th”

”Guest Conductor Nicholas McGegan will lead the Cleveland Orchestra Saturday evening, August 12th at the Blossom Music Center. The program will include Mozart's ‘Marriage of Figaro’ Overture and Clarinet Concerto with Principal Clarinet Affendi Yusef as soloist, a suite from the opera ‘Figaro Gets a Divorce’ by Elena Langer, and Mendelssohn's ‘Italian’ Symphony.”

Listen to the radio interview on WCLV ideastream.

Cleveland Classical: “Marriage, divorce, musical tourism, and a bit of mystery: a conversation with Nic McGegan”

”The conductor said that when he travels, he enjoys visiting the places where composers lived. ‘Only one of Mozart’s apartments survives. It’s called Figaro House and it’s quite grand. But then the flat where Schubert died is incredibly small and cramped. It’s nice to see how these different composers lived and how they sometimes composed through a great deal of adversity, or in the case of Mendelssohn, lived very nicely. I think musical tourism is great.’”

Read the full interview at Cleveland Classical.

Aspen Daily News: ”Conductor McGegan, pianist Pratt to collaborate for first time”

”McGegan said that he’s nearly always working with composers who are long dead, and so to get to incorporate the new piece by Montgomery — who, at only 41 years old, is one of today’s most notable composers and whose works are in high demand — into the Baroque Evening concert is indeed a moment.”

Read the full interview at Aspen Daily News.

Colorado Public Radio: “A summer highlight: McGegan and Pratt team up for something old and something new”

”Two big names in classical music, conductor Nicholas McGegan and pianist Awadagin Pratt, are meeting for the first time in Aspen this summer. Pratt is making a return to Aspen after more than 20 years. McGegan, on the other hand, has been part of the festival for more than 20 years.”

Read the full interview on CPR Classical.

Classical Voice: “Cantata Collective With Nic McGegan to Record Bach’s Mass in B Minor”

“I first played the B-Minor Mass nearly 50 years ago…It is a work that never fails to amaze me. The range of musical styles from fugues that could almost have been written in the Renaissance to the most up-to-date is truly astonishing.”

Read the full feature article on Classical Voice.

Chuck's Culture Channel: “The battle cry of freedom: Nic McGegan conducts calls for liberty by Beethoven and Mendelssohn”

“Chuck Lavazzi talks with Famed conductor Nic McGegan about his upcoming program of Beethoven and Mendelssohn with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra March 10 and 11 as well as the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis or March 6, 2023, along with his many other projects.”

Watch the interview on Chuck’s Culture Channel.

WRTI: “The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert on WRTI: Nicholas McGegan leads Bach and Handel with featured organist Paul Jacobs”

“Nicholas McGegan leads the concert from the harpsichord, and organist Paul Jacobs is featured in a Handel organ concerto known as “The Cuckoo and the Nightingale” because of birdsong effects in its second movement. Handel was a virtuoso organist who played organ concertos as interludes during performances of his oratorios. This gave Handel the opportunity to show off his skills as a performer and an improviser, as Paul Jacobs tells WRTI’s Susan Lewis.”

Listen to the interview on WRTI.

Wisconsin Public Radio: “Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's 'Water Festival' features Baroque works”

”For me, earlier composers give the conductor much more freedom of interpretation than later ones where so much performance information is already in the score.”

Read the full feature article on Wisconsin Public Radio.

Eugene Weekly: “Strictly Classical”

”McGegan knows the Classical and Baroque periods well, but he says that Jan. 19’s performance includes Martines, a woman whose work he — and much of the Classical music world — has recently discovered.”

Read the full feature article on Eugene Weekly.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale: “Nic’s 1000th Concert with PBO!”

“Each baroque dance has its own character: some are elegant, some wild & vigorous, some delicate. If I have a favourite, I suppose it would be the Loure. It has a very individual spiky rhythmic signature and it is wonderful to watch a professional dance one. It takes a lot of energy even though the tempo is quite slow.”

Read the full feature article on Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale.

Classical California KDFC: “Play On, California!”

“All Rameau is pretty wild and wonderful, but this one has got some especially wonderful music in it,” McGegan says. The other works are suites by André Campra and François Francouer (who with Jean-Féry Rebel ran the Paris Opera for a decade). “I happen to love French Music, I’ve always loved it,” McGegan explains. “England, of course, is pretty close to France. My mother’s cousin lived near Versailles, so I would go over in the summers and mosey around the palace when there were hardly any tourists. I sort of got steeped in all that. And I’ve done a lot of French music and Rameau over the years, so I’m just very happy to be bringing that repertoire back.”

Read the full feature article on Classical California KDFC.

San Francisco Classical Voice: “Nic McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Celebrate Concert No. 1,000”

”I have certainly not retired,” Nicholas McGegan says. “Conductors, like good claret, are supposed to improve with age . . . An Energizer Bunny of conductors, McGegan, just 72 — 23 years younger than Herbert Bloomstedt, another busy maestro — and with COVID conquered and under his belt, is about to lead his 1,000th concert with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.”

Read the full feature article on San Francisco Classical Voice.

Classical Post: “Wolfie Goes to Hollywood: Finding the Magic in Mozart with Nicholas McGegan and Martin Chalifour”

“The Hollywood Bowl may appear to be a strange venue for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's evening of Mozart on September 6. With its grand amphitheater shell, modern sound system, and 17,000 seats, the Bowl seems a better fit for the party atmosphere that artists like Duran Duran and Pink Martini will bring to its stage this month. But that rollicking vibe is exactly what makes Mozart an ideal composer to perform here. Wolfgang wasn't only the life of the party in 18th-century Vienna — he was also the DJ, composing works for countless social occasions. That's the spirit Nicholas McGegan, one of the most in-demand conductors of Mozart's music today, wants to share with the audience next week when he takes to the Hollywood Bowl stage to lead the Philharmonic.”

Read the full feature article on Classical Post that includes both Nic’s perspective on Mozart as well as LA Phil’s concertmaster, Martin Chalifour

Guarneri Hall: Conductor and Harpsichordist, Nicholas McGegan

“Recently named a Music Luminary with Guarneri Hall NFP, Nicholas McGegan is committed to the next generation of musicians.” Watch the artist profile film.

Experience CSO: “Nicholas McGegan advocates for all music, from early to modern”

Journalist Wynne Delacoma interviewed Nic for Experience CSO. The resulting piece is an insightful look into how Nic advocates for all music—early to modern. Read the full interview.

KDHX (St. Louis): “Symphony Preview: A conversation with Nicholas McGegan and a box of Bach”

"These symphonies are extremely, let's say, wild." - Nic McGegan. Read (or watch) the full interview from KDHX.

Cleveland Classical: “Nic McGegan makes Apollo’s Fire debut in Handel’s  Messiah”

“I happen to know the first time I conducted it because it was thirty-five years ago this month right here in St. Louis with the St. Louis Symphony. And would you believe it, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was singing soprano, and she had never sung it either. Since then I think the most I’ve ever done in one year was a dozen. And the only time I haven’t done it was last December. I’m getting to know it now.” - Nic speaking with Cleveland Classical, preparing for his Apollo's Fire appearance, and interviewed while still in St. Louis. Read the full story.

KEYT: “Granada Theatre to light up with ‘Royal Fireworks’ performance”

Watch Nic in a TV interview for local Santa Barbara Fox affiliate station, KEYT.

Santa Barbara News-Press: “Guest conductor Nic McGegan expresses enthusiasm for Santa Barbara Symphony’s upcoming performance of Brandenburg Concerto No. 4”

Read the full interview on the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Santa Barbara Independent: “Maestro Nicholas McGegan Brings Baroque to Santa Barbara”

"This year is the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, No. 4 of which is on the program. For Bach lovers, the opportunity to hear any of these immortal works can’t be missed, especially when maestro McGegan leads the band." Read the full interview on Santa Barbara Independent.

WWFM - The Classical Network: “Works by Chevalier de Saint-Georges Add Diversity to NJSO Season”

“Among the works that expand the diversity of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's programming this season are a pair of compositions by Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, an 18th-century violinist and swordsman of French and African descent. Conductor Nicholas McGegan will lead the orchestra…” Listen to the full radio interview on WWFM’s A Tempo.

The Aspen Times: “Nicholas McGegan reflects on return to Aspen”

“Conductor Nicholas McGegan has been a fixture at the Aspen Music Festival across more than two decades while earning an international profile as one of the great champions and interpreters of early and Baroque music and as an ambassador for the classical music world.” Read the full interview at The Aspen Times.

Aspen Daily News: “Nicholas McGegan returns to Aspen Music Festival for Baroque concert series”

“Originally from England and an alumni of Oxford and Cambridge universities, McGegan has been conducting orchestras and symphonies at the Aspen Musical Festival for more than 20 years.” Read the full interview at Aspen Daily News.

San Francisco Classical Voice: “Daring to Make Baroque Opera Grand Again”

“While McGegan has conducted a large number of fully staged Baroque opera productions and recorded many operas, Bay Area audiences know him mainly from PBO’s concert versions of operas, two stage collaborations with the Mark Morris Dance Company of Henry Purcell’s King Arthur and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s ballet-opera Platée, and stagings of Handel’s Julius Caesar with San Francisco Opera. He, too, acknowledges the major shortcomings of audio-only Baroque opera recordings.” Read the full interview at San Francisco Classical Voice.

Classical Post: “Dynamic Duo—Nicholas McGegan and David v.R. Bowles Discuss Creating and Capturing Art in New Era”

“‘We’re all dressed up for nobody — which is kind of fun, actually,” muses Nicholas McGegan shortly before a performance at Cleveland’s Severance Hall, certainly a sign of the times in which concert life proceeds without an audience, and of the conductor’s unwavering high spirits, even during a challenging year.’” Read the full interview at Classical Post.

Living the Classical Life: Virtual Chat with Host Zsolt Bognár, Nicholas McGegan, and David v.R. Bowles

Watch the hour-long exclusive interview with pianist and host Zsolt Bognár interviewing Nic and his husband, recording engineer/producer David v.R. Bowles. Watch now on Living the Classical Life.

Cleveland Classical: “The Cleveland Orchestra: Bach, Mendelssohn, Masks, and Mysteries — a conversation with Nicholas McGegan”

“The conductor said that streamed concerts are a wonderful way for orchestras to engage people from around the world. ‘I know for the last concert I did in Houston, people were buying tickets from the UK. And providing on-demand access to links — people in Australia who have never heard The Cleveland Orchestra can buy a ticket and hear it in their own time zone. It’s splendid how, out of necessity, people have come up with all of these inventive things to do. And thank heavens for the internet. Can you imagine how lonely we’d all be if we only had the phone, but now we can have Zoomathons.’” Read more at Cleveland Classical.

Houston Press: “Houston Symphony Gets Festive With A Baroque Christmas”

"Houston Symphony is really on the cutting edge of doing these almost weekly online concerts. That’s absolutely fantastic! There are symphonies out there still trying to work it out. Some orchestras have cancelled their entire seasons. Houston Symphony is doing amazing programming and finding innovative ways of getting the music out to the audiences. It’s made a difference for the morale of the orchestra, and the Houston Symphony name is reaching to other parts of the world because this is what people are tuning into. I feel fortunate to be a part of it." Read more at Houston Press.

Houston Chronicle: “Go for baroque. Meet the Houston Symphony’s emergency maestro”

“Conductor Nicholas McGegan makes his second impromptu visit to town to lead the Houston Symphony while Andrés Orozco-Estrada remains stuck in Europe.” Read more in the Houston Chronicle.

SF Classical Voice: “Nicholas McGegan Explores Music and Art During the 17th-Century Plague”

“As the guest of the Yale Center for British Studies, McGegan presents ‘A Theater of Tragedies: The Plague in 17th-Century England’ on Oct. 14, beginning at 2 p.m. PDT. The digital lecture will stream for free, with the performance supported by the Terry F. Green 1969 Fund for British Art and Culture.” Read more at sfcv.org.

Houston Chronicle: “Conductor Nicholas McGegan returns to Jones Hall podium – without concertgoers”

"Berkeley’s Nicholas McGegan returns to the podium at Jones Hall for a concert with the Houston Symphony that will indisputably be different than his last." Read more at Houston Chronicle.

Houston Press: “Experience All Four Seasons This Weekend With Houston Symphony”

"Under the guidance of guest conductor Nic McGegan, the orchestra will play the baroque masterpiece along with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade in G major (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) and William Grant Still’s “Summerland” from Three Visions." Read more at Houston Press.

Early Music America: “Bidding A Baroque Adieu: End of the McGegan Era at PBO”

"Under McGegan’s leadership, PBO became one of the most-recorded international period-music ensembles, tallying a rich discography of some 40 recordings." Read more at Early Music America.

Juilliard Journal: "McGegan Leads a New Pairing and 'Rinaldo'"

“Juilliard students have come to know McGegan’s vivid personality and infectious musicality through collaborations going back before Historical Performance was founded, in 2009. Students from the Historical Performance program have appeared side-by-side with the PBO in Berkeley…” Read more in the Juilliard Journal.

Classical Post: Nic McGegan, The 70th Birthday Edition

“An exclusive interview on Nic McGegan’s fifth decade on the podium, his inspiration, his dream vacation, and love of French opera.” Read more on Classical Post.

The Mercury News: Nicholas McGegan, Philharmonia Baroque have been great for each other

“He’s leaving the orchestra, but definitely not retiring. He’ll maintain his international career, conducting and teaching throughout the U.S. and Europe.” Read more at Mercury News.

SF Classical Voice: Nicholas McGegan’s “Retirement” Would Exhaust a Gaggle of Young Conductors

“Nicholas McGegan, is launching his 34th and final season at the head of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, lighting 70 candles on Jan. 14, 2020.” Read more at sfcv.org.

Classical MPR Interview: “New recording brings Rameau’s ‘Temple of Glory’ to life as originally envisioned”

“Four years after the San Francisco-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra was formed, Nicholas McGegan was hired to be its first music director. 35 years later, he’s still finding ways to keep the musicians and the audience on their toes.

“We have a whole series of new music written for old instruments, so we have composers who come in and work with us to play music that’s fresh off the page, and that keeps our musicians on their toes. It gives them a chance actually to work with live composers, which normally we wouldn’t do. Normally we’re just good at working with the dead ones.” Read more at Classical MPR.

Interview: McGegan on Messiah

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is performing Handel’s Messiah over the weekend – in Wellington on Saturday and Palmerston North on Sunday.

Listen to the interview with Nic here.

OperaWire Interview: Reviving Rameau’s ‘Le Temple de la Gloire’

McGegan, who has been the music director of the orchestra, since 1985, has made numerous recordings with the organization, particularly of early works including Handel’s “Messiah,” “Dido and Aeneas,” and the concertos of Corelli, among many others.

But McGegan and his orchestra may have topped all those other notable efforts with its upcoming release of Rameau’s “Le Temple de la Gloire,” which the conductor noted featured the composer at the height of his powers. Read more at OperaWire.

Interview: “300 Years Of Handel’s ‘Water Music,’ With A Splash Of Politics”

“McGegan is marking the 300th anniversary of Water Music by conducting the piece at a dry dock in Hull, England, later this week. The political intrigue behind the music is no surprise.” Read more at npr.org.

Spreading the Gospel: Period Style for Modern Performers

“It isn’t easy to condense years of training in historically informed performance into just a few rehearsals with non-specialist players—and not everyone in the early-music world would care to attempt it. However, some eagerly accept the challenge. Nicholas McGegan, Jeanne Lamon, and Jeannette Sorrell are three prominent HIP musicians who balance their evangelical zeal for period style with realistic ideas about what can and cannot be accomplished in the context of an orchestra’s schedule and skill set. Their goals are similar, yet each takes a different approach to working with modern orchestras.” Read more at Early Music America.

SF Classical Voice: Philharmonia Baroque Goes for the Glory

“In the words of McGegan, “It’s extravagant, spectacular beyond description.”

The score that, he suggests, Rameau composed as if afflicted by “musical attention deficit syndrome” — more on that later — has played like a gorgeous soundtrack in McGegan’s dreams for nearly three decades. Years after John Shepard discovered the original 1745 manuscript in the archives of UC Berkeley’s Hargrove Music Library, Victor Gavenda, then a Ph.D. student, recommended the piece to McGegan.” Read more at sfcv.org.

Conductor Nicholas McGegan brings all-Mozart program to SLSO

“Nicholas McGegan, universally known as “Nic,” is one of the most delightful conductors ever to grace a podium. He’ll be in town next weekend for an all-Mozart program with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra — and at the Sheldon Concert Hall, where he’ll lead the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis in a concert called “If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it.” Read more at stltoday.com.

Conductor Nicholas McGegan seeks adventure through music — and food

“Being serenaded while you have a picnic is a tradition that goes back centuries. Classical music adds to the atmosphere and to the sense of occasion. It’s great for younger audiences who don’t want to sit bolt upright in a chair and be totally silent, like, “You will listen to this and have a miserable time. Put them outside on a blanket, give them an ice cream, and listen to the music.”

Interview by Amanda Rae. Read more at issuu.com.

McGegan conducts Sarasota Music Festival finale

Celebrated conductor Nic McGegan, who has been musical director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco for 30 years, knows it’s a lot more than just waving your arms around, and the real work in creating a performance happens in rehearsal. “It’s a bit like being a stage director, in a sense,” he said. “You have to cook up the performance. You have all these ingredients in the kitchen, and the conductor has to say, ‘I think that could make a very nice thing.” Read more at ticket.heraldtribune.com.

Nicholas McGegan on KDFC’s “State of the Arts”

“This week, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra is giving the U.S. premiere of a work by Alessandro Scarlatti called The Glory of Spring…Philharmonia Baroque will bring The Glory of Spring to the Bing Concert Hall at Stanford on Wednesday, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco on Friday, and to the First Congregational Church in Berkeley for their final performance on Saturday.” Read more and listen to the interview.

Nicholas McGegan: 30 Years and Counting with Philharmonia Baroque

Under “Nic’s” leadership, a five-year-old ensemble previously run by four ensemble musicians who conducted orchestra business in a spare bedroom in the back of soprano Judith Nelson’s house was transformed into one of the world’s most captivating period ensembles. Read more at San Francisco Classical Voice.

Juilliard Journal- “Nicholas McGegan: Conducting with a Twist”

“One of the world’s foremost Handel specialists (but also happy to conduct and perform contemporary music), McGegan chatted with The Journal about the advantages of working with students and this month’s eyebrow-raising Beethoven moment.” Read more at Juilliard.com.

The Leonard Lopate Show: Going Baroque with Conductor Nic McGegan

Conductor Nic McGegan discusses his 40 years in Baroque music, and his upcoming appearance at the Caramoor Music Festival, where he’ll conduct works by Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven, working with the violinist Jennifer Koh. Read more and listen at WNYC.org.

McGegan Mark Morris Acis Interview

The choreographer Mark Morris calls the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra“the car that parks itself.” This week it pulls into Lincoln Center to perform two early Handel operas at the Mostly Mozart Festival: the English masque “Acis and Galatea,” fully choreographed with singers sharing the stage with dancers from the Mark Morris Dance Group, and a concert version of “Teseo,” a flamboyant castrato vehicle in which the composer merged elements of Italian and French Baroque style. At the steering wheel: Nicholas McGegan, the British conductor and Baroque music expert who has led this period-instrument ensemble for 29 years and, in the process, turned it into the pre-eminent early-music group on the West Coast. Read more at NY Times.

Q&A with St. Louis Symphony

Few conductors clearly enjoy their work as much as does Nicholas McGegan. The elfin Baroque specialist doesn’t return to lead the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra often enough, but it’s always guaranteed to be a concert well worth hearing when he does. His lone concert this season is a program built around Western classical music that takes on non-Western musical styles, by Haydn, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Carl Maria von Weber and Mozart.

What’s the focus of this concert? It has a sort of exotic theme of “East meets West.” There’s music “Alla turca,” with Turkish percussion. The Rameau is called “The gallant Indian,” with “The Dance of the Great Peace Pipe.”

Where did Rameau get his ideas? One of the things that’s quite fun about all this is that none of these composers actually experienced any of it first hand. It’s all sort of imaginary exotica. It’s not as though they’d been on a trip to Istanbul, or that Rameau spent time with the Huron Indians. The French thought the Huron were Noble Savages, uncorrupted by Western civilization, who could not possibly deceive — unlike French politicians.

The soloist is American violinist Stefan Jackiw, making his SLSO debut. He’s one of those talented violinists who come along once or twice every generation. I admire the hell out of him. He’s wonderful and great fun to work with.

Nicholas McGegan: Keeping Early Music Alive and Well

“When it comes to the focus on music from the pre-19th center epoch, the go-to visitor/educator/conductor has, for the past several years now, been early music specialist, Nicholas McGegan.”

“Mr. McGegan…was deep in the period music cause and movement before it was popular.”

–Scene Magazine

“My job is to make a season to annoy everyone!”