«DAs a child, I put CDs on my home stereo and spent my evenings with an imaginary wand in my hand. An unexpressed desire, by dint of repressing it, comes out with more energy…». And indeed at 35 years old Vanessa Benelli Moselle – already child prodigy of the piano – today she is also conductor. “Of course it’s okay to call me director, not director! You, otherwise the painters, the writers? » laughs during a break of the tour in Germany (the 18th of February they will be in Bremen, the 25th in Bonn), that Germany which played a key role in her education: she was a pupil of the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. «Abroad everyone calls me“ teacher ”and not“ maestro ”: only in Italian can she be misleading because she is associated with elementary school teachers».
“We are not autocrats”
Vanessa Benelli Mosell on the podium (photo Peter Adamik).
What does the podium give more than the solo performance? «After 30 years of life on stage (he made his debut in the children’s choir, ed), 30 years of piano repertoire, 30 years of collaborations, I have so much music that I can communicate and share with others. I like feeling responsible for the orchestra, coordinating everyone’s work during rehearsals: the concert is just a moment, I especially love the preparation behind it» he replies with the unmistakable Tuscan accent (she was born in Prato and has just returned there after 16 years abroad between Moscow, London and Paris).
«Often we have this vision of the director as an autocrat, in reality that power apparently concentrated in one person quickly turns into impotence if the musicians are not convinced of what you say and what you do. The experience is collective, whoever has the wand is only there to inspire, interpret, help. The big difference with the past is that after the philological research that has taken place in the last half century, one can no longer give it to the orchestra to drink».
Sanremo, the proof
As models, Benelli Mosell («Mosell is my mother’s Alsatian surname») indicates Claudio Abbado and Daniel Harding, among women the American Karina Canellakis (became in 2018 the first conductor of a Dutch orchestra) and Lithuanian Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. «However, gender does not influence directing: many men have a soft gesture (always assuming that “softness” is a female characteristic) and many of us have a more marked gesture. To me, as a pianist, many times they have said: “You have a more incisive sound than many of your male colleagues”. It depends on the song… I wouldn’t say too much because I don’t know them personally, but according to some musicians Marine Alsop and Simone Young have great decision».
Why is it still a “masculine” profession? 97 percent of orchestra conductors are men and even in a pop event like the Sanremo Festival there was only one female presence out of 28. «Perhaps because women have not been encouraged enough to occupy positions of power, they have not been trusted enough: the new generation is redeeming those who in the past could have led orchestras. Just as he could have led companies: the gap concerns every role of power. We have finally discovered that we can do everything, and do it very well».
“A Matter of Respect”
Vanessa Benelli Mosell during her tour in Germany (photo Peter Adamik).
What do you think about Tar? «In some ways, chapeu! Cate Blanchett is also very credible technically (I have heard from colleagues that she has taken conducting lessons) and the representation of our environment and our world is more than truthful. I don’t recognize myself in her, however, because I like to create a work environment where respect reigns, and then some parts are exaggerated… Like when she falls from the podium, I don’t think it ever happened: if you get there it’s because you know how to dominate the your emotions and maintain control over yourself and the situation. I don’t think I could ever get anxious or panicked. In general, however, I find the film anachronistic, for better or for worse. For the good: the fact that she is a female director is assumed to be completely natural and we know that this is not exactly the case, although this goal is close. In “evil”: we are still at the stereotype of conductor authoritarian. It takes authority, yes, and you earn it only with preparation ».
Thank you Daniel Harding
What path did you follow to move to management? «I studied for two years in Strasbourg with Luca Pfaff (a 76-year-old French-Swiss conductor, ed): he taught me everything, the “grammar”, starting from how to hold the wand in hand. However, once you have assimilated the technical bases, you have to forget them, otherwise you risk becoming too academic… Then i was able to learn live by great directors friends like Daniel Hardingwhich gave me the opportunity to follow him in Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Cristian Macelaru of the Orchester National de France, Mikko Franck. Diploma in orchestra conducting in the conservatory is relatively newnobody had it in the past».
An optimistic mantra
Vanessa Benelli Mosell (photo Antonio Nieddu).
But how did your musical journey begin? «With an instant of lightning: at the age of four I saw the Boris Godunov at the Maggio Fiorentino (I was already playing: my parents took me to a piano teacher when I was three) and the children on stage thrilled me. I asked my mother to enroll me in the Guido Monaco choir in Prato (the very one I had admired, at the time the Maggio didn’t have a children’s choir) and so I immediately began to experience the stage, rehearsals with the orchestra, with soloists… At the age of seven I was admitted to the Imola Academy, at nine my first concert playing as a soloist, at eleven my debut in New York. Fundamental were the meeting with Stockhausen in 2006, the studies at the Moscow Conservatory and al Royal College of Music, London”.
Is there a mantra that has accompanied you over time? “Yes, a very optimistic one:”Everything is for the better”, Everything happens for the best…».
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