Colorado Springs Philharmonic announces Chloé Dufresne as its next maestro
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Colorado Springs Philharmonic announced July 29 that Chloé Dufresne will serve as its new music director. Dufresne is the first woman to lead the orchestra since the organization’s inception in 1927.
The Colorado Springs Philharmonic received 255 applications from around the globe. A search committee of 13 people — made up of musicians, non-musicians, and community representatives — led interviews and watched audition tapes from applicants.
Rocky Mountain PBS sat down with Dufresne to learn more about her background and vision as she steps into her new role.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Rocky Mountain PBS: I’m curious about your upbringing and what influence your hometown, Montpellier, France, had on you that drew you to music?
Chloé Dufresne: I lived there until I was 20 years old and have sung in the opera, choir, [and] children's choir of my city. This has been the beginning of everything for me. This has given a direction for my life and … I [fell] in love with music at the opera, singing at the opera and meeting all the professionals there.
RMPBS: So you said you started in opera. Was there a pivotal point where you decided “I want to be a music director”?
CD: Well, first, I wanted to be a choir conductor, and then I was playing viola also at the conservatory. So then while studying choir conducting … I started to study orchestra conducting. And I was also passionate about the repertoire, the symphonic repertoire and analysis, musicology, music history and all of that. So that's why I wanted to be a conductor.
RMPBS: What potential do you see in the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and how do you hope to help it grow and evolve?
CD: The Philharmonic has a lot of potential, and I could feel it from the first rehearsal. They are very willing to follow what they are very curious.
They take this risk of following and maybe, you know, going somewhere they didn't expect musically. This is something I'm looking forward to explore more and more, like where can we go together, which risk we can take?
RMPBS: Do you have a special baton or is there a baton you're using that has a sentimental story to it?
CD: Yes. I mean, my baton is my baton, so I am in love with it.
Sometimes I don't use my baton for some pieces because I feel that the hands are very expressive and we don't need as much clarity as some other pieces.
The baton helps to be precise, to be seen also because it's white. So it takes well to the light.
But your hand can be seen also, especially if it's a small orchestra. That's why I don't use it all the time.
How can I give an example? Well, we have ten fingers and many shapes can be done with the hands. So when you have the baton in the hand, you hold it. So you cannot do much with your fingers, but the baton is expressing for you.
And he's [the baton] the end of your arm. So somehow it expresses different things. And so both are very expressive.
Video: Chelsea Casabona, Rocky Mountain PBS
RMPBS: Do you have any rituals or routines before you go out on stage?
CD: Before I go on stage, I don't have a specific routine. Of course I get prepared. It's more mentally that I'm getting prepared somehow. You know, just reading the score, finding the concentration, finding also the enthusiasm.
I listen to silence. I think that the concerts start in silence and finish in silence. And it's very important to have your brain free of other music, at least for me.
RMPBS: I saw in one of the reviews that you achieve “harshness and granite” in your performance, and perhaps that's a bad translation, but I'm wondering how a maestro achieves this effect on the orchestra.
CD: Well, when we get in front of the orchestra, we have in mind some colors of the music. And then it's our goal to transmit that to the orchestra and to the orchestra to respond.
But for sure, in the rehearsals we try to create different atmospheres, characters, and colors. This is a big part of our job, to create colors. And at least for me, it's very important.
RMPBS: Can you tell me a little bit about your taste? Are you big on orchestra canon, movie music, a mix of old and new?
CD: The Philharmonic is doing a lot of things. A lot of film music, also masterworks, also new things. I like all of this. You know, I'm [a] very curious person, and I like everything, but of course, the things I want to bring here is, of course, French repertoire.
I love romantic music. I love also contemporary music … we live in our time, and it's good to play music that [is] from living composers, and collaborate with these people and with different artists and all of that.
I would say that I want to bring new voices to the scene. So female composers, maybe, contemporary music, but also have the big canon, like the big Tchaikovsky symphonies, Brahms symphony.
Video: Chelsea Casabona, Rocky Mountain PBS
RMPBS: You are the first woman in the history of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic to lead their orchestra. I'm curious about your thoughts on gender equity in terms of women in the role of music directors.
CD: Yes. Well, of course, as a woman, I'm very proud to be the first [woman] music director.
I think it's also my role as a music director to bring all these female composers, but also to bring a new way of thinking and to make everyone get used to having women in these kinds of positions. So I'm proud to do it. I will do my best.
I know who I am. I know I have a vision, I am a personality more than just a woman.
RMPBS: Is there anyone that you're thinking of today, either alive or maybe not alive, friends or family, who you're carrying with you into this moment?
CD: On this kind of big moment in life, which is, for me, a big step in my life, of course, all my family is very important. And I have a small daughter, who is six months. So I'm very proud to show that I can be who I want to be. And I hope she will be able to be who she wants to be at some point.
And of course, I think also of my parents, and my mother especially.
Type of story: Q&A
An interview to provide a single perspective, edited for clarity and obvious falsehoods.
An interview to provide a single perspective, edited for clarity and obvious falsehoods.
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