Playbill: Reading your resume is enough to make one’s head spin.  You are not only one of the world’s most renowned conductors; you are also a concert pianist, world-famous organist, improvisational jazz musician and composer, specializing in everything from American musical theater to the French Romantic Period organ repertoire.  So, you tell me...is variety really the “spice of life?”

Marshall: For me, it really is.  I would hate to be one of these people who just plays one category of music and that’s it.  As a musician and performer, I wouldn’t want to be just a solo pianist, a solo organist or conductor – the language of music is vast.  The more that I can absorb in this vast field of the language of music, the more I want to absorb.  It’s what really challenges me and what I enjoy most about making music.

Playbill: Do you prefer one form of music-making over another?

Marshall: Speaking as a keyboard player, I enjoy playing the organ more than anything else; I have to be quite honest with you there.  There’s just so much I enjoy; it’s so invigorating because every organ is different.  It’s a very special instrument and I really do enjoy that.

Playbill:  They do have distinct personalities, don’t they?

Marshall: Of course!

Playbill: When making music, either with an orchestra or at the keyboard, what is it that you personally hope to achieve?

Marshall: The most important thing – particularly in the music of George Gershwin – is to get the orchestra to understand what’s not in the score.  Basically, it’s that “feel factor” in the music, the aspect of jazz that’s not written down on the page.  You can’t really write jazz out and notate it in the same way that Beethoven or Mozart would have notated a symphony.  It’s the “feel factor” of the music and that’s what I really enjoy with every orchestra I conduct; to get them to really “get” that.  They have to leave the music on the stand and look beyond – or behind – what they see.  That’s the challenge!

Playbill: Tell us about your early life.

Marshall: I was born in Oldham, Lancashire in the U.K. (United Kingdom) of parents from Barbados.  My parents were very strong, church-going people so, every Sunday, we’d go to church and listen to the music.  I was nine, I think, when I first played the organ, which was a major change for me, to go from the music I was hearing every week to suddenly having a chance to play it.  It was a period of discovery for me, learning an instrument.  I went to my first real school in Manchester, England (the Chatham School of Music) and I had eight very, very happy years there learning music, meeting people, and growing up in a truly invigorating environment.  Then, it was on to the Royal College of Music in 1979 where I spent four wonderful years, in conjunction with an organ scholarship at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.  The entire experience was very exciting and a proved a strong foundation for my music-making.

Playbill: Who were the most important influences on your musical development?

Marshall: Well, certainly my first piano teacher, Ann Alden, who also taught my mother.  She had a very, very strict and firm hand with me, which I needed because I was quite a “wild child.”  Not wild in the sense of behavior, but because of my wide musical interests.  I found myself being easily influenced by lots of things.  I wanted to do a lot, musically, and I found things quite easy to imitate and copy so, obviously, I needed a firm hand in order to learn the important fundamentals and to progress to a more serious phase of music-making. 

            My organ professor at the Royal College of Music, Nicholas Danby was certainly a very great influence; and, before that, my piano teacher at Chatham, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, an amazing musician and pianist.  He made me work hard and he instilled in me the ability to do so.  Thompson pushed me in a way that did me a world of good.

Playbill: Were there any musicians or composers who particularly sparked your interest?

Marshall: As an organist I can say, quite categorically, that American organist Virgil Fox had a very strong influence on my playing, although I never met the man.  I remember hearing one of his recordings at school and being totally captivated.  His style of playing and the way he used the organ, his technical ability, and the way he was able to orchestrate the music had a profound influence on the way I play the organ.

Playbill: You’ve earned rave reviews for your conducting of Porgy and Bess.  What secrets do you try to glean from George Gershwin before you step up on the podium?

Marshall: The score of Porgy and Bess is a fantastic score, anyway; but there are parts of it that are over-orchestrated and some sections of it are unplayable for certain sections of the orchestra.  So, you have to think about re-orchestrating things.  This is a score that presents genuine challenges to any orchestra.  It isn’t an easy piece.  I explain this to the orchestra musicians who have to work at it and study it in their own way.

Playbill: Despite being set in Catfish Row during the Great Depression, there’s a quality to this work that seems to transcend both time and place.  What makes this work so timeless?

Marshall: I think it’s because the music is so appealing.  There are a lot of classic scenes and moments in the piece.  It’s not a musical; it’s been a big mistake to concede that point.  I suppose the error is due to its association with Broadway when the opera was first performed.  It’s a classic opera in the same vein as any Verdi or Mozart or Strauss opera.  It presents a typical situation: two people come together against many odds.  There’s a love story and a tragedy, there’s joy, there’s sadness, there’s excitement – it’s all right here!  When you think about what George Gershwin went through in order to produce this work: He went down to South Carolina to absorb the culture down there; a culture so well-captured in this piece that I consider it Gershwin’s masterpiece.  No question about it. 

Playbill: Some consider Porgy and Bess one of the most perfect operas in the canon.  Do you agree with that assessment?

Marshall: Oh, absolutely!  I’m not just saying that because I’m biased (of course!); anybody hearing this piece would certainly know that this is a genuine masterpiece.  I was very fortunate in 1987 to work at Glyndebourne Opera in England with Sir Simon Rattle and the Glyndebourne Chorus for a historic moment in the making.  Porgy and Bess had never been performed at Glyndebourne before, and to have these great black singers performing this music was...unforgettable.  It was the beginning of my career; in a way, my introduction to the field of opera.  The performances were also special for me because my work was done after the first five minutes and I was able to spend the rest of the time in the orchestra pit, watching Sir Simon Rattle and the orchestra and occasionally throwing in bits on the piano, as well.

            I’ve had a very, very good grounding in learning this piece; not just as a pianist but also as a chorus director and a conductor.

Playbill: Do you find it ironic that the opera languished for decades without being performed due to fears that it would be perceived as racist and condescending?

Marshall: Yes, in one way but, the fact is, Gershwin quite rightly specified what is correct for this piece – in terms of performance practices – so that, if one is giving a full operatic performance, one must use a black cast (apart from the police detectives and the coroner).  

Playbill: The 1930’s and 40’s (and 50’s, when you get right down to it) were a remarkable time for American music.  How do we explain such a burst of creativity?

Marshall: It was the times.  I’ve always had a great interest in American musicals.  I have a huge collection of DVDs and CDs of MGM musicals because I love, particularly, the sound of the MGM Orchestra which, I discovered, was at-heart a dance band surrounded by classical musicians.  That explains a lot of things, really.  This amazing orchestra, made up mostly of European émigrés, was able to play with astonishing style.  But, as for the creative impetus; perhaps there were fewer distractions and a greater sense of confidence.  People did these things because they wanted to do them, and believed they could.

Playbill: You’re a “citizen of the world,” involved in musical projects around the globe.  Has your experience of people from many different cultures and traditions had an impact on your approach to opera?

Marshall: Definitely!  Traveling enables you to meet a lot of people and work in various opera houses with different things to experience.  I had a wonderful time in Washington two years ago, working on Porgy.  It was an unforgettable experience and my first Porgy in an opera house as music director.  So, it was very special moment for me and one that I really enjoyed.

Playbill: This opera is special to Washington, too: During the first tour of Porgy and Bess in 1936, cast members protested plans to allow segregated seating, resulting in the first integrated audience for any production at the National Theater.

Marshall: It’s difficult to understand the mind-set that would exclude African-Americans from the audience of an opera about African-American life and it’s still very important for us to continue to spread the word that the arts are open to everybody.  There’s no room for elitism and no reason anyone should ever feel left out. 

Maestro Wayne Marshall was interviewed by telephone while working overseas.