In an interview last week, Samuel Wong, the embattled conductor of the
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, defended his record as its music director and
described the ensemble as "a model for symphony orchestras around the world."
The conductor vowed to continue his efforts to "build an orchestra in Hong Kong
that's going to be magnificent," and expressed frustration with press coverage
of his leadership. "I think that when you reach a certain success and
visibility," he said, "there are factions that will shoot you down, just for
that. [The controversy] has been totally twisted by our press to the point where
it's not recognizable what they're talking about. It's completely off the issue,
it's somewhere else."
Wong answered questions backstage in Toronto's Massey Hall, where he had just finished an afternoon rehearsal with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In a lengthy conversation, Wong reflected on the connection between music and medicine, his commitment to public service and how this has shaped his professional responsibilities. "It's a pleasure to talk about music and positive things," he said. "You can't let yourself be sidetracked by negativity and gossip and nonsense." But the words were delivered with more hope than conviction, and Wong's face frequently showed exhaustion.
It has been a difficult two years for the Hong Kong-born Canadian conductor. Throughout the '90s, Wong went from success to success. In 1990, he famously abandoned a promising career in medicine to lead orchestras full-time, and was appointed assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic by Zubin Mehta. As current music director of the Honolulu Symphony and New York's Mannes College Orchestra, Wong has attracted little controversy. Even in Hong Kong, his guest conducting earned him critical acclaim. About his first appearance leading the Hong Kong Philharmonic in 1997, the South China Morning Post wrote that Wong had "provided the miracles of the evening, and his debut here will be long remembered." But when he took the helm of the orchestra in September 2000, Wong inherited an ensemble with low morale, a reduced budget and a long history of bitter factional disputes. Wong has angered some musicians with his blunt attempts to weed out "incompetence" in the orchestra, and the Hong Kong press has provided a sympathetic forum for many of these complaints.
But if Wong is as high-handed and insensitive as his detractors claim, there was little evidence of it during his first rehearsal with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra this week. Musicians greeted the conductor warmly from the moment he stepped out on stage, shaking hands and chatting amiably before rehearsal and during the break; on the podium, Wong was casual but efficient.
Perhaps part of the reason for the warm reception Wong received in Toronto is that he has deep local roots — he grew up in the city, and stays with his mother while in town. But conversations with some of the musicians confirm the general impression that Wong is a trusted and respected conductor. One musician drew attention to Wong's willingness to defer to the musicianship and traditions of the orchestra. "We really don't know much about the complaints," he added, "apart from what we've read in the papers."
Indeed, many of these complaints seem contradictory or unfounded. Some Hong Kong critics have condemned Wong for not providing the orchestra with enough direction; others claim that he behaves dictatorially. Some complain that he does not have a sufficient commitment to Hong Kong; others find his relentless attempts at community outreach to be crass and showy. In addition, some critics are suspicious of Wong's medical background and have suggested incorrectly that he is musically untrained.
In conversation, Wong speaks of his medical training with pride, reflecting confidently on the common metaphors, structures and theatrical elements of medicine and music. Above all he believes that they share an ethic of service, which continues to inspire him. "It's in my family tradition," he says. "Everyone is either a doctor or a musician." Music and medicine are "entertainment in the highest sense of the word, from the French entretenir, to 'hold between.' They hold us together, hold a community of disparate faiths, dispositions, cultures and languages together through music and through healing, because both arts can be practiced on all humanity and overcome all barriers.
"My aim is to make music ubiquitous and relevant in society," he says, "and I've been following that model in Honolulu and Hong Kong." Television and radio broadcasts have played a large part in this plan — Wong has recorded half a dozen concerts for television with the Hong Kong Philharmonic already. One recent program focused on "dances around the world." Wong hired China's ballroom dancing champions to dance waltzes by Johann Strauss, and a Malaysian-Chinese tap dancer was enlisted to choreograph Morton Gould's Tap Dance Concerto. "People who are only marginally interested in Brahms and Bruckner might be drawn in through dance, or theater, or visual arts," he explains.
How far would he take this approach? One recent wince-inducing publicity stunt in Toronto had the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays conducting the orchestra in a performance of Rossini's William Tell Overture. Would Wong do something like that? "Why not?" he asks with a smile. "If it doesn't hurt us, it benefits us. ... I think you have your chestnuts and you have your subscription series, and then you have other concerts that reach out in a real way to people who have no idea about it. Why not? I do a lot of that. Children I'm especially fond of. And people who've never heard classical music I'm very fond of."
Controversy aside, his approach seems to be having some success. "We're touring Europe next year," Wong points out, "and we're a recording orchestra now, with two discs a year for Naxos. This new recording [of works by Busoni] is climbing the UK charts like crazy." More important, explains Wong, "we're reaching our own people. Over the past 10 years there were no broadcasts at all. But in the last year alone we've had four TV broadcasts and 10 on radio. That's a huge community service." And in the midst of an Asian economic slump, the orchestra is enjoying the highest attendance levels it has seen in a decade.
"In a way," he continues, "Hong Kong is a model for symphony orchestras around the world. We have a recording contract, we tour, we have regular TV and radio broadcasts, the government gives us US$9 million a year, we do adventuresome programming, we do children's concerts, outreach, we play at a high standard. So if there is noise and friction, let there be. I don't welcome it, but if that's the cost, I'll accept it."
With the TSO currently rudderless, every appearance by a guest conductor
might also be a job audition. Would Wong consider heading the TSO? He ducks the
question. "I come and make music and try not to think about other things. That's
the only way to exist in this world. That's very good advice that my mentors
— [Kurt] Masur and [Zubin] Mehta — gave me. They said the
moment you think about other things you're sunk. Think about the music."
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