'A household name in classical music': Indianapolis Symphony names new music director
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's new music director is bringing a literal world of experience to start his new post.
Jun M?rkl has stood on the podium for the National Theater Mannheim and Orchestre National de Lyon, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo and the Sydney Symphony. He's conducted Richard Wagner's marathon "Ring Cycle" at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the New National Theatre in Tokyo and "Il Trovatore" at New York's Metropolitan Opera. He speaks five languages fluently and is working on Chinese.
His resume goes on. So much so that Indianapolis Concertmaster Kevin Lin is used to musicians from other orchestras complimenting the maestro, who has been serving as the Circle City orchestra's artistic advisor since 2021.
"He's a household name in classical music," Lin said.
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After a four-year search, the symphony announced Tuesday that M?rkl will become its permanent leader — the eighth music director in the history of the 94-year-old ensemble. For his part, the new maestro is excited to challenge the musicians, hire more of them and embrace the community.
"You don't have just a first-class orchestra. You constantly have to keep it up and refine the quality," M?rkl told IndyStar.
The symphony's musicians and management say he has the chops, background and vision to be able to accomplish that.
Teamwork drew the maestro to conducting
M?rkl, 64, has always known the demands of a life in music. He was born in Munich to a German concertmaster father and a Japanese pianist mother. His brother plays violin, and his sister has worked for a recording company.
M?rkl himself took up violin and piano, practicing 12 hours a day. The craft was a solitary one that blossomed into playing in chamber ensembles and orchestras. From there, he stepped in for an ill colleague on the podium, sealing his calling. M?rkl attended Musikhochschule in Hannover and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and he studied at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.
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After the maestro's debut with the Met in the late 1990s, other orchestras began to request that he guest-conduct, and Indianapolis was one of them. He first led the ensemble at Symphony on the Prairie in 2000 and has been back more than 40 times since — becoming its most frequent guest conductor, symphony CEO James Johnson said.
"I don't see conducting as the great leader who is dictating what is going to happen, but just kind of creating that spirit of a team and getting the best out of the potential we have," M?rkl said.
While he conducts works across the expanse of the classical music canon, M?rkl (pronounced "Mare-kle") is known for his interpretations of symphonic and operatic German repertoire as well as of French Impressionists. His recordings include the complete Schumann symphonies with the NHK Symphony and work by Claude Debussy with the Orchestre National de Lyon that received honors from the French Ministry of Culture.
The maestro has led orchestras in bustling cities on every continent except Antarctica — "I haven't conducted the penguins," he said with a laugh. But he has sought solace-filled counterbalance in similar vast places, like exploring the village of Deadhorse, Alaska, near the Arctic Ocean in his truck.
"It's just part of something really big — in a way, very good for me," said M?rkl, who is married to Susanne M?rkl and has four adult children. "It makes you really honest. And in the arts world, which is so full of big egos, it's a good experience to not overestimate what you do. You just serve."
How M?rkl developed a relationship with Indianapolis
By now, the orchestra has seen M?rkl demonstrate those traits as artistic adviser for almost three years.
Krzysztof Urbański departed as music director in 2021 after 10 years — an announcement that was made public in 2019. Over the next four years, the orchestra considered about 27 guest conductors, Johnson said.
The gap between music directors can be a shaky time for orchestras. Along with conducting the ensemble, the person has the final say on all classical programs, selects and evaluates musicians, and builds bridges with the community.
But M?rkl provided a steady hand, said Richard Graef, assistant principal horn. He planned seasons with inventive programs, like "postcard"-type concepts that explored different countries' music when the pandemic kept people from traveling. All the while, the ensemble and maestro developed a deep relationship.
"Jun has mastered that art of telling us just enough but also trusting us to see his vision and play correctly," said Lin, who was on the search committee.
And he heard auditions, helping the orchestra, which now stands at 76 members, fill about 14 positions.
"I wanted to give them enough time that they not have to hire somebody quickly without really proving that this is the right person," M?rkl said.
Discussions about him taking over the full-time role turned serious this summer, Johnson said. The symphony's Board of Directors voted unanimously to offer M?rkl the position, he said. The musicians' collective bargaining agreement requires that they vote as part of the hiring process for a new music director, and they overwhelmingly supported the maestro, said Graef, who is chairman of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Players Association, which represents the union.
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The orchestra and M?rkl have signed a five-year contract that will officially begin Sept. 1 for the 2024-25 season. He'll have a residence in Indianapolis and, as is usual for conductors, he'll continue to lead other orchestras as well. M?rkl is music director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, principal guest conductor of the Oregon Symphony, and he also was recently selected as chief conductor of the Residentie Orkest in The Hague.
M?rkl's future plans
The music director designate, as M?rkl will be known until his official start date, is entering the next phase of his career with a bang. Friday and Saturday's program includes repertoire that even veteran musicians call challenging: Richard Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra," Op. 30 and "Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks," Op. 28.
"Mario (Venzago) was more Bruckner and Schubert, and Raymond (Leppard, both former music directors) obviously was more early music, so we don't have a history (as) an orchestra of how we play that music," Graef said.
"Obviously we're all skilled to the level that we will play it well individually. But there's not a common ISO interpretation of 'Till Eulenspiegel' or 'Also sprach Zarathustra.' And that's quite frankly an opportunity for someone like Jun who has such a tradition in the Germanic repertoire because he can help put that into us and build it."
Retirements over the past few years have contributed to positions that need to be filled, and the symphony reported that 14 are open and not occupied by tenure-track musicians. The new additions are shifting the dynamic of the ensemble, which will benefit from M?rkl's guidance, Johnson said.
"Being such a young orchestra these days with so many new musicians, I think they're looking for that seasoned, professional, steady hand on the tiller with incredibly insightful ideas about music that he can bring each week with his conducting," Johnson said.
Continuing to raise the bar for the orchestra is one of the aspects that excites M?rkl about his new job. Another is finding opportunities to build relationships with more segments of the community. Programming diverse composers so that historical and new talent becomes a natural part of seasons is on the incoming music director's agenda, too, he said.
"Sometimes orchestras tend to be just in an ivory tower, and they expect everybody will come to them. No, it's not true, I think. We have to go out," M?rkl said.
"I'm very happy for all the people who would give me some ideas, suggest things and I can talk to in order to learn more about Indianapolis, about the needs, about the wishes of the people and thinking about the function of what the orchestra should do for the community of Indianapolis but also for the state."
When you can see him
What: Music Director Designate Jun M?rkl will conduct a program of Richard Strauss
When: 8 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Hilbert Circle Theatre, 45 Monument Circle
Tickets: indianapolissymphony.org
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Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or [email protected]. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @domenicareports.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's new music director is Jun M?rkl
