Mark Wigglesworth is no stranger to the weight of a conductor’s baton. From his early musical upbringing to leading some of the world’s most renowned orchestras, Wigglesworth has carved a remarkable career. With Benjamin Britten’s opera “Billy Budd,” recently performed at the Vienna State Opera, his reflections reveal not only a deep connection to music but also the humanity he brings to art.
In a wide-ranging interview with The NYC Daily Post, I asked him to elaborate on his earliest musical influences and the role his family played in fostering his early passion for music.
“My mother was a journalist and my father a screenwriter but they both played the piano rather well and it was only natural that I and my siblings would play too,” Wigglesworth recalled.
A pivotal figure in his early life was Ward Swingle, the founder of the Swingle Singers and a family friend that gave him the confidence to conduct.
“He [Ward Swingle] instilled in me the belief that music was about more than notes, that there was something deeper than just sound going on. He had worked with the many of the greatest musicians of his day from Boulez to Bernstein and yet I knew him as the father of friends. That somehow brought the professional and the personal together and made me realize that music was a very real thing.”
Navigating the demands of early success
After studying at Manchester University and the Royal Academy of Music, Wigglesworth’s career rapidly took off. Winning the Kondrashin Conducting Competition in 1989 and becoming associate conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1991 marked him as a rising star. However, early success came with challenges.
“The good fortune I received so early in my life was actually a mixed blessing. I am forever grateful to those who believed in me, but I was given opportunities that many did not think I was ready for and that created several challenges that I only just survived. There were plenty of times when I wondered whether this was the right path for me, and it was in fact not until I did my first opera that I began to feel comfortable standing where my feet were. A symphony orchestra demands a young conductor to ‘stand and deliver’ as quickly as possible whereas the opera process is a far more extended and collaborative one. As a result, there is more time to deepen one’s connections with the music and those you are making it with. This rather more humane operatic process is one that I have found easier to take into the symphony orchestra experience as time has gone on,” Wigglesworth stated.
The orchestra’s role in uniting audiences
Having led orchestras across the globe, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Bournemouth Symphony and the Adelaide Symphony, Wigglesworth emphasizes the importance of an orchestra’s bond with its community.
“Almost every orchestra in the world is named after the community it serves,” he noted. “This cultural link between the musicians and their audience is vital to maintain, and nourishing that connection is a major part of the role of Chief Conductor. It is crucial that orchestras develop an understanding that their name is not a reflection of where they are from, but of who they play for. We need to foster a much greater sense of ownership between a society and its musicians, not just to encourage funding at a local level but to make people aware of their own orchestra’s extraordinary force for good. Music brings people together by stirring emotions deep within ourselves and allowing us to share those emotions with others. It is at that point that we appreciate that what we have in common is far greater than what divides us. This is why humanity invented music in the first place. And we need it now more than ever.”
Demystifying the Role of a Conductor
Wigglesworth’s book “The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters” offers a profound exploration of the conductor’s pivotal role in shaping musical performances. In this compelling work, he demystifies the art of conducting, revealing how a conductor inspires musicians, aligns their vision and harmonizes leadership with attentive listening. Asking him what motivated him to write his book, he recalled:
“I have always felt there was a mystique around the conducting profession that was unjustified. I wanted to write about my job in a way that could be related to by anyone who was interested in music but who nevertheless might never have had the opportunity to discover what a conductor does.”
Reflecting on the intricate balance a conductor must achieve between leadership and collaboration, he explained:
“The conductor is the most visible part of an orchestra concert and yet the level of confusion about what the role entails is quite high. Like any leadership position, the job is to enable and inspire those you are working with to express themselves as individuals whilst at the same time unifying their approach into one that is defined enough to create the power of a single vision. Managing that potential for contradiction is the challenge all leaders have, though in music the need for the people actually playing the notes to have a sense of ownership of what they do is particularly important.”
Writing his book also allowed Wigglesworth to cultivate a deeper sense of self-awareness in his role as a conductor.
“Writing down my thoughts forced me to work out what I really thought! That process was a highly rewarding one and has without doubt made me a more self-aware conductor. We have a duty to lead but an equally important responsibility to listen. In fact, only by truly listening to what the musicians are doing are we in a position to influence the choices they might make. Listening and leading are not contradictions. As different as every conductor is, I do believe there is an ideal form of leadership expressed by the profession at its best. That doesn’t mean I am in any way close to achieving it myself!”
The psychological depth of Britten’s ‘Billy Budd’: Wigglesworth’s perspective
The opera “Billy Budd” by Benjamin Britten, recently conducted by Wigglesworth at the Vienna State Opera is a profoundly layered work that juxtaposes innocence and corruption, explores isolation and moral ambiguity and probes the psychological and social constraints of its characters. Britten’s masterful musical language amplifies these themes, offering a poignant meditation on humanity’s capacity for both beauty and cruelty.
“Like all great opera composers, Britten had a flawless theatrical instinct,” Wigglesworth explained, “He knew exactly what the drama needed not only in an overarching structural sense but in terms of how each individual line needs to be delivered too. Had he had a different personal temperament himself, he would for sure have made a great actor.”
Britten’s unique ability to translate human emotion into sound is matched by his understanding of the spaces between those sounds. His silences are not merely pauses but active, resonant moments that demand as much attention as the notes themselves. These silences, carefully crafted and deliberately placed, invite both performers and audiences to engage in the narrative on a profoundly personal level, forging a connection that transcends the boundaries of the stage.
“The writer of a play has relatively little control over how any speech should be delivered, but an opera composer has the opportunity to define exactly how each line should be sung. Britten embraces that opportunity with considerable exactitude and is highly precise about what the musicians need to do. In that sense, performing his works is very easy. You need singers who relish these details and above all, ones who respect that in Britten the silences between each phrase are as specific and as important as the lines themselves. Mahler said music existed ‘between the notes.’ Britten extended that meaning to the silences themselves. A silence is defined by the notes that precede and follow it, and yet that silence invites the listener to take ownership of what it might mean. In silence, audience and performers become one, both creators and listeners, with the result that creating and listening becomes fused into a single experience. We are free to fill the silence with whatever thoughts we have and yet the result of that freedom connects us all. It is an extraordinary act of musical humanity,” Wigglesworth explained.
When the score demands more: toughest moments
“There are plenty of occasions when the musical demands of a particular score require a special type of focus, when soloists and opera singers have a completely different view of the piece to that of your own, when the orchestra is reluctant to trust your approach to the process, or when something is going on in your personal life that competes with your musical concentration. Fortunately, there hasn’t yet been a situation in which all these things have happened at once!” Wigglesworth shared.
He opened up about the personal and professional challenges he’s faced during particularly demanding performances:
“I will always remember conducting Alban Berg’s Lulu in my final performances as Music Director of English National Opera. I had resigned from one of the greatest opera companies in the world because decisions at its board room level had made my role untenable. The dismantling of a superb orchestra and chorus had begun in front of my very ears and a company that I had loved for so many years was being destroyed along with the livelihoods of many of the very best musicians I had ever worked with. Lulu is a challenging enough opera at the best of times but trying to be the cool and calm conductor that Berg requires in this highly complex work proved to be an intense strain that certainly took its physical and emotional toll.”
Wigglesworth acknowledges that while his work as a conductor places him in the public eye, he strives to keep his personal identity separate, allowing the music and the composer’s intentions to take center stage. For him, the vulnerability that comes with interpreting and expressing music is a deeply personal process, yet one that remains safely confined within the artistic space.
“I don’t think my personal identity and public perception ever meet! I have a musical identity of course through the music I conduct, but hopefully that identity is more defined by the composers than by me. Listeners should be moved by the music, and though a performer’s responsibility is to express what the music means, our role is to remain invisible. Indeed, self-consciousness is the biggest barrier to sincere expression.”
“Having said that, music allows us to express some of the deepest and most private aspects of who we are in an environment that at the same time feels a supremely safe emotional space. We are very lucky that we are afforded the opportunity to engage so deeply in what we think music means. We are judged for the choices we make but fortunately not for what secrets about ourselves those choices may or may not reveal,” Wigglesworth shared.
A vision for the future: musical journeys with purpose
As Mark Wigglesworth reflects on his journey, from his formative years immersed in music to leading performances like Britten’s “Billy Budd” at the Vienna State Opera, one thing becomes clear: his work transcends the technicalities of conducting. It is deeply rooted in humanity, collaboration and the unifying power of music. Whether navigating the silence between Britten’s notes or writing about the art of leadership in “The Silent Musician,” Wigglesworth continually seeks to connect people through music’s emotional resonance.
As he looks ahead, his dedication to fostering deeper artistic risks and meaningful collaborations reminds us that music is not just a performance but a powerful bridge that unites us in a shared human experience.
“Working regularly with the same musicians will allow me to take more artistic risks, both in what music I play and how I play it,” Wigglesworth shared. “I feel the more music we open ourselves up to, the more we gain from whatever it is we are hearing. Guest conductors are often limited by circumstances beyond our control. It is harder to find an overarching narrative when one is worried about the consequences of failure, and although there are challenges of trying to remain inspirational to the same people day in day out, the opportunity to be part of a musical journey with others is a profound privilege that I feel very humbled to have been offered.”
Featured image: Photo by Sim Canetty-Clarke via markwigglesworth.com
Edited by: Steven London & James Sutton
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