Hersh grew up in Evanston, Illinois. 'I started playing cello in grade school, and I really fell into loving the orchestral sound and loving being a part of orchestras. And then so I went to Stanford University for my undergrad … and then I went to Indiana University for my graduate degree in specifically orchestral conducting.' His first major position was assistant conductor of the Baltimore Symphony, working with their music director Marin Alsop, 'who is obviously a big name in the music field, a friend and a mentor to me, as well as to many, many other conductors and musicians across the world.'
Hersh sees the role of the symphony orchestra as a diverse one that adapts to the times, nowadays performing music that ranges from the traditional classics to Broadway, film scores, and more. 'These are real ways to attract different kinds of audiences to the symphony,' he says. 'In the end, the symphony is there for everyone.'
Hirsh's concerts with the Reno Phil begin with the Overture by Grażyna Bacewicz, a work composed in 1943 in Nazi-occupied Poland, but with a generally optimistic sound. 'In the face of such brutality,' Hersh says, 'music provides such a relief – you have to, you know, find ways to channel what positivity there is into the music so it can channel that back into you in a way, so it becomes a sort of feedback loop.'
Another piece on the program influenced by the specter of war is the Cello Concerto by Sir Edward Elgar, composed in the wake of World War I. Hersh calls it a 'sort of meditation on the atrocity of war and the grief at the loss of life, as well as just a fantastic exploration of the capabilities of the cello.'
The other work on the program is the Symphony No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven, which Hersh feels represents Beethoven 'at the height of his powers, and yet also at really the moment where he has begun to acknowledge the fact that he is quite deaf. So it's almost a sort of testament of, or a statement of, I can do this.'
The Reno Phil's concerts 'Elgar Cello Concerto,' conducted by Nicholas Hersh and featuring cello soloist Zlatomir Fung, are on Saturday and Sunday, January 24 and 25, at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in Reno. Renophil.com for more.
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Support for 'Arts on the Airwaves' comes from The Nevada Arts Council… a state agency that provides public funding and support to artists and organizations, that benefit Nevadans in cities and rural communities statewide. More at NVArtsCouncil.org.
