Life Lessons: Charlotte Symphony’s Christopher James Lee

Photo by Herman Nicholson Christopher James Lees has brilliant childhood memories of his daddy playing church tunes at the piano. He was 4 when his father started teaching him to play piano. Musical engagements began in his teens, and at 16, he was working as expert organist at a local church.

At 42, he's the resident conductor for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, a position he's held since 2018. He's been a guest conductor in France and Brazil; worked as an assistant to Leonard Slatkin, Gustavo Dudamel, and other world-renowned conductors; and directed the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony in Winston-Salem from 2014 to 2018.

Music education and working with students stay important to him. One of Lees' CSO tasks is to conduct the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra, and he takes part in the CSO's continuing outreach programs-- like Project Harmony, which supplies totally free after-school music instruction to trainees in bad neighborhoods.

" I like the reality that our city continues to draw people from all over the world, which increases the audiences with whom we can connect and for whom we carry out," he says. "As Charlotte grows, the variety of arts offerings, and the breadth of those offerings, can expand, and it's up to us to lead that growth-- creatively, imaginatively, and passionately."

As we prepared this story, the CSO called a new music director: Kwamé Ryan, an internationally prominent conductor who supervised a pair of CSO performances in 2023." It's a coup for the CSO and the city of Charlotte, too," he states.

Lees' words have been modified for length and clarity.

I believe that people have actually been musical creatures since people were banging sticks versus rocks in caverns. Some individuals have a natural proclivity towards music, but it's likewise about training the muscles in your ear and your brain. It's comparable to how a professional athlete works.

When we sound more in tune, and more advanced and refined, the charm of what's there can be heard in an unblemished method. Training eliminates the excess that might obstruct of organic transmission from body and soul and mind to another's body and soul and mind.

When I left for college, my dream was to come back to the D.C. area and teach high school choir and play at church. There's an explosive movement, and best then, I knew I wanted to end up being a conductor and perform this piece.

In college, when I was still videotaping myself for submissions, I was conducting my 3rd student orchestra show. We get to the end of Dvorak's "New World Symphony," which ends with strong chords, and somebody in the back of the viola area had a phone that started sounding.

There are individuals today in music who are incredibly talented. Jacob Collier is a kid from England who visits the world. He seems as divinely touched as Mozart was. He's a multi-instrumentalist who is spoken about utilizing words such as "genius" and "prodigy." There are individuals like this-- where their musical skill appears to go beyond industry and beyond humanity.

The conductor is the only individual who doesn't make any noise at all, and yet we get the credit. There's absolutely nothing about us that vibrates a reed on a wind instrument or a string on a string instrument or a mouthpiece on a brass instrument.

I believe that the archetype of conductors is altering. Up till the 1980s, conductors were stern-- authoritarian, rigorous, and volatile. There are conductors who are accessible and community-minded.

The CSO was having auditions for an assistant conductor. They called me and said they understood I worked (at UNCSA), but asked me to come audition anyhow, so that Christopher Warren-Green might authorize me as a visitor conductor. After the audition, they used me the assistant conductor task. I said I might do both tasks and commuted for two years as assistant conductor while I remained in Winston-Salem.

I enjoy it here. I have a boy, which affects my priorities. Some conductors don't have kids, so they might be thinking of where to move next. I'm pleased to be a part of this community and delighted for my child to mature here. I also took control of as conductor (and music director) of the Rock Hill Symphony last March. We do about 4 or 5 shows a year. I like how I can do a wedding rehearsal one night and still take my child to school the next day.

This city has the spirit of a place that's growing. And I seem like I can contribute my energy here, operating in synchronicity of the greater story of the Charlotte region.

Our audiences aren't shy about offering feedback. People have said they're delighted we had a conductor of color who came in-- or heard a piece by an author they didn't know about. Individuals have actually expressed that they didn't understand the story behind the music before the performance, or that the story might still be as relevant today in Charlotte as it was in 1800s Vienna. Music connects us in between space and time.

Symphonic music has not constantly represented everyone. Historically, there have been underrepresented performers. I share the deep dedication of our CEO and president, David Fisk, that our season ought to represent the neighborhood..

Sometimes they come with expectations or with various undertones of the music, however they constantly come with interest. Music is so diverse, I believe there's space for everyone at the table.

For our classical series, we have a cover conductor. This is something I've likewise done, all over the country. It's when a conductor is generated to listen and watch wedding rehearsals, so if something occurs to the conductor, the cover conductor can take over, and the program can go on. This is really how Leonard Bernstein got his start. He stepped in at Carnegie Hall because the conductor was too sick to carry out. Bernstein was a feeling, and a star was born. I covered for us when we did Verdi's Requiem and Beethoven's "Eroica" (Symphony No. 3), efficiencies where we had guest conductors.

Christopher Warren-Green, who was notoriously trusted, was really sick during an efficiency in 2017. Nobody had any concept. He's such a strong human being-- and he was still able to bring Beethoven into the room despite being so sick. Absolutely nothing would keep him from doing it. It was a magnificent efficiency. The audience had no concept, however we knew.

The piano is various from other instruments. Generally, you're playing one note at a time on the violin or trumpet, however keyboard instruments can have single lines stacked together.

Music has constantly represented what was going on at the time, because musicians have always been people. We are still reacting to our time and becoming ever more varied, inclusive, and agent. The world is more interconnected than it's ever been.

The audience provides immediate feedback. Back in the time of Beethoven, the audience wouldn't let the performance continue till the orchestra played a certain movement once again. There's no consensus about applause in between movements. Individuals have various viewpoints, but I don't understand any artist that does not value applause.

We're trying to do more from Jewish composers whose work was lost throughout World War II. We've played Gideon Klein and Erich Korngold-- individuals who were maltreated or eliminated simply for being Jewish. It's similar to ladies.

and people of color being marginalized. Folks have actually been neglected, and we want to recognize those spaces and bring those individuals back to the table.

ALLISON FUTTERMAN is an author in Charlotte.

Categories: Arts + Culture, The Buzz.

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