Through a partnership with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra (ISO), a group of Illinois State University School of Music students sharpened their conducting skills during a masterclass with ISO music director candidate Yaniv Dinur last month.
Among the class’s four participants was Useon Choi, a graduate student who already has a doctorate in musical arts. He knew immediately that Dinur was quite good at his craft.
“I conducted the Romeo and Juliet Overture by Tchaikovsky for the class,” Choi said. “And because we are a small department, I had to sing one part while I conducted, and I am a horrible singer. He (Dinur) surprisingly knew the score in his head, and he told me I came in too early. He was right. I thought, ‘OK, this guy is good.’”
Dr. Glenn Block, director of orchestras and opera and professor of conducting, is in his 34th year at Illinois State. He’s been through a few of these types of visits.
“Our orchestra that I direct has been involved in these search processes for about 15 years,” Block said.” It seems like every five years we are involved with the formal search. If they win the position, they become a regular visitor to the ISU campus.”
Dinur, most recently the resident conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, is one of four candidates for the ISO job. While on campus he conducted a rehearsal of the Illinois State University Orchestra and taught the conducting graduate seminar that Choi is in. The exposure to someone of Dinur’s experience was invaluable to Block’s students.
“They were very excited to interact with the maestro,” Block said. “Yaniv is a really wonderful conductor, and he was able to bring encouragement and advice on how to pursue a career in conducting. He also advised them on their technique and repertoire.”
Choi, who is working on a second master’s degree, this one in orchestra conducting, hopes to be a conductor with a major city youth orchestra someday. He said Dinur quickly spotted areas where he could improve.
“He said my gestures were a little too big, so he suggested that I conduct with smaller gestures and with my palms down,” Choi said. “The orchestra will focus on my gestures and on my hand better that way.”
Choi said the experience was phenomenal and that Dinur was very musical, very friendly, and had a great sense of humor.
“You could tell that he’s a brilliant musician, but he made me feel comfortable and was not overly intense,” he said. “He asked me what I thought the composer was saying in the music, and he had the ability to get right into the music itself, and it all made more sense.”
Dinur said he enjoys the process of meeting new people and sharing some of his experiences with students.
“What I like about it is we’re basically the same except they’re younger,” he said “There’s a difference in age and experience, but we’re basically the same. We’re musicians making music and listening and learning together.
“And it helps me too because when you have to explain something to a student you have to first organize it in your head.”
“The format we have established with the ISO—rehearsing and performing concerts in our concert hall because it’s so good—is a model of symbiosis where everyone benefits.”
Dr. Glenn Block
Dinur, who should know sometime in the spring if he’s been chosen to lead the ISO, started playing piano around the age of 6. His mother played and was a musicologist, and his aunt was a music teacher. He and his two siblings all played piano; he is the only one to make music a career. He said advice he got from older, more experienced conductors and musicians made him feel that he had been given an advantage to continue to do his own thing musically.
“I hope that maybe one thing that I said to the students will help them in some way,” he said. “Maybe something I said could help alleviate some anxieties, which can be in the way. Maybe I could help calm those down, so they can concentrate on the important things.”
Block said that Dinur was “wonderfully supportive of our students, encouraging and inspiring.” He added that this is the second season for the ISO to rehearse and perform concerts on campus in the large concert hall at the Center for the Performing Arts.
“The format we have established with the ISO—rehearsing and performing concerts in our concert hall because it’s so good—is a model of symbiosis where everyone benefits,” Block said.
Dinur acknowledged that a life in music is hard work, but it’s worth it.
“It’s full of ups and downs, like any other profession, I guess,” he said. “But that’s OK if you really love it, and it’s what you really want to do.”
His best advice for young people considering a career in music?
“Be curious. Be open-minded. Ask questions. Be yourself.”
