March 19, 2019
Interview with Conductor Catherine O'Shaughnessy
National Women’s History Month
Interview with Conductor Catherine O'Shaughnessy
National Women’s History Month
Chicago Fringe Opera asked Catherine O’Shaughnessy (conductor, CFO’s Music Director ) about her careers and personal perspectives as a woman in music today.
Who is your role model?
I’m an equal-opportunity thief! I steal good bits from as many conductors as I can. But if I had to single some out: I love Carlos Kleiber’s relationship with the orchestra – how he leads and guides while giving everyone space to make music in their own right. I’ve learned a lot from Marin Alsop’s rehearsal technique, and Riccardo Muti remains a master of Italian interpretation.
What advice would you give to aspiring young conductors?
This is such a competitive field that it’s easy to feel like you have to push and keep on pushing just to keep up with the competition. But it’s important to remember that composers and performers alike are human beings first and that being a musician expresses that basic, shared humanity. Make the time for family and friends, make time for love, for getting hurt, for stopping to smell the roses. Whatever makes life rich and vibrant is worth taking time to do – and all of it will help deepen your music, not detract from it.
In a field dominated by men, did you feel that being a woman would be an obstacle to your career?
Much can be written (and has been written!) on this topic, and I think there’s still no perfect answer. When I was in high school, I worked with some absolute powerhouse women conductors, and because they were doing the job so well, it simply never occurred to me that I couldn’t. I think that the more women we see succeeding in the field, the more up-and-comers will be inspired to consider the profession a live option.
If you could not conduct, what would you pursue?
I’d probably be an actress or a lawyer. I love to inhabit different perspectives and make the strongest case I can for them – the more foreign and seemingly unthinkable, the more I enjoy the challenge – so I’d gravitate toward a profession that centers on doing this.
What does Fringe mean to you?
To me, Chicago Fringe Opera is all about exploring the boundaries of what opera can be – hence the “Fringe” in its name! Bigger companies may have more resources, but they also have the weight of tradition and audience expectations to carry. Because we are smaller, we’re freer to experiment with context, presentation, and the roles we play in our audiences’ lives.
How do you envision your legacy?
My goal as an artist is to create spaces where my collaborators feel free to flourish and discover, and where my audiences are invited to connect more deeply with both themselves and others.
