In a lifetime of music, 31 years of which have been spent at least partly in Cape Town, Bernhard Gueller (pictured left) is being honoured by being officially made Conductor Laureate for Life by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, says PETA STEWART:
This is when he conducts one of the works most meaningful to him … the Symphony no 5 by Gustav Mahler in the CPO’s Summer Symphonies at the City Hall., one of three concerts he will direct in the five-concert season.
He is delighted with the honour, which comes after nine years as principal conductor of the CPO, an orchestra that is so dear to his heart. He first came to conduct the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra in 1994, soon after the first democratic elections and came with a suitcase packed with scores – but also with candles and other emergency supplies, for concerns about a less than peaceful transition were the currency of the day.
“Louis Heyneman promised me that money for extra musicians would not be a problem for this concert so I was able to indulge my desire to programme Mahler. I have conducted the CPO in his symphonies no 1, 2, 5 and 6, and the only CTPO in no 9, and Mahler is one of my favourite composers,” he says.
“A Mahler symphony is almost the biggest challenge for any orchestra and it is always a great experience for me, as conductor, to work on these complicated and complex scores with instrumentation which almost no other composer has achieved. And the emotional rollercoaster!
“Mahler has been one of favourite composers since I was 14, saving up to buy his symphonies one by one.”
Driving force behind the CPO
Asked what makes Gueller worthy of this honour, one never bestowed before in Cape Town, Louis Heyneman, CEO and Artistic Director of the CPO, “says Maestro Gueller has been the driving force behind the CPO, bringing stability and style to our concert life. He earned the respect of musicians over many years and brought an indelible international quality to the orchestra. In fact, he shaped all orchestras in South Africa as regular guest conductor throughout the country.
“It was his unique insight and musicality that made the CPO a truly international ensemble over the last 25 years. Whether it was his favourite symphonies or accompanying a young inexperienced soloist, he always brought gravity and style to a performance.
“His new title is an acknowledgement of his remarkable contribution to music in Cape Town. We are lucky that he has chosen to make Cape Town his permanent home and I am looking forward to many years of service on the podiums of South Africa.”
Gueller has been a popular choice for many musicians.
“It is rare to have a conductor who is loved and respected by everyone. Maestro Gueller ticked both boxes,” says deputy concertmaster Maretha Uys. For principal cello Peter Martens, ‘Whilst Bernhard Gueller is a conductor of international experience and reputation, we are proud to honour him as a local. His depth of experience, ability to accompany most sensitively, friendly advice and sublime musicality, make him the conductor that has influenced me the most.” And principal flute Gabriele von Dürckheim says: “I was always secretly petrified of him! He always inspired excellence in the orchestra and somehow had the balance right with us: he knew how to demand respect without being unkind.”
Conducted all over the world
A regular in Cape Town, as well as in Johannesburg and Durban, Gueller has also conducted both UCT and SU symphony orchestras, the Eastern Cape Philharmonic and the USSO in Bloemfontein. But he has also conducted all over the world, all offering unique memories from conducting the Rodrigo Cello Concerto in Barcelona in the presence of the blind composer, to the reverence and respect with which conductors are treated in Japan.
“Conducting the Nurnberg Symphony Orchestra (where I was music director) in an open-air concert for 70 000 or in the historic Konzerthaus in the culturally vibrant Berlin were highpoints, conducting Bruckner Symphony No 9 in the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, just after a visit to the tomb of Bruckner in St Florian in Austria.
Gueller was a cellist in one of Germany’s top orchestras, the then Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, when the conducting bug hit.
“We were privileged to have top drawer conductors like Celibidache and I was fortunate to be able to learn from the inside. I began conducting, went on to win the United German Radio Conductor’s Competition, got kissed on the forehead by Celibidache who called me ‘my best pupil’, and established a parallel path of cellist and conductor. In 1997 I had to make a choice. The Stuttgart Orchestra had been very generous in allowing me leave to build my career and the CTPO offered me the position of Principal Conductor in 1997. Cape Town it was to be. The next year I was offered the position of Music Director in Korea but the world crash put paid to that – and I often wonder how my life could have changed. Or if I hadn’t broken my hand so I moved from violin to cello when I was 11”.
He also conducted Bruckner symphonies often with the Suiddeutsche junge Philharmonie when he was music director there in venues such as the Basilica in Weingarten in southern Germany, where the symphony concluded with the massive cathedral bells being rung. In Novosibirsk in Russia, where he also conducted, a ticket to the opera, ballet and symphony concert cost a few rands, or was one of the first to conduct in the brand new state of the art Schermerhorn Centre in Nashville.
Other musical highlights also include non-musical delicacies – several engagements with the Guanzhou Symphony Orchestra in China – with specially curated Cantonese meals in a private dining room … or Bombay duck later in Hong Kong! Or the paella in the Canary Islands Festival of Music where he took the CTPO.
“Art is the one thing that really makes us human beings”
Travelling wasn’t always simple – the snow in the northern hemisphere meant delayed or cancelled planes and he often arrived back without luggage at his Halifax home (he was music director with Symphony Nova Scotia for 16 years until 2018 and is now its Conductor Laureate too).
“The best thing about delayed luggage overseas is that it gets delivered to your destination so you don’t have to carry heavy bags with you!
“Arriving in Paris with luggage delayed meant missing the train connection to Rennes at the start of the Easter weekend, buying first class tickets and perching the entire journey on bar stools drinking more water and coffee I ever thought possible. I went straight into rehearsal with a shirt the manager bought me.”
He leaves us with these words which he had used often, including in his acceptance speech when he received an honorary doctorate for his services to music in Halifax where he was music director for 16 years before becoming Conductor Laureate there in 2018 ….” Art – and here I mean the entire creative spectrum, literature, the visual arts, all performing arts and music – is the one thing that really makes us human beings, that very unique species. It is this very creativity which makes the big difference.”
What: Bernhard Gueller Conductor Laureate for Life
Who: Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra
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