'I like that responsibility': American conductor set to lead Belgium's national orchestra

The National Orchestra of Belgium has a new head conductor. Starting next year, the American Hugh Wolff will take over the baton from Andrey Boreyko, who has served five years. These are turbulent times for the National Orchestra, with a possible merger with the Monnaie orchestra on the horizon in 2026. "I like a challenge and I find the complexity of the situation very interesting," Wolff says in an interview for FM Brussel and Brusselnieuws.

He wants to expand the repertoire and thematic programming and serve up the occasional surprise: "I'm here to be the champion of orchestral repertoire. That doesn't begin with Beethoven, it begins 150 years before Beethoven and it goes up to what's being written tomorrow - and that's enough to keep me busy."

Wolff was born in 1953 to American parents in Paris and grew up in Washington and London. He studied piano and composition, as well as attending Harvard, where he learned conducting, and studied composition under Olivier Messiaen in Paris. He has been head conductor of the Frankfurt symphony orchestra since 1997, was previously musical director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota and has also served as guest conductor for orchestras across America, as well as in the UK, France, Japan, Canada and Australia.

How many times have you been here in Brussels?
My first concert with the National Orchestra of Belgium was in 2010 - I've been four times with them. I was once with the Monnaie before that. I've been in Antwerp with the St Paul Chamber Orchestra, with some of the American orchestras on tour and with the Frankfurt orchestra on tour.

So musically you know your way around. What if I drop you in the middle of the city and just leave you to it? Will you be able to get back?
I'd have to be a little bit lucky but ask me in two years and I'm sure I'll be fine.

How much upheaval is an appointment like this? Does it mean relocating to Brussels full-time?
It means a lot more travel. I'm not sure it means relocating. I have three sons - right now they're 26, 25 and 22. So they're at the age where taking on a new challenge like this with some travelling and with some excitement and maybe being away a lot is not a problem. Back when they were younger it was much more difficult. I'd been a little bit quiet for the last few years - I've been more teaching than conducting. My wife and I talked about it - she'd never been to Belgium before which surprised me because she's also travelled a lot. She came along today and loves Brussels, is really enjoying it. She really encouraged me. She said this is absolutely right, you should do this, this would be fun. It made me understand that I'm at a point in my life, I've had a lot of experience, that a fun, new, exciting and maybe big challenge is just what I need.

It's quite a time of turmoil for the orchestra. You're well aware of this?
I'm well aware that it's a very complicated situation. I find the orchestra lovely to work with. They've been wonderful, supportive, passionate musicians every time I've been here. That's exactly the kind of people I want to work with. Whatever challenges we have, if we work together and we really think about the quality of what we're doing, how passionate we can be about it - that's my job, to focus on that.

It is the National Orchestra of Belgium, which has a nice ring to it, but also some kind of responsibility that you don't have with different orchestras?
I like that responsibility. I like that's it's not one million people in Brussels, it's 11 million people in Belgium and if we are going to be the orchestra for all 11 million people in Belgium then we have some special responsibilities and we'll do some things that other orchestras don't do, and we should be happy and proud to do them. That's part of the fun of the job for me, to be travelling around the country, to get to know people, to listen to people, to reach out - because we love what we do, to persuade them that this is really exciting, this is something to hear.

What kind of music do you love?
I believe that as a conductor it's important to love as much music as you possibly can, because in any orchestra there's going to be a guy that loves Bruckner and there's going to be a woman that loves Debussy and there's going to be someone that loves to play baroque music and there's someone who likes to play brand new music - and so you're not just performing your own tastes, you have to perform the tastes of the 90 musicians of the national orchestra and you have to think about what they love doing. If you take the tastes of 90 to 100 people and put it in a big pot, that's just about everything. I feel like my job is to do everything. That's part of the fun of being a conductor.

Who was the first composer who grabbed your attention when you were young?
The first composer was Beethoven and maybe Brahms and Mozart when I was young and a piano student. Then maybe a bit later on Stravinsky and Bartok, American music and then a little later on French music and then Shostakovich and Russian music. Years ago when I was a student I had the good fortune to have Leon Fleisher as a teacher, who was schooled in the great German tradition, and then Charles Bruck who was the student of Pierre Monteux and taught me a lot about French music. Then for years I was the assistant for Rostropovitch and he's the one who opened up the world of Shostakovich to me. As a student I didn't really think much about Shostakovich. Now I find him to be one of the composers that particularly young people respond to - they respond to Beethoven, Mahler and Shostakovich, probably better than any other composers that we play regularly. I've evolved over the years and I think at my age now I don't specialise, but those are the ones over the years that made me think: wow that's something to get to know.

What do you listen to apart from classical music?
I used to listen to whatever my sons told me to listen to, which was often very interesting - some Radiohead, some Arcade Fire, indie pop stuff with some complexity that I found really interesting.