University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: October 18, 2007

By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer

The UB Symphony Orchestra, UB's student orchestra, is growing by leaps and bounds this semester under the leadership of Christian Baldini, a conductor and composer whose work has garnered awards in musical competitions from South Korea to Brazil.

Christian Baldini leads a recent rehearsal of the UB Symphony in the basement of Slee Hall.
PHOTO: NANCY J. PARISI

A native of Argentina, Baldini, previously music director of the UB Contemporary Ensemble, began serving as music director and conductor of the UB Symphony Orchestra this fall. He also is a regular guest conductor of the Slee Sinfonietta, UB's professional chamber orchestra-in-residence, as well as a founding principal conductor of the LonBA Ensemble in Argentina and assistant conductor of the Brittan-Pears Orchestra in England.

"There's a lot of new energy in the orchestra and a lot of people coming from the different colleges," says Baldini, noting that only about half of the students in the UB Symphony Orchestra are studying in the Department of Music. "There are people from lots of different majors: computer science, engineering, medicine, law. I'm really looking forward to seeing the orchestra more present on campus and getting people more involved in it."

It should come as no surprise that students from across the university community play in the symphony, Baldini says, pointing out that many outside the performance major harbor a love of music. He says he himself came close to pursuing a very different path.

"My family was not musical," Baldini recalls about his earliest career plans. "I was always planning on being a doctor, just like my dad. My mom used to be a nurse. It was a very medical family."

But by the time he finished high school, Baldini says playing piano and composing were taking up most of his time. "By that time, I thought I was going to be an engineer," he laughs, "but then I said, 'I'll give [music] a try.'"

It turned out to be the right choice. In 1996, at age 18, Baldini earned a diploma in piano performance from the prestigious Albistur Conservatory in Buenos Aires. He then entered the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), earning a bachelor's degree in music, focusing on orchestral conducting and composition. He also became founding conductor of Camerata Exaudi, a chamber orchestra that grew in just two years from a small group of 15 people into a full symphony orchestra with a large chorus, wind ensemble and chamber music group. "I usually get really passionate about things and can't just do something halfway," Baldini says about his experience leading a swiftly developing orchestra as an undergraduate. "I've always thought that whenever you need something and it's not there, you need to make your own way and make it happen."

Baldini received a scholarship to the Goethe Institute in Germany and considered pursuing an advanced degree overseas—he spent time as an undergraduate in Germany, taking lessons from Kent Nagano, then-conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and later returned abroad for private instruction with Andrea Pestalozza, one of the leading conductors in Europe, who invited him to guest conduct the contemporary music ensemble of the Paganini Conservatory in Genoa, Italy. He ultimately decided to study at Pennsylvania State University at the urging of a visiting conductor at UCA, who taught at that institution. His studies in Europe, as well as his personal background, continue to inspire a strong international perspective, however: The son of Italian immigrants who lived in Germany before settling in Argentina, Baldini is fluent in Italian and German, as well as Spanish and English.

After earning a master's degree in orchestral composition from Penn State in 2005, Baldini moved to UB—partly, he says, because he had the chance to conduct a piece by a UB composition graduate student and was very impressed by the standards of the department.

"UB is one of the best places in the country for composition," says Baldini, who feels fortunate to have studied composition under David Felder, director of the composition program in the Department of Music and Birge-Cary Chair in Composition. "I never expected to find myself [at UB], but I'm very glad to be here."

As music director and conductor of the UB Symphony Orchestra, Baldini regards his role as "primus inter pares"—first among equals—a colleague whose task is keeping his peers organized and encouraging everyone to put forth their best effort.

"It's really important for everybody to realize that an orchestra is not a mass—it's a group of individuals," he says. "You need lots of energy to make things happen. You have to get people excited about what they're doing."

Baldini also notes that conductors are educators, explaining that his musical selections for each concert are based not only on aesthetic considerations, but also on technical aspects that ensure students perform a wide range of orchestrations and styles.

"I believe in making someone learn something properly without even thinking about it," he says. "It's not like [students] have to learn first notes, then music and then expression—expression goes hand-in-hand with technique."

Members of the symphony also benefit from free instruction from UB's gifted faculty, says Baldini, adding that musicians teaching and performing with the orchestra this semester include Jean Kopperud, associate professor of music, in clarinet; Jonathan Golove, visiting assistant professor of music, in cello; and David Leung, lecturer, in violin.

In addition to collaborating with these faculty members and student musicians from across the academic disciplines, Baldini says he is very interested in getting involved in community projects. His plans for the spring semester include arranging a joint performance of the UB Symphony Orchestra and Clarence High School orchestra.

"It's going to be fun," says Baldini, with more than 100 high school and college students participating in the event—the UB symphony has about 50 to 60 musicians and Clarence about 60 to 70. "It's not the kind of thing that happens every day," he says.

The UB Symphony Orchestra also will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 29 and Dec. 2 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus. Baldini says among the highlights of this month's concert are a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 in C major and a performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Kopperud as soloist.

The clarinet concerto also will be featured at the November concert of the Brown Bag Concert Series sponsored by the Department of Music. The concert will begin at noon on Nov. 6 in Lippes Concert Hall. Admission is free and patrons are urged to bring their lunch.