Listening to Peter Leonard talk music is like listening to a sommelier talk fine wine.
It’s the warmth in the timbre of his voice as he discusses technical terms, the way his hands move gracefully in the air as he speaks, as if they’re dancing to a song only he can hear.
“A tempo is about more than just how fast or slow music gets,” he says softly, almost contemplatively, as he sits inside the offices of Opera on the James one cool afternoon in March.
“It’s about where the stresses, where the impulses are, where the curve of the music, the shaping of the phases in the music is. It’s really fascinating. It’s a little like exploring a new continent or hiking for the first time in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”
Hearing Opera on the James’ principal conductor speak about music — whether it’s a specific piece, a style or a composer — is like stepping into a college-level master class, says Cecelia Schieve, the company’s general director.
It’s really no surprise though; music and especially opera has been a passion for most of the 67-year-old Leonard’s life.
Opera and music lovers alike will have the opportunity to see Leonard’s skills on full display when he conducts Opera on the James’ latest production, Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte,” which opens Friday.
A graduate of Juilliard School’s undergraduate and master’s program in music, Leonard has conducted for companies across the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the National Theatre Belgrade and the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea.
He’s held positions with companies across the U.S. and Germany, including the Louisville Orchestra and the North German Philharmonic.
Before coming to Opera on the James, Leonard spent several years serving as the artistic and general director of Germany’s Volkstheater Rostock, where, among other projects, he oversaw the world premiere of two new operas.
“Now, that’s much rarer,” says Leonard, who has conducted the world premieres of music by 15 modern composers. “A symphonic premiere is already a pretty cool thing, but to do an opera, a brand new opera …” he sighs.
If prompted, the conductor might talk about when he was part of the first orchestra to play in Sony Music Studios in the ’90s, which he still equates to stepping onto the deck of the Star Ship Enterprise.
He might humbly mention how he led pops concerts that featured Bob Newhart, Ray Charles and Roberta Flack and played with Leonard Bernstein and Leopold Stokowski, famously known today as the conductor of Disney’s “Fantasia.” He might even add that he recorded a TV special with Dudley Moore.
Despite his extensive list of symphonic accomplishments, Leonard says his greatest passion is still opera: “If I had to choose concert music or opera, I would choose opera.”
Leonard first joined Opera on the James for its 2015 production of “The Marriage of Figaro.” Since then, he has returned to conduct three other productions, the most recent of which is “Cosi fan tutte,” which follows two gentlemen who make a bet that they can seduce the other’s fiancées and the high jinks that follow as they attempt to win the wager.
Leonard also will conduct next April’s production of “La Traviata,” the first opera the company will perform in the restored Academy of Music Theatre, says Schieve.
“Peter has a lifelong way of thinking that connects all things and informs the music because what he brings to it is like a kaleidoscope of context,” she says. “… I really don’t know of anyone else who is so gifted in music that also makes so many connections.”
Before he steps into the pit for “Cosi fan tutte,” Leonard talked about the beauty of opera, performing Wagner’s Ring Cycle and Mozart’s comedy of the sexes.
How did you develop your love of opera?
“I became fascinated with the stage first through musicals and then when I went to Juilliard there was, of course, the Metropolitan Opera next door. … I would sneak into The Met to hear performances and rehearsals a lot. In those days, they didn’t have the same security, you just walked in as if you knew where you were going and you were fine.
“[In the Met] there were these various balconies and rings and, at the top balcony on the sides, [it] is too high to see the stage. So, they put a little desk on each row with a little light so you can follow the score. You could hear and follow along with the score. There was an usher up there, if you slipped him a couple of dollars he’d find if there were any empty seats or if someone didn’t show up, he’d slip you in just before the lights went down. I spent a huge amount of time at the Met, much more than at orchestra concerts.”
What is it about opera?
“When it really clicks, it’s the most exalted of the performing arts, I think. Of course, it involves all of the performing arts — singing, dancing, moving, the art of motion. … It has music itself, it has poetry. It has a huge palette of color.”
Are there any performances you consider to be career highlights?
“I conducted the entire ring of Wagner several times [in Germany]. The Ring of the Nibelung, it lasts 16 hours. It’s actually four operas — or as you call them, music dramas — so, to perform it, the normal sequence is you need six days. … That’s one of my big highlights, probably the biggest as conductor. I’ll never forget, when I did the first cycle and finished all four operas, my wife said I looked like I’d seen God or something.”
What are your thoughts on Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte?”
“We are performing now the third of the de Ponte operas [Mozart’s trio of operas composed with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte]. This is a very good thing and a great opportunity for people in Lynchburg to get to hear this piece. … ‘Cosi fan tutte’ is a comedy, but it’s a tragic comedy. It’s in some ways almost scurrilous what the plot is.
“And Mozart manages to, even in situations that are ridiculous or other situations which are funny, he manages to bathe all of this in the most gloriously tuneful, delightful music. He has a gift for melody. It’s one of my most favorite operas. ‘Cosi’ is one of my desert island operas, no question. It’s infinitely fascinating and sometimes paradoxical.”
