Alum Jaco Wong on Conducting the San Francisco Symphony in Rehearsal

It's always a good "day at the office" when it involves Renée Fleming.

SFCM Conducting alum Jaco Wong ('22) recently took the podium with the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) to rehearse the ensemble for its three-night run with Fleming and guest conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali celebrating the music of Richard Strauss.

Wong has assistant-conducted SFS for some time now, and says on Rouvali's first day with the ensemble, "he gave me a heads-up: 'Hey, at some point this week, you might want to go out to the hall.'" 

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Jaco Wong with Santtu-Matias Rouvali.

This run of performances was the Finnish conductor's first time in SFS' Davies Symphony Hall. "One of the things I quickly learned about him is he's extremely sensitive to sound and balance and timbre," Wong says. Rouvali, who serves as principal conductor of London's Philharmonia Orchestra, wanted to hear certain parts of the program in the hall—notably an offstage trumpet solo in Ein Heldenleben.

"So he had me conduct that part," Wong continues. "It wasn't a piece I'd performed before, and I did my homework, but it was my first time conducting the Symphony, and a bit of a last-minute situation. So it was a little nerve-wracking in the beginning, but I think once we got the rhythm going it felt natural. I also just felt a warmth from the orchestra: They were really responding to what I was doing, immediately, there was a sense of partnership."

"The thing about this Strauss, Heldenleben," Wong says, "is it is a really dense score that requires lot of balance. So even if you're just talking about that trumpet solo, it becomes, 'How much of the door will be open?' Then, 'Do they need to be closer to the door or should they back up?' After that, you then have to focus on their playing: 'What character are they giving this, what articulations and note lengths?'"

Wong also got to spend some time with Fleming, one of the premiere interpreters of Strauss' music. (She's now recorded the piece she sang on the concert, Four Last Songs, twice.) "She's such a legend," Wong says. "I sang tenor and countertenor when I was younger, and I grew up with her recordings. She has such an eclectic repertoire, but Four Last Songs is certainly her expertise. We would just talk in the back and she'd ask me about the balance of certain things, so still, even at her level, she is still so collaborative and incredibly kind."

Fleming also made a surprise appearance on SFS' September 30 tribute to Michael Tilson Thomas, which featured another SFCM alum: Teddy Abrams, Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra, and an Opus 3 Artist in SFCM's Global Creative Alliance. Wong says, "we were able to have a pretty extensive conversation with [SFCM Music Director and Wong's conducting teacher] Edwin Outwater as well. [Fleming] had a position at the Kennedy Center for a long time, so I got to know her a little better as an artist and hear about all the things she's done in addition to her wonderful singing. That was really special." 

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Renée Fleming and Jaco Wong.

Wong kept a single word of advice in his head while on the podium, and it's one he passes on to his students: "Listen." He says, "For the first 30 seconds, probably, I was just like, 'What the hell's going on?'" he says. "I don't think I did anything wrong, but I wasn't in the moment. But when I focused on that thought, immediately I was collaborating and really enjoying the experience. The thing about an orchestra of that level is that they don't actually need a conductor to tell them when to play most of the time. But still, they were right there with me, wanting to do it together, and that was really heartwarming—I wouldn't have been able to have those moments if I hadn't been listening."

On the whole, Wong is deeply grateful to not only SFS, but also Rouvali for the trust they extended to him. "It's not like he already knew the orchestra and everyone so well that it was, 'Let's just throw in a young guy there and let him do his thing.' He had this trust in me and a collaborative spirit, and I learned so much from him." The musicians in the orchestra also went out of their way to embrace Wong: "Quite a few times in rehearsal throughout the whole week, some of them came up to talk to me and they were really supportive. And they certainly didn't have to be, to a young assistant conductor who jumped on and waved his arms."

Self-effacement aside, proof of Wong's contributions to the performances was noted, if not explicitly credited. San Francisco Classical Voice's review read, in part, "Rouvali [maintained] maintaining good balances in the orchestra even at high dynamic levels. Under his direction, the strings shone, the brass blended superbly, and Strauss' built-in pauses sustained the drama." 

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