STEPPING up is not new to Daniel Boico, making his debut in a Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra concert in a symphony this week - Boico replaced an ailing Kurt Masur at short notice with the New York Philharmonic when he was assistant conductor in 2009. Around that time, Bongani Tembe of KZN Philharmonic heard him conduct a young people’s concert with the New York Philharmonic, and soon he was engaged to replace a conductor in Durban.
On the CPO’s radar since he conducted the orchestra in a concert in Stellenbosch last year, and engaged to conduct next year, it was good news that Boico was available to step in when Martin Panteleev needed to cancel his appearances here.
So Boico not only has to conduct the Schumann Piano Concerto which he, naturally, knows or the Organ Symphony, which he also knows, but a new piece, Revelation, by Christo Jankowitz, being given its premiere thanks to a CPO/SAMRO collaboration.
There’s yet another change to the programme, the Polish pianist Maciej Grzybowski who was to play the Schumann can not perform, but the CPO has been fortunate enough to secure the services of the well-beloved son François du Toit who has been practicing the Schumann since last Wednesday, perfecting it with the KZNPO in Durban on Thursday!
Boico, who is now associate guest conductor of the KZN Philharmonic, was invited to return to that orchestra immediately after his first rehearsal and has been going to Durban ever since. He brings with him quite a provenance …. described by critics as “dynamic, vigorous, exciting and imaginative - an undisputed star who combines magnetic charisma with a skilled technique”, while his innate musical sensitivity, keen ear and deep musicianship have produced exciting performances with orchestras throughout the world. Music had always been part of his life - his father, Fima Boico, was concertmaster of Orchestre de Paris and is the second violinist of the Fine Arts Quartet, his mother a pianist. Both are graduates of the Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow,
A former lyric tenor, born in Israel, raised in Paris and America, Boico studied at the University of Wisconsin and fell in love with conducting while a student. He says “I happened to sit very close to the stage in an orchestral rehearsal. The staggering amount of instrument combinations and colours blew me away! I just had to give it a try! It just felt right, and I dove head first into the field. I studied various instruments, composition, orchestration, and took private lessons with Victor Yampolsky and three weeks after graduating with a voice performance degree I was already studying at the St Petersburg Conservatory with the legendary conducting professor, Ilya Musin.”
Yampolsky, a graduate of the same conservatory although then called the Leningrad Conservatory, supported him all the way.
About Musin, Boico has this to say: “If I had to pinpoint a moment in my life that really inspired me, it would probably be my first day in Ilya Musin’s class, where an atmosphere of wonder lingered. I had never experienced such an organic connection to sound beforehand, and Musin’s 60 years of teaching in the same classroom was making its mark on me!”
Boico was a finalist and prizewinner at the Prokofiev, Pedrotti, and Cadaques International Conducting Competitions. Does his miss singing?
“I loved singing but today I receive pleasure from working with choral ensembles and conducting opera when the opportunity presents itself,” he says.
Since then he has travelled far. He was cover conductor on Chicago Symphony’s Asia tour to Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Seoul and as apprentice conductor at the Chicago Symphony he worked with and was assistant to music director Daniel Barenboim and guest conductors Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta.
He was also music director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Illinois, and the Skokie Concert Choir, as well as staff conductor at the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and assistant conductor to Cliff Colnot of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He was Visiting Professor and Director of Orchestras at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, and has served as cover conductor for the Milwaukee Symphony.
He has also made several CDs and worked with big orchestras from Chicago and New York to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker and several orchestras in Russia.
On another track, he has worked in music administration, planning and programming with Barenboim in Chicago and with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and as Manager of Artistic Administration of the New York Philharmonic. He has also been involved as conductor as well as editor and producer of a recording project of composer Karen LeFrak’s orchestral and chamber music, recorded at the old Melodiya recording studio in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with the Saint Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. He’s made several CDs as well.
Before coming here, back to Stellenbosch he was on a long tour of concerts in Mexico City, Chicago, and Bloomington. He also visited my daughter who studies acting at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Next up he will be conducting at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival and then it’s time for a short holiday before making his debut with the Vancouver Symphony in Washington and a residency at DePaul University in Chicago.
Boico will conduct two concerts at The City Hall at 8 pm. The first on June 23 includes the Organ Symphony by Saint-Saëns with Erik Dippenaar as soloist; the second features violinist Rachel Lee Priday in the Prokofiev Violin Concerto no 1, plus Ravel’s Alborado del Gracio s o and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances.
l 0861 915 8000, 021 421 7695