Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser
(Ben Larivière)
By Steve Holt
December 12, 2019
For the past several seasons, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser has delighted
San Francisco Symphony audiences with his easygoing and engaging podium
presence. He returns this month to conduct a range of SFS concerts,
including SoundBox (Dec 6–7), Deck the Hall (Dec 8), and Music for Families: Holidays Around the World (Dec 14). Here he talks about how he connects with audiences young and old.
Is an audience full of kids different from a regular concert audience?
[Laughter]
If you don’t engage them you feel the energy leave the room very
quickly! But they give you a lot of energy too; you come out on stage to
uninhibited applause and yells. There’s also a lot of pressure to
explain things in a way that’s fun, exciting, and understandable for
young people who may not even have English as their first language.
What do you try to accomplish with a concert for children?
While
the main thing is being able to engage the kids, another important
aspect is to challenge them. I have a demonstration where I teach them
how to recognize when the orchestra is sharp or flat. They can hear
that. I always keep in mind that it isn’t just a kids’ concert; it’s a
future violinist’s concert, or singer, or conductor, or donor.
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