Richard Rintoul, who will conduct the Vancouver Symphony this weekend, knows how to keep several balls in the air at the same time.
During any given week, Rintoul may conduct an orchestra, play viola in a recording studio, or teach a class at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Rintoul regularly leads the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic, the UC Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra da Camera at the Colburn School of Performing Arts.
In the recording studio, Rintoul has played viola on soundtracks for the television programs “Alias,” “Lost” and “Fringe,” and the motion pictures “Ratatouille,” “Star Trek,” “Up” and “Land of the Lost.”
His teaching extends from the classroom to “The Video Conductor” series for IVASI System’s virtual orchestra DVDs.
In the midst of his busy life, Rintoul has found time to lead performances of music by Beethoven, Grieg and Verdi in Vancouver.
“I’m really looking forward to working with the orchestra,” said Rintoul. “I used to work with a Portland-area program called Opera a la Carte, but that was 20 years ago. It will be fun to see how things have changed.”
The Vancouver Symphony’s all-orchestral program is built around Beethoven’s Third Symphony. This work is considered one of the most important symphonies ever written. It is almost twice as long as any symphony written by Beethoven’s predecessors Haydn and Mozart. Its music covers a wider expanse of emotional ground than any previous symphony. Most scholars credit this symphony as the first of the Romantic era.
Rintoul said the pieces by Grieg and Verdi also on the Vancouver Symphony’s program should work well with the Beethoven symphony.
“The whole program centers around the idea of the anti-hero,” Rintoul said. “Peer Gynt was the scallywag of Ibsen’s epic play. Nabucco is based on the Old Testament story of Nebuchadnezzar, who oppressed the Israelites. He ended up converting to Judaism and freeing the Israelites. In a way, he was the enemy who became a hero. Beethoven penned his Third Symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte. But after Napoleon declared himself emperor of France, Beethoven became disgusted with him and retitled the piece the Eroica Symphony. Eroica is the Italian word for heroic.”
Rintoul started conducting as a junior in high school in Bakersfield, Calif., when his orchestra teacher let him direct that ensemble. He has a master’s degree in conducting from the University of Southern California and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles.
“I’ve observed a lot of student conductors over the years,” Rintoul said. “I think that it’s something you are born with. So for me, it wasn’t my choice to become a conductor. I do it because I have to. It becomes an obsession.”
Sometimes Rintoul gets an easy gig. Just a couple of weeks ago, he played in a string quartet at pop singer Katy Perry’s birthday party.
“She celebrated her 25th birthday with a Willy Wonka theme party,” said Rintoul. “It was a fun to see all of the celebrities like Taylor Swift, and there are pictures all over the Internet.”
