> [Archived] Interviews
Răzvan Suma- director of Radio Choir and Orchestra
This management role is not something new to you. The evidence lies in "Do you Like Bach?", "Do you Like Brahms?" tournaments where you worked on this side, beside the artistic one.
What do you think of this position as a director of Radio Choir and Orchestra?
Firstly, it`s a new start. It is a very important thing. It`s an extraordinary responsibility, especially because I was a colleague with most instrumental performers. So, this means I am responsible for them. I`ve met a lot of them personally and a lot more are my friends. I hope to remain friends with them even after this collaboration is over. I believe that this responsibility is made for a while and someday I might leave. I don`t know when this will happen. For now, I realize there is a lot of administrative work to be done and I have to learn a lot, even if there is a similarity with an NGO management, there is also a personal management. Of course, the range of the instruments is a lot bigger at Radio Choir and Orchestra because we have six musical bands, but there is a great deal of advantage- the fact that we have a budget. The moment you start working on an NGO, there is no budget and after you`re done with the tournament or the event, you must have some money left.
You`ve spoken about your separation amongst them. You are a soloist at Radio Choir and Orchestra. You`ve talked about you`re responsibilities towards them. Do you think it`s a bigger responsibility on your shoulders just because you`ve separated from them?
I don`t think it`s a bigger responsibility, I believe I know their problems from the inside. There are different mentalities of instrumentists and orchestrants whom I know because myself, even if I was a soloist in Radio Choir and Orchestra, and a big part of my career, even now, is based on being a soloist, of singing with the orchestra in chamber music projects or solo, I know these mentalities very well because I also sang in an orchestra. It is true, I never sang in an Romanian orchestra, besides the ones from Music University or school but I have participated in one of the best youth orchestras in the world. Many of these musicians were my roommates, suffering colleague in buses or in extreme conditions- because that`s what a tournament means- and a stage colleague and we did our job on the stage as musicians.
From what you`ve told me I understand that you will never give up your concertistic activity.
I will never give up this activity for sure.
Or, anyway, it won`t be so often as it was…
…perhaps so. There are moments in everyone`s career when you need to reduce moments with less important events that can be accomplished some other time. The priority for me now is not to disappoint. I will surely not be able to please everyone, but I will try to please as many people as I can.
Do you have a motto which guides you in this activity?
I have no motto. In this period I go from a meeting to another to discover the secrets of this institution.
Translated by Ilinca Elena Dinulescu
MTTLC, the University of Bucharest