And Other Duties, The Life of the Assistant Conductor

For the season finale, Karen hands over the reins to Timothy Redmond. Tim, a mentor of Karen’s, interviews the host about her journey to the podium and beyond. Tim also talks about his assistant positions, what is his perception of And Other Duties, how are the different titles perceived all over the world. From opera to the symphonic concert hall, conducting education and keeping the torch going, this conversation wraps up And Other Duties Season 1

On this week’s episode, Karen talks to Gabriella Gabriella Teychenné, a conductor who is taking the European scene by storm! We talk about her unique and amazing journey of unpaid assisting, learning to assist while assisting, to having several paid positions that led from that to fantastic paid ones. Listen to how she almost gave up but one fateful opportunity kept her going!

Maurice Cohn is one of the rising stars in the USA. This week on And Other Duties we talk about his role as Assistant Conductor with Dallas Symphony; working with youth orchestras, getting more youth into the symphony hall and building communities, as well as pre concert talks and how valuable they are! We also talk about building our own community, connecting and rooting for each other throughout!

Karen is joined by Agata Zając this week on And Other Duties. Agata talks about the rigorous Polish system of music education, her journey to where she is now as the Conducting Fellow at RNCM Manchester as well as finding a teacher and mentor that inspires you. Agata has assisted all over Europe and gives us an insight into that. We talk about what conducting competitions are really like in our eyes!

Duo Shen, Chinese conductor living in the US talks to Karen as they share their memories of meeting at the Grand Rapids Symphony Assistant Conductor Finalist audition. Duo, now the Assistant Conductor at Grand Rapids, talks about his journey from China to the US, complications of visas, finance and his journey from violin to the podium. 

This week on And Other Duties, Karen speaks to Toby Purser, one of her first conducting teachers! Recognised as a world leader in the conducting community, at the beginning of the pandemic, he launched Conductors in Isolation, an online forum which now has over 1600 members worldwide. Now head of conducting at London’s Royal College of Music, Toby talks about winning an assistant job at 38 and how age really doesn’t matter, we are all on our own journey!

American conductor Nicholas Hersh joins Karen this week on And Other Duties. Nick had a remarkable tenure as Assistant then promoted to Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with Marin Alsop for over 7 years. Join us as we explore his journey pre, during and post Baltimore as an assistant, associate, and now freelance conductor, and how doing laundry is one of the ‘and other duties’.

Join Karen as she chats with Michelle Di Russo on the 1st episode of the series! Known for her compelling interpretations, passionate musicality and championing of contemporary music, Argentinian-Italian Michelle, the current Associate Conductor with North Carolina Symphony, shares how dancing, conducting Beethoven 5 for an exam led her to where she is today!

And Other Duties, hosted by Karen Ní Bhroin highlights the lives of conductors from all over the world, telling their stories of what it is Assistant Conductors really do. You'll learn exactly what other duties really means, all the chapters that led them to their current position plus the unwritten chapters to come. Successes and the failures that lead to success will be explored, the determination and the lessons learned in this compelling 8-week series!