The BBC is going to have a new reality show. I wish we in the states could see it. Oh well.

We’ve had them ballroom dancing, ice-skating and eating live insects in the jungle. Now a group of celebrities are to pick up their batons and try their hand at conducting. The BBC has just commissioned a new reality TV series called Maestro, in which seven celebrity would-be conductors will go head-to-head on the podium before orchestras and choirs. The winner of the series, expected to air on BBC2 this summer, will step up to conduct an orchestra during the Last Night of the Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall in September.
All the participants are yet to be finalised, but broadcaster Jon Snow is rumoured to be one of the contestants. All participants will be offered pearls of wisdom from a panel of top international conductors, and mentored by a number of young conductors.
Plans for Maestro come hot on the heels of BBC2’s previous classical music reality series, Classical Star, which began last October.

The BBC insists that both Classical Star and Maestro are vital in their aim of bringing the classical genre to fresh viewers. Of Maestro, a BBC spokesperson said: “This programme is still in the pipeline at present, but if it does go ahead we hope that by following different people’s journeys in learning how to conduct, it will succeed in opening up classical music to a completely different audience.”

I didn’t see “Classical Star” either … would have enjoyed that as well.

What makes a good conductor? To me it’s a bit of a mystery. I’ve played under conductors who were quite clear but lacked something. I’ve played under a conductor who merely had to nod his head and I knew exactly what he wanted. The older I get, the more I admire a good conductor and yearn to work under the great ones.

In the CD player (because I know you’re dying to know):

A Song – For Anything: Songs by Charles Ives

Songs by Samuel Barber

A Song in my Heart

Guess I’m in a singing mood, eh? Or, really, a listening to singing mood.

The Bryn Terfel is a hodge-podge, including Shenandoah. Some might scoff. I’m a sucker for that tune. What can I say? It hits my heart. And I’m a heart person. Sometimes I yearn to have someone nearby I can grab and say “LISTEN! Feel that?! It cuts into you, doesn’t it?” Is it silly that Shenandoah can do that to me? Probably so. But one thing about me and blogging; I’m as honest as I can possibly be. So there you go. I suppose I should only admit to things like Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, eh? Sounds more … oh, I dunno, admirable, maybe? But hey, I yam what I yam, and there you go.