APO Phil News Winter 2020

Looking to
the Future
Coming out of the COVID-19 crisis, APO is now one
of only a handful of arts companies in the world back to
performing with no social distancing measures for either
players or audience. Phil News Editor Tabatha McFadyen
talks to Music Director Giordano Bellincampi about the
opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
6
“We were like the band on the Titanic,
just continuing playing while the whole
world was going down.”
APO Music Director Giordano
Bellincampi laughs as he remembers this.
The APO had been rehearsing for their
performance of the Beethoven cycle for
two weeks – all nine symphonies were
ready to go for a series of almost
completely sold-out performances. During
that fateful time in mid-March, it seemed
almost too cruel that all that work wouldn’t
get to be shared. Every option was floated.
Fewer people in the hall? No people in the
hall but live-stream the concerts? The APO
continued to rehearse, hoping that some
solution could be found.
Alas, the writing was on the wall. The
APO’s priority will always be the safety of
its players and audience, so the project
would have to be, for now, abandoned.
The APO players retreated to their homes
for lockdown, and Giordano rushed to the
airport without a flight booking, desperate
to find a way to get back to his family in
Copenhagen before the borders closed.
However, the stringency of New
Zealand’s approach to dealing with the
virus has paid dividends. As the rest of
the world deals with second waves and
public gatherings still being hampered
by necessary social distancing
precautions, life in New Zealand has
resumed unfettered. The APO is
ostensibly back to normal, making music
together on Thursday nights to a full
Auckland Town Hall.
As soon as it was possible, the
project began to get Giordano back to
New Zealand. After all, the joy of being
back on stage would have felt incomplete
if he wasn’t a part of it. As I speak to him
he is waiting out his two weeks of
managed isolation in Rotorua with his
usual graciousness. “I’m really, really
looking forward to my two weeks with the
orchestra, because I want to hear them, I
want to see them, and I actually think they
would like to hear and see me, for once,”
he says, laughing. It’s clear that he has
missed them – the bond that’s grown
between him and the players is very
strong indeed.
It was a wonderful match right from
the start. “But this is not my first Music
Director job,” he explains, “and to be
honest, it often starts like that. But then,