From pillar to podium: Umberto Clerici

for the conductor, the rehearsal is the gig...

Umberto Clerici’s CV lists principal cellist, chamber musician, educator, soloist and now conductor, as the newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra

It’s an unusual trajectory from orchestra to podium, a post usually inhabited by soloists, not former orchestral musicians. He says the physicality of the cello lends itself to conducting as well as playing at the bottom of the orchestra.  He also credits COVID to his break with the baton and tells us how he needs to balance being a ‘traffic controller with inspirer’.