How should one make a splash as a young conductor? It can be a tricky prospect. Classical musicians, especially professionals, can be a distracted bunch, difficult to impress and sometimes rather jaded. Have they seen it all before? Maybe. For any young conductor placed in front of a group of professionals, the confidence to proceed must be effortless, good first impressions immediate.
Like soloists, young conductors have often used the high-pressure environments of competitions to make their names. The Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition is one such important event. Run in Manchester every three years by The Hallé, it’s somewhere between a traditional soloists’ competition and an elaborate job interview.
Ahead of the 2026 edition – currently open for entrants until 29th August – I spoke to the winner of the 2023 edition, Japanese-American conductor Euan Shields, who has been based in Manchester since then, now assistant conductor at the Hallé and conductor of the Hallé Youth Orchestra. When we meet backstage at Bridgewater Hall, overlooked by a looming portrait of Sir Mark Elder poring over a pile of scores, I ask Euan what gave him the confidence to start conducting. “When I got started initially,” he says, “it wasn’t about me or whether I could do it or not, or whether I had what it takes. It was more that I had this enthusiasm for music that I wanted to share with others.”
“It all started when I was in my youth orchestra, I thought it was the most amazing thing ever. I wanted to share my excitement, and couldn’t contain it simply by being in the cello section.” Shields had joined the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra shortly after moving to the US from Japan. “I invited every member of the orchestra to come to my house and play some music. I said: it’s my first time conducting, but I want to give it a try. I think eight people showed up, of the whole 60 or 70 people in the orchestra!”
This approach, of starting up ensembles from scratch, is a common strategy for young conductors. “This confidence thing, the matter of whether one has what it takes to be a conductor,” Shields says, “is a little bit irrelevant in a way! You just have to do it, and the next time you do it, you hope you do a better job than the last time you did it.”
Working closely with young musicians from the beginning also set Shields up well for the Siemens Hallé competition itself. “The format is really great,” Shields says, “because all of the candidates have a real chance of displaying their artistic profile.” The competition differentiates itself in particular due to its first round, where candidates rehearse with the Hallé Youth Orchestra. “That aspect is so crucial, because it’s not just showing how you conduct, but it’s showing how you work with a group of young musicians. For the jury to get a real sense of how you interact with them. They’re wondering what your intentions are, if you become their music director over the next three years. It’s not just how you conduct – it’s really more a job interview as much as a conducting competition.”
From there, the competition moves to more familiar ground, with chamber orchestra-sized repertoire for the second round. But still, all participants are admitted to this level. In 2026, the conductors will rehearse classical-sized symphonies, but in 2023, Shields recalls, “I conducted pieces by Dobrinka Tabakova, and Benjamin Britten. This round is much more condensed – it’s more focused on your conducting abilities, and the music tends to be more tricky to conduct. Yet the professional musicians react instantaneously to each conductor.”
“Compared to most competitions,” Shields continues, “by conducting something classical, something contemporary and conducting a youth orchestra, you’re already presenting a very full picture of who you are. And only then is there the selection for the final round. There are also some interviews with the jury panels, artistic and also administrative.” Three candidates progress to the final round, where they conduct the full Hallé orchestra, with a full rehearsal. Some repertoire is shared (in 2026, it will be Bernstein’s Candide overture) while other pieces are uniquely chosen for each candidate, and announced the night before – a common procedure at conducting competitions.
Shields recalls the daunting prospect of being called to conduct Elgar’s Enigma Variations with a leading British orchestra. “That was the piece I dreaded the most,” he says. “The Hallé have such a history, a high regard for playing British music, especially Elgar.” But, he adds, it was “the highlight for me, conducting the Hallé in the Enigma Variations.” Earlier I asked what he felt was most essential for a young conductor when facing an orchestra of professionals. “I think it goes back to standing your ground and showing who you are. It was a combination of trusting the orchestra, and trusting in the process of communication... I realised I could go anywhere with the piece, it’s so much in their bloodstream. First I was worried that there was going to be this barrier, that it was ‘British territory’, but it really was the opposite. It opened musical doors that I didn’t know existed.”
Naturally, trusting an orchestra of professionals, and trusting in your own musical instincts and abilities, is crucial for any young conductor – but achieving this is easier said than done. Shields compares a recent experience conducting Korean composer Younghi Pagh-Paan with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra. Her music looks to the mid-century avant-garde, with many rich, dark and dissonant colours. “Many Korean instrumentalists are trained in Germany, so are familiar with this sound world,” Shields says. “I told them: let’s do it completely differently, can you play this like you’re a Korean traditional instrument ensemble?”
“I rattled off a couple of instruments, like the gayageum, which is a plucked Korean zither. They laughed, some smiled or chuckled” (Shields’ Korean pronunciation was a little imperfect) “but I was astonished by how immediately different they sounded! I felt like I had untapped something.” Shields suggests it’s less a matter of informing the orchestra how the piece should be played, as much as giving permission – or revealing latent capacities within the musicians themselves. “Some people thought I was being courageous, teaching a Korean orchestra how to play like a Korean orchestra. But actually I was just saying: you guys know how to do this, so I invite you to do it this way.”
For Shields, giving the orchestra permission to play the piece in a certain way, and having a clear conceptual or artistic basis for it, seems to be the way forward. “Orchestras have so much more experience than any young conductor, they’ve probably done that piece so many more times. When there’s a new conductor in front of the orchestra, they’re thinking: what version of this piece are we going to do? More than precision and problem-solving, I think they’re looking for artistic inspiration. They want the conductor to take them on a musical journey. They want to make music! A conductor who has a strong idea of where the music should go and why, and feels emotionally convinced about it – but is also there to openly receive the musicians’ artistic potential. Bringing those two together is the best of both worlds.”
Meanwhile, when working with a youth orchestra, the emphasis is different. There, conductors have to be flexible, generous, and above all positive. “With young people, they’re very sensitive emotionally and musically, so being very open and enthusiastic is an effective approach. You want to raise their standards and set expectations, but you also want everyone to be in a relaxed state. I think when the tension is too high, it impedes the learning and improvement process... Positivity and enthusiasm are, in the long term, better approaches.”
Shields argues it is in some ways managing life off-stage that poses the greatest challenge for a young conductor at the Siemens Hallé competition. “One of the components in competitions is dealing with the overwhelm. When you’re a conductor, you’re always dealing with this, but in competitions, emotions get intensified, usually because of the large amount of repertoire you have to prepare. Focusing on being single-minded is helpful. In Japan, we have this word, mushin, in kanji it means ‘no heart’ – but it really is closer to single-mindedness, or ‘no mind’. When you’re eating, you’re eating; when you’re walking, you’re walking: you’re just doing the thing without any thoughts attached to it. I think that’s a good approach to have!”
“When you’re in front of the orchestra, you might have all sorts of thoughts – how you’re being perceived, thinking ‘oh maybe I’m going to win this thing’, or ‘what if I don’t do my best’. Just aikido all of those! Be with the musicians in front of you.” This seems like a rule for life if ever there was one.
The Siemens Hallé International Conducting Competition is open for entrants until 29th August.
This article was sponsored by the Hallé Concerts Society.
