Chris Lees

When did you get started in conducting? Why did you choose conducting instead of a performance major?

I initially started as a keyboardist. I didn't really get serious into conducting until my junior year here. I started taking some conducting classes and then I got involved with Pops and that sort of spring boarded me into really focusing a lot of my time on it and I have grown to love it ever since. It sort of came up out of the blue and was something that came naturally and I've just been trying to work on it ever since. I guess that's been about four or five years now.

Why did you choose U of M over a conservatory?

I really love U of M because it's so big and because there is a diverse group of things you can do. Like when I initially came I wanted to play organ and teach high school choir. And so I came and I did that and the football team and the football games were so big and there's always stuff to do around Ann Arbor. When you go to a conservatory it's very narrow minded. It's sort of the program I'm in now but I wasn't ready for it then. I just wanted to be a person who did music as opposed to a musician so now I'm definitely more of a hard core musician but it was good easing into it. And I love how at U of M, no matter what you wanted to do, there's always at least twenty or thirty other people who want to do it with you. My freshman year I played ping-pong, which is really random, but in Bursley we'd play until midnight or two in the morning sometimes just because there was somebody else who wanted to play ping-pong so we'd play ping-pong or Ultimate Frisbee or go running or anything. There's so much more to do at a big school.

What groups or organizations are you involved in related to your field?

The Michigan Pops Orchestra! That's sort of my main outlet and I love it. I love it to death. I think it's one of the greatest groups on campus. If that doesn't come through (at rehearsal) I'm not doing it right. This year I assist with Campus Symphony and last year I assisted with Campus Phil (Philharmonic). I've played with Symphony Band and I used to sing in the School of Music Choirs. I was the accompanist for the Women's Glee Club for a year. That was a fantastic gig. Sixty women and one guy. It's just perfect, you couldn't ask for a better ratio. They sounded really good, too, so it was musically rewarding as well.

Why did you choose to be a conductor rather than a performance major?

I love conducting for a number of reasons. This is in no particular order. One, it looks at a global view of music. With so many individual parts, I like being able to see and hear them all and to be able to feel if something doesn't go right, if the jigsaw puzzle pieces don't fit, I like being in a position to be like "Wait. This could be a lot better if we did this and brought it all together and became unified." Another reason is practicing is fun but it's a very solitary activity and I'm definitely more of a people person than a practicer. I would much rather sit with a score, learn it, study it, so that I can help a lot of other people come together as a group and to be able to interact with people and help lead them to a common vision. That's something that I really enjoy doing and it lets me use a lot of my different skills. Musically, personallyŠ.leadershipallyŠif that's really a word, I don't think it isŠbut you get the idea.

You want to become a professional conductor. Do you have any idea where you want to go?

This is going to sound really bad, but the bigger the better. The more metropolitan, the more cosmopolitan, the more diverse of an area, the more creative mindset of the audience. The place where I can do the most good for the most people and influence as many people as possible to grow to love this amazing art which I have the privilege of spending all of my time in. It's such a cool tunnel to be in that you want everybody you know to experience it. That's not only for the musicians but for the audience as well. I want to go to an area where they're willing to listen to newer stuff or try to challenge their beliefs on what they believe is good music. Try and expand their horizons as well as provide entertainment, let them have fun with it; let them be actively involved with it. So I guess it's not necessarily bigger, it's a place where I can have a lot of impact, hopefully for the better and a place where a lot of people can come together under the banner of good music.

How long have you been involved with the Pops Orchestra? Why did you want to get involved in the first place?

I sang with Pops my freshman year. They did a concert with the choir that did music from Star Wars: Episode One and it was this big screen and stuff and their conductor came into our big, mass choir and was like, "Hey, we're doing this concert, do any of you guys want to sing?" So I was like, "Yeah, Star Wars, let's do it!" and I sang with them, and I thought, wow, this is so cool. An organization about music, for students, by students, involving nothing but students, and it's non-majors! I think that's so neat to have people who are really doing it for the love of it. There's no requirement, there's no credit for it, and it's just for the fun of it, for the love of it. I love that. I think it's so cool. And so my junior year, I went to a concert where they did Broadway tunes. Again, they had a choir and some of the music was arranged by the conductor. I thought to myself, "Wow. This is unbelievably cool. I have got to pick this guy's brain. How did he do this? This has got to be so sweet." So I emailed the conductor and I was like, "Dude, how did you put on that amazing concert?" And he was like, "Well, let's talk about it." So we met at Starbucks and we talked for about two hours and I basically asked him every question I could think of about how it worked, how he got the music, how he arranged stuff, how he got into conducting. So in March of my junior year, signs went up that said, "We're looking for a new music director." I was like, you know. I'm just starting to get into conducting, I don't know a whole lot, I'll just wait and maybe apply in my fifth year because I was going to be a five year student. And then, the executive director emailed me and said, "Our music director gave us your name and wants you to come interview." I thought, "Well, shoot, if they're going to ask me, okay! I might as well give it a shot." Interviewed, auditioned, gave them a tape of my conducting and they invited me to be music director. And it's been a wild, crazy ride ever since and I love it, I totally love it. I think the group and the people in it and the energy and enthusiasm and spirit they bring to it is unparalleled.