Live classical music is widely available in the Palmetto State, thanks to orchestras in at least seven South Carolina cities. But even the same music can be approached differently by different orchestras and conductors.
And Morihiko Nakahara, conductor of the South Carolina Philharmonic in Columbia, and Edvard Tchivzhel, who conducts the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, say that musicians have more say in modern symphonies than in the past, when the conductor was “the law.” In addition, Nakahara says that while conductors don’t play all the instruments in an orchestra, they need to have a feel for them all. Tchivzhel reveals the criteria he uses in selecting a piece of music to perform.