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Joel Sachs
A New Haven, Conn. native who has been on the faculty since 1970, Joel Sachs directs Juilliard's Focus! Festival, the New Juilliard Ensemble, and the new-music group Continuum. Known for contemporary music, he also performs a vast range of repertoire as a conductor and pianist, and served as the first chairman of Juilliard's music history department. Sachs holds degrees from Harvard and Columbia, and is currently writing a book on composer Henry Cowell.
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| Joel Sachs with Berlin-based artists Eva (left) und Adele. |
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When did you first know you wanted to be a musician and how did you come to know it? That's a hard one ... it seemed just to happen inexorably when I was around 11. But I tried a premedical science major in college for about a year and a half, until I realized that I would be happy never to set foot in a lab again—at least, not for credit.Who was the teacher or mentor who most inspired you when you were growing up and what did you learn from that person?Ray Lev, my piano teacher from the age of about 10 to 16. She was a magnificent musician, with extremely high standards, who was very famous in the 1950s until Senator McCarthy put her out of business. Apart from all that I learned about music, I witnessed a whole world of political dissent and its consequences.What was the first recording that you remember hearing or buying? What was its significance to you?It might have been Peter and the Wolf, if you are willing to go back to the 78 r.p.m. days! I strongly recall an LP of Beethoven's Second Symphony that had a scratch in the slow movement, which I still anticipate whenever I hear that piece. But I think the most influential recording was Brahms's Symphony No. 1, recorded by Wilhelm Furtwängler, which I got when I was in my early 20s and which taught me the most about making music.What's the most embarrassing moment you've had as a performer?Coming late for my own concert, when I was conducting the National Orchestra of El Salvador. I was staying in a good hotel on a hill above the city (San Salvador), and so was unaware of the real impact of a rainstorm about two hours before the concert. The driver from the Ministry of Culture, who was to be at the hotel only 30 minutes before the 7 p.m. concert, never showed up. So at 6:35, together with Kristina Cooper, the Juilliard alumna who was the soloist, I got a taxi from the hotel. The concert hall was only a 10-minute drive away. We pulled into the street, turned a corner—and landed in a monumental traffic jam, caused by flooding from the earlier, torrential rainstorm. We crawled for more than an hour inhaling exhaust fumes the whole time. Finally, we arrived at the concert hall 45 minutes after the concert was to begin, but the audience was still there. When I looked in the mirror, I discovered that the right side of my concert shirt was black from the exhaust of the trucks! (Fortunately, only the orchestra had to see it … and I had a second shirt for the second concert.)If you could have your students visit any place in the world, where would it be, and why?Any country that lacks adequate resources for music, both educational and logistical, so they could see the kind of courage and resourcefulness that people can muster when they want to make music. I have gained enormously from working in places like El Salvador, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, and the Republic of Georgia.What are your non-music related interests or hobbies? What would people be surprised to know about you?Architecture, film, painting, international relations, travel. My chief hobbies are learning languages, reading, hiking, and traveling. I used to enjoy building things from wood, but now there is no time. People might be surprised to learn that I need a full night's sleep!What is your proudest accomplishment in life?Bringing up two children who have become happy and productive adults.What "words of wisdom" can you offer young people entering the field today?Always have time to enjoy life; never become swamped by your work, even if you are among the lucky few whose work is art; never be afraid to try new things.Is there anything you'd like to add?A few hours to the day.
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