The list is impressive. Conductor Jacques Lacombe was knighted by the National Order of Quebec, led his New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in a successful debut at Carnegie Hall and was invited to return to Covent Garden to conduct La Bohème with Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, no less.
That’s impressive for a lifetime of achievements, but Lacombe scored all of these successes in the last two months. The globe-trotting 49-year-old conductor is taking it in his stride.
“I’ve never had a plan in my career,” admits Lacombe. “I’ve been lucky since the beginning to have the right things presented to me at the right time.”
Lacombe confesses he didn’t realize how big a deal “L’Ordre national” was until he started receiving so many messages of congratulations. “I still consider myself a young musician, a young conductor, and it comes to me at an early stage in my career. To have the Quebec government acknowledging what I’ve been doing with my music and my career is a nice tap on the shoulder,” he says, modestly.
Always modestly.
Lacombe also considers himself lucky to have learned his craft with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, first as assistant conductor, then as guest conductor from 2002 to 2006. Now he feels honoured to be music director of the orchestra of his hometown, Trois-Rivières, and, more recently, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, where his contract has just been renewed.
Carnegie Hall – no big deal
It’s a good fit with the NJSO. Lacombe says there’s a fantastic energy in the orchestra. “There’s something very fresh, very young and youthful about the music-making. It allows us to do some innovative programming, which is something that I love to do.” In fact, it was his creative program (Ferruccio Busoni's Piano Concerto with Marc-André Hamelin, orchestral works by Edgar Varèse and Kurt Weill) that landed them the Carnegie gig.
“Of course there’s a lot of symbolism about the hall when you think about all the great people who have been on that stage,” Lacombe reveals, of performing in the mythic hallowed hall. “Going into it, of course, you think about it, but once you are on stage, the music takes over and you just enjoy the moment.”
Lacombe says he never feels the hierarchy of the hall – the idea that “you’ve made it” if you’ve performed there. “I just do my job as seriously and honestly as I can and I try to give my best all the time,” he says, matter-of-factly. “For me, this is as important as when I conduct in my hometown of Trois-Rivières or when I do a youth program."
So how does Lacombe measure success, then? “It has to do with what happens in the moment on stage,” he insists. “Sometimes in a performance there are moments where you feel that something is happening that you don’t even control as a conductor. It’s like the magic is there. When that miracle happens, when the chemistry works between the music, the orchestra and the audience, then that’s heaven.”
Team player in the service of the music
Lacombe’s success must certainly be attributed to the excellent rapport he develops with the musicians. He has a generous spirit and considers himself to be one member of the team. Lacombe's philosophy is to never put his ego first, and that there is never one truth.
“I’ve learned early on when I walk on the podium that you have to be yourself,” he asserts. “You have to be honest. You can’t fool an orchestra.
“So it’s not about the interests of a single individual or the conductor or whatever. It’s always in the interest of the music and to be inspired by that and to really feel that we depend on each other and together we could create something bigger than each one of us. That’s what I’m trying to create in my work.”
Judging by his string of recent achievements, Lacombe is well on his way, quietly but passionately, to creating even bigger things.
Jacques Lacombe leads L'Orchestre symphonique de Québec at the Domaine Forget festival on July 21.
Related:
Domaine Forget International Festival
CBC Music's list of summertime listening, including Marc-André Hamelin