Leading musically, with Maestro Rafael Payare

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Note: this article covers only some of the points from Maestro Payare’s interview with Delve. Watch the full conversation on YouTube or search “McGill Delve” in your favourite podcast player.

When listening to a beautiful piece of music, if you’re lucky, there comes a moment. When time behaves differently. When the outside world ceases to exist. When the violins sound like leaves on the wind. When the horns announce the arrival of a new menace. When the percussion marches to the beat of your heart. When the cello connects you to cherished memories.

In that moment, an orchestra of 100 musicians becomes more than the sum of its parts. And leading the transformation is a conductor, enthusiastically waving the baton, facing away from the audience, expertly guiding the orchestra from the front of the stage.

It’s something of a miracle that such a large group of people can collaborate so seamlessly. And that a conductor can lead them without saying a word.

Perhaps it’s magic. Perhaps it’s leadership. Perhaps it’s a combination of both.

In a special podcast interview, Maestro Rafael Payare joined Professor Saku Mantere to discuss music and leadership. Payare is the current musical director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, one of Canada’s most distinguished classical music institutions.

“You need to make sure that all the musicians are breathing and playing together in a certain way,” he said, speaking of his role as a conductor.

This is analogous to how a manager might coordinate a group of talented employees towards a goal. For Payare with his musicians, such a task requires deep knowledge of his craft, carefully selected team members – and a decent amount of voodoo sprinkled in.

Leading with energy

Payare’s first lesson in leadership came early. He began playing the French horn at 14 with El Sistema, a youth orchestra for social change founded by Maestro Abreu in Venezuela.

The orchestra had travelled to Italy to work with guest conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli. Sinopoli spoke no Spanish. And yet, in a matter of seconds, he utterly transformed the sound of the orchestra, Payare said.

Leadership in that moment wasn’t exercised through excessive control or elaborate command. It was Sinopoli’s presence and intention, communicated outwards through his body, Payare said. A feeling he conveyed through his baton, translated across time and space, which 150 young musicians swiftly transformed into a riveting sound.

What stood out to Payare in this moment was the sheer power of the conductor’s energy.

“That is a characteristic of leadership: just energy,” he said.  “You need to have a lot of that kind of knowledge inside to be able to emanate that kind of energy.”

“Energy” and “knowledge” are somewhat nebulous ways to describe leadership skills, but Payare’s sentiments echo ideas from other management scholars. In a past Delve interview, Professor Henry Mintzberg from McGill University highlighted the importance of intuition when making decisions in the face of uncertainty. And intuition, for him, comes from knowledge and experience – two things Payare does not lack in the slightest.

To become a conductor, Payare had to grow beyond the French horn to familiarize himself with all the instruments of an orchestra. The flute has different qualities from a violin, and will perform a different role in a musical piece. Understanding the characteristics of each instrument – and the musicians playing them – is important for communicating with and coordinating an orchestra during rehearsals.

Then there’s Payare’s vast performance experience, which comes from years of playing and conducting. After all, he started at just 14 years old. Through the years, he developed a keen sense for music that informs his creative decision-making both on and off stage. And he learned how to collaborate with and communicate these decisions to diverse musical colleagues.

Of music and voodoo

Mintzberg’s ideas offer a glimpse at how knowledge and experience can influence decision-making at the highest levels – even on stage in the middle of a performance. But even this doesn’t fully encapsulate Payare’s notion of “energy.”

Perhaps that’s where the voodoo comes in.

“You are all the time reacting to the sound in front of you,” said Payare. “And you are trying to shape it, in a way.”

But the sound changes constantly. From one day to the next, the same musicians can play the same piece of music, but it will sound completely different, said Payare. So he must adapt his conducting accordingly.

“That is the part that is a little bit voodoo,” he said.

The lead violin player may have slept poorly the night before. The cellist’s parents might be in the audience. The pianist might have had a spur-of-the-moment stroke of inspiration. Whatever it is, there’s some qualitative change in the performance that affects how it feels, which he, as leader, must respond to.

In a way, this dynamic speaks to the two-way relationship between a leader and their team. Professor Quy Huy from INSEAD called on managers to attune themselves to employees’ emotions, to better understand their feelings about managerial decisions. In a similar vein, Mintzberg called on leaders to open clear channels of communication with employees of all levels, because you never know where a good strategic idea might come from next. This idea connects to how Payare interacts with his musicians, right down to his auditions.

Indeed, there are many talented musicians in the world, all of whom can play near flawlessly. But technical prowess alone does not a great musician make.

“I’m not looking for a robot playing perfectly,” he said.

Rather, he looks for musicians who approach the music with intention. Who might interpret the music differently, who can bring a new perspective to the orchestra.

An orchestra full of talented musicians, with their own creative voices. An experienced conductor, shepherding them towards an artistic vision. A give-and-take that leads to unique performances every night.

As an ensemble, they will never play the same thing twice. And that’s okay, because they’ll be doing it together.

“That’s one of the beauties of music,” said Payare.

A special thanks to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and Maestro Payare for making this interview possible.