Rita Paczian has been in New Zealand for 28 years.
German-born Rita Paczian is a sought-after choral and orchestral conductor who has been music & artistic director of Bach Musica NZ for 28 years. The popular ensemble is performing on September 18 & December 11 at Auckland Town Hall.
Musically, I was a late starter, and in spite of my older brother and sister both taking piano lessons, I did not. My mother was also a pianist but, unfortunately, my brother and sister's piano teacher was a terribly moody, elderly man. He was also a chain smoker and, as a little child, I'd watch Werner and Reinhild coming out of their lessons in tears. As you'd imagine, I thought piano lessons must be a living hell, so when I was asked if I wanted to start lessons, I ran as fast as I could.
In the 1970s my mother bought a Hammond organ. They were quite fashionable back then, with lots of different sounds and instruments. Secretly I would go to that instrument and play around. One day my mother discovered me doing this and said I must have lessons.
I was 14 when mum asked our local church organist to give me lessons, but I hated that first lesson because it interfered with my sports commitments. But, from the second lesson, I loved it and I took to music like a duck to water. I also practised a lot and two years later, I was playing for the church services.
By 16 I had made huge advances and my organ teacher at that time said, "you are the most talented person I've ever taught". He also said, "please don't become a professional musician, because you'll be starving all your life". As a young person, of course you ignore that sort of warning. If anything it was even more reason to go for a career in music, but I've often thought about what he said.
I finished school when I was 19, but I couldn't decide what to do. I'd always been interested in sport and wondered if I should study sport and become a professional coach, or should I pursue music? I chose sport, but I was rejected from the German Sports University in Cologne, because I didn't have all A+ grades. As a result, I was stuck at home for another six months. With nothing to do, I practised the organ all day long and then I reapplied to do sports and I also applied for music. I was accepted to do both, but I decided it was fate, and I chose to study music at Lübeck University near Hamburg.
To study church music at university in Germany is very complex. You have private lessons in organ, piano, harpsichord and singing. There were small group lessons as well as classes in conducting for choral groups and orchestras and there was theory and music history too. Before long, I realised I truly enjoyed conducting. It was so much more fun to make music with other people, and with a symphony orchestra there are so many different sounds, as opposed to choir which is just voices. Conducting is also fascinating because you have to not only be good at music, you also have to be a psychologist, to bring people on board.
As student, I played in church services, but to say the Pope back then was very conservative would be an understatement. That Pope was also very opposed to concerts and classical music in churches. He said that no orchestra sounds should ever be heard in a church unless it was part of the service. This was absolutely damning because it made it impossible to do big orchestral pieces or major choral works like Bach's St Matthew Passion.
The more I saw of the church institution, the more I didn't want anything to do with them because I didn't want my life and career to be dependent on a Pope's favouritism. By this time, having drifted halfway through my studies, I'd decided to be a conductor. Organ playing could be a hobby or a part-time job but I was going to switch and focus on conducting. After eight years studying in Lübeck, I took my exams and received the highest degree as a church musician and orchestral conductor.
Lübeck is in Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany, and each year they have a big music festival with concerts, workshops and events across the whole state, including in rural areas and in barns. One year Leonard Bernstein was teaching a week-long conducting course and over 100 people applied to get a place. 99 applicants were men, and I was selected as one of the six, the only woman because back then conducting was exclusively male-dominated. That is slowly changing, and I am delighted to see more women being accepted, but we are still only 5 per cent of conductors. But at least that is better than nothing.
Because conducting was seen as a male domain, we were taught that when we went in front of an orchestra, it is like going into the cage of a lion. You must show no weakness or they will take you apart. That was the attitude. Conducting is also very physical as well as mental. You need to be a good musician, but for me, needing to be athletic was another attraction, because you actually sweat a lot.
When I graduated with distinction, I thought the future was at my feet. With such good marks, surely I could pick and choose. So I wrote applications to various German opera houses, because the career path was to start as a répétiteur, the pianist that plays for operas. Then you become kapellmeister or assistant conductor and you work your way up to becoming chief conductor. I wrote 50 letters, and I didn't get one reply. Not even one, in spite of my excellent marks.
Coincidentally in the summer of 93, a friend had booked a holiday to New Zealand, so I decided to go with her. In the end, she couldn't come, so I went alone and I hitchhiked from Cape Reinga to Bluff. I met amazing people who invited me into their homes and gave me their car keys or let me ride their horses. I fell in love with this country, so decided to return in winter to look for jobs, because in New Zealand there was less prejudice against women.
I have been in New Zealand for more than 28 years and I have worked with some of the finest opera companies, orchestras and choirs in Australasia and Europe. It hasn't always been easy, but I love my job because music is a language that can be spoken all over the world. It brings people together regardless of boundaries. Music reaches the soul and does something positive for humanity. It touches people and inspires them in a completely different way to any other art form. After our last performance of Handel's Samson in the
Auckland Town Hall in July, people were in tears, thinking about what they had missed over the past two and a half years. That is what I love about music.
The past two and a half years have been horrendous. Within Bach Musica NZ, we have everything from anti-vaxxers to the super anxious who left the choir never to be seen again. As a result, we lost a third of our members. We also put in hundreds of hours on big works only to have concerts cancelled at the last minute. We struggled with everything from extreme views to infights. I could write books about what happened during that time, but the three performances of our Opera Gala in March under orange Covid rules did so much to lift everybody's spirits. It was a nightmare to make it happen, but we got fantastic reviews and to see our audiences so moved made it all worthwhile.
This last year, all I've tried to do was survive, and to help Bach Musica NZ survive, because they perform to such a high standard. I am so grateful to my husband for all his support. And to sport, to tennis, for keeping me sane. With so much upheaval, I was afraid of losing everything I've built up over 28 years. Some choristers left because they wouldn't get vaccinated and others were too scared to come out, but this is when you need music most, as food for the soul to lift people's spirits. Today though, I can safely say we have turned the corner, and I feel much more positive.
• For more information about concerts, as well as Paczian's conducting and singing workshops, visit www.bachmusica.com
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