A Conversation with Music Director Christopher Zimmerman of Fairfax Symphony Orchestra

The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1957 and continues to enrich our musical life in the Washington DC area. They are featured on Front Row Washington this month and have a great concert coming up that also highlight’s their Music Director Christopher Zimmerman’s 15^th anniversary. He answered some of my questions on the music we’ll hear on Front Row Washington (May 26) and his anniversary concert (May 31) at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts.  

Fairfax Symphony May 2025 Q and A 

John Banther: I’m so excited to be featuring the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra on Front Row Washington on May 26^th. One of the works is a concerto for piano and orchestra called Force Majeure by Elena Kats-Chernin, how did you first hear of this work? and/or What prompted you to program this piece? 

Image

Christopher Zimmerman: The wonderful pianist Lisa Moore, whom I have known for some years professionally, contacted me a couple of years ago to see if I was interested in the US premiere of this piece with the FSO (the world premiere having just recently taken place in Australia where the composer lives). I looked at the score and it struck me as imaginative, accessible and a bit quirky and fun.  I love to present new music when I can—it’s exciting and important to do so for lots of reasons—so I was enthusiastic to try and make this happen with Lisa. 

JB: It has a beguiling sound to it; you are drawn into her world which also feels fantastical. You can sense something being conjured in front of you. What is happening or being depicted across the four movements?  

CZ: I don’t think there is a dramatic throughline to the entire piece. In other words, each movement stands on its own. But the composer has written a lot of music for dance, theatre and film, and I think all those art forms are reflected somehow in this piece. The final movement, for example, suggests a mix of both dance and film in the title alone, “Czardas Noir.” And yes, there is indeed “conjuring” going on, in the composer’s own words: 

The initial compositional impetus of this concerto coincided with creating an orchestra score for the silent film “Variete” for German TV Channel ZDF/arte.  I found myself watching and “inhaling" the scenes of the world of trapeze artists at the Showgrounds, working and living through all kinds of emotions - both highs and lows. The circus atmosphere, along with some darker undertones, subconsciously flowed into the piano concerto.  

 JB: How was it working on this with Lisa Moore?  

CZ: Fabulous. She knows what she wants and is thankfully very clear in that but has the experience and sensitivity to make a collaboration with conductor and orchestral musicians as productive as possible. 

JB: The other work we are going to hear on FRW is Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable. It is not frequently programmed and is quite an undertaking for any orchestra and conductor as it at once has no program but is also about the entirety of life. Why was it important to close out the 2024 season with this work? Or Why did you choose to close the 2024 season with this symphony? 

CZ: I’m not sure closing out the season was particularly important (although ending with a BANG is always fun!) but making sure we performed a piece in as significant a manner as possible was. I think it’s significant for me and the FSO because, to my mind, this piece fits into the category of orchestral music that simply should be heard—it is on the fringe of the standard repertoire and yet is both fascinating and spectacular in all sorts of ways. How many pieces do you know that have two sets of dueling timpani across the stage?  So much food for thought and soul! Of course, I love the great standard works but want us to make an imprint by tackling “other” great works, not just Brahms and Beethoven. 

JB: The performance was positively reviewed by Washington Classical Review, which mentioned at the end it reminded them of Nielsen’s quote of the symphony: “Once more: music is life, and like it inextinguishable.” Why do you think that resonates with us over 100 years later? 

CZ: Well, as you know, the ebb and flow of events and circumstances suggest that mankind never seems to learn from the past (or at least forgets it troublingly quickly). Hence it always resonates with us when we seem to have conquered or avoided yet another looming catastrophe. And I think listeners are particularly gratified when a piece of music has that cathartic sense, as this one certainly has. With its myriad strange and anxious moments coupled with explosive events, some joyous, some cataclysmic, it threatens to overwhelm, even topple us. Yet at the end, all that is miraculously dispelled in music of radiant strength and optimism. 

JB: This is your 15^th year leading the orchestra (congrats!), what have been some of your most gratifying moments? 

CZ: Perhaps unsurprisingly when somehow everyone—orchestra and audience alike—is connected and the music being played has wrapped itself around us all and its power and beauty has, at least for the moment, stilled the outside world. This has happened in concert a few times I think—a performance of Shostakovich 11^th symphony comes to mind. Also, when we take on challenges a little off the beaten symphony track—“La Bohème” as a concert opera, music by Turkish composer Erberk Eryilmaz in collaboration with a dance company, for example. And having the chance to give our audiences the vast “pinnacles” of the repertoire—Verdi Requiem, Mahler Resurrection Symphony—are always events to be savored.  Bringing new works to life (i.e. first performances), especially with the composer in attendance, is also gratifying—I am proud to say there have been many moments like that.  Very recently we gave the world premiere of Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali’s clarinet concerto with renowned clarinetist Anthony McGill. At the end of the concert, during a 10-minute standing ovation from the audience, Malek jumped up onto the stage ecstatically, throwing roses out to every section of the orchestra as a graceful and generous gesture of goodwill and gratitude. It was a night I will never forget!  

JB: Where is the orchestra today compared to 2009? 

CZ: In my view, the FSO has become a more flexible and nimble orchestra, with a substantial mix of seasoned, experienced players playing together with younger talents more recently out of music conservatories. We have also expanded our offerings and enterprises: our partnership with Fairfax County Public Schools now includes a yearly presentation of the innovative Carnegie Hall Link Up music-learning program, giving elementary students the opportunity to actually learn the repertoire and “perform” with the FSO from their seats; we have developed a Fellowship program to help advance the careers and experiences of recent graduate instrumentalists currently under-represented in orchestras today; we have also launched a new Concert Series in partnership with Capital One Hall in Tysons featuring renowned pop/rock stars performing with the FSO. 

And of course, we have greatly expanded our Masterworks repertoire, particularly in the area of new composers and new orchestral works. We regularly perform pieces that are (often inexplicably) outside the mainstream (Nielsen “Inextinguishable” for example) or NOT the warhorses of the “greats” (Sibelius “Lemminkäinen Legends” vs. 2^nd symphony for example) and more than a handful of World, USA and Regional premieres. 

In addition, (as you well know!), we are regularly recording our concerts live, as well as currently working towards releasing a commercial CD. 

JB: You have another concert on Saturday, May 31^st, celebrating your 15^th anniversary leading the orchestra. Did you choose the rep for any particular reason when it comes to your 15^th year? OR What are you looking forward to? What can you tell us about it?  

CZ: Well, I hope the choice of repertoire was not unabashedly egocentric, but it must be said I have chosen a program wherein the pieces are close to my heart. Equally however, I think it will show off the orchestra in many lights—a vast symphony highlighting the musical and technical skills of the entire orchestra as well as its individuals, a smaller concerto highlighting our flexibility, and a string work with principal players in a solo capacity highlighting all the former attributes.  The administrative team at the FSO understandably also liked the connection with my audition concert and first concert as MD, where I conducted two of the three pieces [Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10] with the orchestra for the first time—and the orchestra had also never played them before. Since being with the FSO, I believe I have premiered more works by Baltimore-based Jonathan Leshnoff than any other single composer, so that too is I hope a fitting tribute to this astonishingly gifted and generous man. 

So, yes, I’m looking forward to these pieces immensely and also, as you might imagine, working with my son Kit Zimmerman (not for the first time, but for the first time here with the FSO) as well as Chee-Yun, who was the soloist at my very first concert here and is probably the artist I have worked with longer and more consistently than any other. 

JB: Shostakovich’s 10^th Symphony brings to life the terror and despair of life under Stalin’s authoritarianism. Why should people experience this in a concert vs hearing a recording? 

CZ: Experiencing music live vs. a recording is always a different experience, no matter the piece. But I think the difference becomes more pronounced when the music is as expressive and intense as that of this symphony.  Witnessing live music-making of such a huge dramatic work as this and sharing that experience from moment to moment with others in a space cannot be replicated in the comfort of your home. This is not so much abstract entertainment, rather it is music that speaks of the human condition through one artist’s experience of—and reaction to—it. 

JB: Is there anything special in your 16^th year you are looking forward to that you can share with us? 

CZ: We have just announced our 25-26 Season for subscription orders. A few highlights include a special collaboration with the Center for the Arts at George Mason University to present Yo-Yo Ma performing Shostakovich – a special treat for DC audiences! We’ll also present the World Premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Flute Concerto no. 2, featuring Demarre McGill, plus a soul-stirring evening of music with Berta Rojas performing Piazzolla. Again, audiences can experience a season filled with exciting mix of new music from living composers, as well as music from the “Greats” — both well-known and a little off the beaten track. And hopefully, they will also be able to hear some works right here on WETA!