MR. KOJO NNAMDIOur National Orchestra has seen some big names with even bigger personalities take the baton over years. Think, oh, Rostropovich, Slatkin, Ivan Fischer. Now, we enter the Eschenbach era. A big name in his own right as an internationally known piano virtuoso, Christoph Eschenbach's quiet focused personality belies his intense passion for the music he coaxes from nearly a 100 players in the National Symphony Orchestra.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIIn his new role as music director of the NSO and of the Kennedy Center, Maestro Eschenbach has his work cut out for him. He must please his players, his performers, his audiences who are tightening their belts, critics who want innovative programming and most importantly himself. It's a tall order for a man who's been behind the baton for more than 40 years, but for the Kennedy Center, the Eschenbach era is a new beginning.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIChristoph Eschenbach joins us in studio. He is music director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and of the National Symphony Orchestra. Thank you so much for joining us.

MR. CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACHWell, I'm very pleased to be here in your famous station.

NNAMDIWe're pleased to have you. You are known as a passionate conductor on the podium. Someone who can coax a magnificent performance out of your orchestra one night, then deliver a different experience from the same piece, the next. Do you find that most musicians can adjust to your style or do you get resistance from players who prefer more predictability.

ESCHENBACHNo, I don't think that I'm totally different the next night, our performance. I am different, of course, the musicians are different, but the concept of the piece stays the same in what one has rehearsed. If there comes some addition from the moment, that's only welcome and a concert is -- should be a step further then all the rehearsals together.

NNAMDI800-433-8850 is the number to call if you'd like to join this conversation with Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra. How are you balancing the demands that on the one hand a deep love for music has or that you possess with the demands of the administration of music, running music programming for the Kennedy Center?

ESCHENBACHWell, I'm used to these two sides of the profession. And it's very inspiring and very stimulating at the same time and therefore I love to do it.

NNAMDISo many music directors struggle to balance their programming with pieces that they want to do against the crowd pleasers that they know will fill the seats. How do you approach that challenge at the Kennedy Center?

ESCHENBACHWell, first of all, I do only the pieces which I can handle, personal identify with it and pieces which are a 100 percent love so it's no problem for me to program a colorful works together and a colorful season. As I have a big heart for music, you know, from the Baroque to the newly written sort of wedding pieces.

NNAMDIWhich might be a very good thing because the Washington Post, last weekend, ran a series of articles, essentially, saying that the Kennedy Center is not daring enough, fresh enough, forward looking enough with its programming. How do you feel about that piece and how do you address that in your own programming?

ESCHENBACHI don't share this opinion, first of all. And, I think, we are very, very colorful in our programming, we think so. We share with the Kennedy Center the festivals each year. This year the Indian Festival has brought us really new pieces for the Orchestra. We brought the world premier of Zakir Hussain who was a fantastic -- the best tabla player and a great composer also. And we did an extremely interesting piece for orchestra, audience and myself.

ESCHENBACHAnd last week, we did two (unintelligible) , which is not very often done and it's a very demanding and great scope symphony by Messiaen. And this week, we do the Zimlinksy Symphony, which was never done here. And so I think it's -- and what's happening in the Kennedy Center is also a very big interest.

NNAMDII'm going to get back to the Zimlinksy Symphony in a second. But Washington audiences will be hearing a lot of new music under your baton including a piece the orchestra just performed by Peter Lieberson honoring the 50th anniversary of John Kennedy's Inauguration. Could you tell us about that piece?

ESCHENBACHWell, I commissioned the piece and I thought it would be great to have something new for that Kennedy Inauguration Memorial. And we were lucky to have still the Sorenson to write the text from the speeches of Kennedy. And nobody knew the speeches better than Sorenson who did them...

NNAMDIAnd he had...

ESCHENBACH...or had to do it. And we got a beautiful text, beautiful excerpts, very powerful, very deep felt excerpts from Kennedy speeches. And we got a composer whom I like especially, Peter Lieberson, who composed music around these narratives.

NNAMDIYou've convinced me. Let's listen to a little bit of it.

NNAMDIIn case you're just joining us, our guest is Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and of the National Symphony Orchestra. If you'd like to join the conversation, call us at 800-433-8850, or you can send e-mail to kojo@wamu.org. Have you seen a performance under Maestro Eschenbach? Have you ever seen Maestro Eschenbach perform on the piano? Call us, 800-433-8850.

NNAMDIYou mentioned this earlier, starting tonight, the NSO will be wrapping up the Kennedy Center's maximum INDIA Festival with Alexander Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony. We don't normally associate India with orchestral music. So was it difficult finding music from the Indian subcontinent for an orchestra?

ESCHENBACHYes. It was not easy. Therefore, we decided to program pieces about India. (unintelligible) dealing with Indian rhythms and Indian chants and even Indian (word?) chants. And the lyrical symphony of Zemlinsky with text by Rabindranath Tagore is a wonderful English poet. And we were very happy that we got an Indian piece, a large scope symphonic piece with soloists by (word?) for three signers and a tabla, and mix their -- this program with the suite of Padmavati of Roussel, which is an opera written out of love of India by Roussel, but was a total Indian subject.

NNAMDIA lot of this music is not very familiar to some western players. Was there a learning curve for many of the players in your orchestra to play this music?

ESCHENBACHYeah. Especially in the (word?) piece. And we had to deal -- there was a totally new -- I wouldn't say problem, but challenge because the soloists were partly or mostly improvising against a written score. And we had to kind of improvise with them. And it was very exciting actually, and the orchestra loved it at the end.

NNAMDIWe all love it to hear when they improvise. You'll also be conducting the symphony from the piano where you'll be playing Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 23, and audiences will have the chance to see you perform in future concerts as well. What brings you more fulfillment, performing or conducting?

ESCHENBACHWell, I do performing on the piano very, very little, and mostly chamber music. And I consider Mozart's Concerto conducted from the piano also as a larger scale chamber music, because the musicians sitting around the piano and I play and they -- I, of course, watch them, but to feel my music making -- or my concept of the piece through my playing, as is this in all chamber music. And -- but I'm not interested in recitals. I feel alone with it on stage.

NNAMDIYeah. I've seen where you have said that before. How do you conduct nearly 100 people sitting at a piano bench? It boggles the mind. You gave one indication in your response already that the players feel the music, but it's obviously I guess a little difficult.

ESCHENBACHWell, first of all, it's not 100, it's -- in a Mozart concerto it's about 35.

NNAMDIOkay.

ESCHENBACHAnd they have to see me also, so they have to have, you know, eye contact with me, and me with them. And so we do very much by that contact. And it's possible -- it's possible. It -- it wouldn’t be possible in a Brahm's concerto. Nobody does that.

NNAMDIWe're talking with Christoph Eschenbach, music director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra. What kind of programming would you like to see from the National Symphony Orchestra. Call us at 800-433-8850. Or if you'd just like to share a tale of your favorite concert with the NSO, 800-433-8850, or you can send us a tweet @kojoshow.

NNAMDIYou made a name for yourself first a piano virtuoso and concert soloist. What drew you to conducting?

ESCHENBACHWell, I was studying conducting at high school, at Conservatory. I made my exam in there. And then my piano career had already advanced. I won some prizes at competitions, and I decided then to do seven years of piano alone, and then return to conducting. But the contact it was from beginning on in my plans.

NNAMDIWhy did you decide to do seven years of piano alone?

ESCHENBACHBecause I had then the chance to see in seven years many, many conductors. In playing with them, in sitting in rehearsals with them, and in learning from them. And this I wouldn't like to miss.

NNAMDISo you always knew that you would go to conducting at some point, or go back to conducting. Would you mind telling us, even though some people have read about it, I'm sure a lot of the members of our audience have not, tell us a little bit about your childhood after World War II and how you came to study and love music.

ESCHENBACHWell, my childhood was very sad, very struck by the impetus of World War II. And I lost my mother when I was born -- short after I was born. I lost my father, he was sent to a punishment battalion as he was not liked by the Nazis, didn't share their politics. And so I grew up with my grandmother, and only when I was seven years old -- six years old, and my foster mother found me when my grandmother had died in the refugee camp. She found me totally sick and totally on the edge of death also.

NNAMDIYou did not speak for a year.

ESCHENBACHAnd the -- I was so full of impressions of seeing death right and left and in front of me, that I -- I couldn't speak anymore. I was just silent, and didn't ask -- answer questions, but I didn't -- nothing came out. It was -- everything was locked in. And my foster mother was a pianist, and she played every night. And she would -- taught also, and I heard that and more and more I got drawn into that.

NNAMDIBeethoven, Rachmaninoff, Chopin?

ESCHENBACHExactly. And she asked me one day after -- after almost a year, seeing that I was totally excited with that, after I recovered from a grave illness, would you -- would you like to play too? You can easily play. I can teach you. And then I said yes, and that was my first word.

NNAMDIThat was the first word you had spoken in over a year.

ESCHENBACHYes. Yeah. And...

NNAMDILook at where that yes has lead you.

ESCHENBACHAnd very, very immediately I got piano lessons from her and indulged in music. And music was for me the savior. I could express myself. I could let out. I could open. I could speak so to say verbally and musically, and that has never left me. The intensity of that effect of music, and I would so much like that music has that affect on everybody.

NNAMDIWe're talking with Christoph Eschenbach. He is music director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Symphony Orchestra. We invite your calls at 800-433-8850. We go to Meredith in Reston, Va. Meredith, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

MEREDITHHi. Thank you so much for taking my call. I just wanted to share an experience I had in January this past year. My fiancé for Christmas got me tickets to the National Symphony Orchestra. I believe it was the January 27 show, because I had asked not for material gifts, but for experiences. And I haven’t been to an orchestral concert in so long, and so that was one of things I wanted to do.

MEREDITHAnd we sat in -- I think it was the front row, which I know is not the best for being able to hear the music, but it was -- it was so amazing to be able to see the musicians, and see how you all were working together to create was just beautiful, moving music all as one. It -- by the end of Beethoven's Ninth, I was in tears, partially because it was just so beautiful and partially just because I didn't want it to end. So I just wanted to thank you for such a lovely memory that I get to look back on.

MEREDITHAnd even now I'm feeling a little bit emotional by all of the -- the beauty and the intensity and passion that I -- I witnessed. So thank you all very much, and I -- I can't wait to go back and see more performances.

NNAMDIChristoph Eschenbach says you're welcome.

ESCHENBACHYes.

NNAMDIWhat I would like to ask, though, is because we have such sophisticated recording equipment these days, that Meredith reminds us that the visual experience of a symphony can be just as important, isn't it? Being able to see it.

ESCHENBACHI think so, too, because, you know, when you see the musicians fly through this music, and really work physically to produce the sound, and to let the sound waves go to the -- into the audience and have this wonderful effect which the lady just described, then -- then the effect is total, you know, as versus listening to a CD where you don't see them. Even listening to a DVD is then the matter of what does a producer film, you know, and it's not necessarily what you want to see or what you see in total when you are in a concert.

NNAMDIExactly correct. Meredith, thank you for your call. Here is Allison in McLean, Va. Allison, your turn.

ALLISONYes. Thank you for taking my call. I was pretty excited when I heard that Maestro Eschenbach was here. I -- in 1970, I was in Europe going from music festival to music festival, and I heard him in (word?) . I think it was the 23rd piano concerto, and then again in Salzburg with (word?) conducting. So I was over the moon when I heard that he was coming to Washington, and I heard the concert was a Beethoven triple concerto, and thank you for being here, and thank you for such a wonderful experience in my youth.

NNAMDIThank you very much for your call, Allison. And again, Maestro says you're welcome.

ESCHENBACHYes.

ALLISONThank you.

NNAMDIIt is my understanding, I have heard from a few people in the music community that you are a riveting teacher for kids. And I'm wondering to what extent that is influenced by the fact that you discovered your passion for music as a child yourself?

ESCHENBACHCertainly that was an influence -- a main influence which told me I have to do something for other children. But not only for children, also for young musicians who are on the beginning of a career. Many of them come to me ask for advice, musical advice, but also advice how to begin a career, advice how they get an agent, how they get to play with orchestras, how they get introduced to conductors. And it's a very difficult step. And I -- I try to help a lot of them in this way.

NNAMDIOnto Richard in Falls Church, Va. Richard, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

RICHARDThank you for taking the call. Maestro, I was wonder if there are any plans to record that magnificent Zakir Hussain piece that the orchestra performed a couple weeks ago.

ESCHENBACHWell, I don't know. I have not heard yet the tapes of the concert. But certainly it would be a great idea. You have -- you are totally right. And if a record company is interested in it, we could do it of course because we know it now, and it was written for us.

RICHARDWell, I would greatly look forward to having that recording.

ESCHENBACHThank you.

NNAMDIRichard, thank you so much for your call. You too can call us, 800-433-8850, or e-mail us at kojo@wamu.org. We got this e-mail from Sarah in Bethesda. "I know the Maestro has mentioned many -- mentored many famous faces in the classical world like Renee Fleming and Ylang Ylang. Can he tell us who we should be watching as some of the upcoming bright stars in the classical music world? What young stars does he like to work with?"

ESCHENBACHWell, you know, the ones which are mentioned are have made a huge career already. There's also another one, Simon (word?) who played -- who played recently with (unintelligible) concerto. He was also one of my people who I launched. And now there are other people like two violinists from China who are very, very interesting. One is Dan Zhu with whom I play a recital next year in the (word?) . Another one is Ray Chen.

ESCHENBACHThen there are a lot of cellists. There's a wonderful German cellist who won the Leonard Bernstein prize last year in the (word?) Festival. His name is (word?) . Nicola Benedetti also, a great girl from England. And Erik Schumann, another half German, half Japanese violinist and a Russian cellist, Dimitri Maslennikov, and so on and so on and so on. There are many.

NNAMDIWhat is your vision for moving the National Symphony Orchestra going forward?

ESCHENBACHWell, I said once it was even -- was not used as a headline I think, but I've said in an interview recently, the National Symphony has to be internationalized.

NNAMDI(unintelligible) you were going to be internationalizing your...

ESCHENBACHYeah. I mean, the orchestra made some tours, but very sporadically, and they should show their abilities, which are great, in further tours, and regularly. This is one thing. Then they should show their artistry on recordings. And be open to the public, also in conversation. What we do with it afterwards here, and it's very, very interesting how many people come to these little conversations after the concerts.

ESCHENBACHAnd also be open to the community. And so there are many way that the orchestra shows itself and opens itself.

NNAMDIGood luck to you. Christoph Eschenbach is music director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and of the National Symphony Orchestra. Thank you so much for joining us.

ESCHENBACHThank you. It's very, very nice talking to you.

NNAMDIAnd thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.