The secret art of conducting

Conductors including Vanessa Scammell, Asher Fisch and Nicholas Braithwaite discuss their roles and their relationships with orchestras.
A grey-haired man in formal wear and glasses stands at the podium with both hands raised, a conductor's baton in his right hand. Members of the orchestra sit around him.

Anyone who has ever attended a classical concert has surely watched the conductor up there on the podium and wondered, ā€˜What do they actually do’?

Some conductors are mesmerising to watch, throwing their arms around with great physicality in a broad musical language; others are more subdued, seemingly conducting with a mere glance here and there and a subtle twitch of the baton.

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Dr Diana Carroll is a writer, speaker, and reviewer currently based in London. Her work has been published in newspapers and magazines including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Woman's Day and B&T. Writing about the arts is one of her great passions.