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Crescendo Joan Landry |
Guest maestro has deep
roots in Hawaii
On Oct. 25 1885, Johannes Brahms gave the downbeat to begin the first performance of what would be the last of his four symphonies. The premiere of the work, written in Vienna, Austria, was politely received. Although history has proved the Brahms Fourth Symphony to be a great masterwork of the symphonic repertoire, the famed critic Eduard Hanslick initially gave it a mixed review. Later, his views changed. "The longer we look into it, the more brightly the stars shine back."
Brahms & Dvor‡kHonolulu Symphony Masterworks concert with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and guest conductor Emil de Cou:In concert: 8 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Sunday Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall Tickets: $21 to $64 Call: 792-2000 or Ticketmaster, 877-750-4400
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This weekend, we'll honor one of music's greatest composers, Antonin Dvor‡k, in our "Bohemian Rhapsody" concerts featuring the gifted young cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Maestro de Cou will lead the orchestra in performances of Dvor‡k's romantic Cello Concerto and Carnival Overture, and Brahms' magnificent Fourth Symphony.
For de Cou, these concerts will be a chance to reconnect with his roots and love of "all things Hawaiian." His family's story encompasses a rich artistic legacy that began with his great-great-grandfather Manuel, who spent his life working in the sugar fields and learned to speak and read Hawaiian.
Manuel became a Hawaiian citizen during the reign of King Kalakaua, and when Robert Wilcox was enlisting men to reinstate Queen Liliuokalani in 1896, he was eager to join in.
Manuel's wife, Mary De Lima, also took the months-long sea voyage from the Azores, off the Portuguese coast, and the two were eventually able to buy their own cattle ranch in Honokaa.
"The Hawaiian coast would have had a familiar feel to them," says de Cou, who has spent time in both places. "The warm climate, soaring mountains and fertile land, all reminiscent of the islands of the Madeiras and the Azores, must have lent a comforting air to their day-to-day life."
Their first son was born in 1888 and was named after his father. The younger Manuel lived for many years on the Big Island and taught at Papaikou School. In October 1907 he married Mary De Rego and moved to Maui, where he became one of the youngest school principals in the islands.
"My great-grandfather was a real Renaissance man, and in addition to teaching, he wrote for the Hawaii Post Herald and the Hilo Tribune, and authored several plays and volumes of poetry," says de Cou. "He even dabbled in state politics before settling down in his later years as a poultry farmer on Oahu."
The family prospered, and Manuel and Mary had eight children, including de Cou's grandmother Nora.
THE FAMILY ALSO had its moment in the spotlight. In January 1925, Warner Bros. Studios sponsored a Miss Honolulu contest. The winner had the opportunity to appear in several small roles in Hollywood films. De Cou's great-aunt Leilani Deas won the title. Upon her arrival in Hollywood, she was greeted at the studio gates by Jack and Harry Warner. Leilani became one of the first women from Hawaii to make films in Hollywood. In her six silent movie roles, she appeared beside the biggest stars of the era in such classics as "My Son" with Alla Nazimova, "Kiss Me Again" with Marie Prevost and "Eve's Lover," which starred Irene Rich and Clara Bow.
Leilani made one talkie in 1928, a gypsy romance opposite heartthrob Carlos Molina called "Hearts of Romany," before retiring from her career in films. Following her time in Hollywood, she returned to Oahu, happy to live a real-life version of paradise rather than the celluloid imitation.
De Cou's grandfather Joseph Morse was a second-generation Hawaiian; a wonderful storyteller and perhaps Emil's most distinguished musical ancestor. Joseph, like many of us, loved the ukulele and would sing Hawaiian songs late into the night. De Cou's earliest memories of music are of listening to Alfred Apaka, Andy Iona and Lena Machado. And of course, anything that was on "Hawaii Calls."
De Cou's mother was born in Queen's Hospital in 1932 and grew up on Oahu. In 1955 the family moved to Los Angeles, where Emil grew up. He says he "was fortunate to go to a school that had a wonderful school music department. I had always known that I wanted to play music of some sort, but could never find the right fit. After trying guitar and accordion, I decided that maybe a career in music wasn't for me after all."
Mesmerized by the Apollo moon landing in 1969, he had dreams of becoming an astronaut. "OK," he concedes, "maybe not an astronaut, but why not an aerospace engineer?"
Then one afternoon in high school before a pep rally, he heard his school's band marching across the large campus. "I still remember that shot of adrenaline -- that rush to get a better look and listen," he says. On that warm Southern California day, he gave up NASA for the marching band. Later that week, the band director gave him a French horn and became his first music teacher and mentor. After two semesters, de Cou joined the high school orchestra, where the director allowed him to conduct on her days off.
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THE NEXT MILESTONE in his musical development was Walt Disney's "Fantasia." "That focused the direction of the rest of my life. I sat spellbound in that darkened movie theater watching the great Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor,' Stravinsky's 'Rite of Spring' and Tchaikovsky's 'Nutcracker Suite.' It was like someone had just parted a curtain and revealed the most amazing landscape one could imagine."
From that day on, he says there was no turning back. He made up for his comparatively late start in music by reading every book he could get his hands on. He took a master class with San Francisco Symphony's Herbert Blomstedt ("I was the youngest and most overeager person in the class") and received the honor of conducting Paul Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphosis," a piece he had not heard until a few weeks before the class's Graduation Concert.
Blomstedt suggested de Cou continue his studies, and off he went to Vienna. "It was a reverse of my great-great-grandfather arriving long ago in Hawaii. With no place to stay and very little money in my pockets, I was just able to eke out a living playing the 'Blue Danube' waltz for summer park concerts." Despite his homesickness, he went on to study for three years in Vienna.
After returning to California to study at the University of Southern California, de Cou accepted a position with the Opera Company of Boston under the legendary opera conductor and director Sarah Caldwell. From there his career ascent began, and today he is associate conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Along with his regular conducting duties, one of his major roles and "major passions" is to lead educational concerts at the Kennedy Center and on tour.
"Outreach concerts, speaking engagements and other ways to reach new audiences have, for me, become a primary calling," he says. "I know from firsthand experience how just one mention, a simple suggestion, or taking a child to a concert can have a powerful effect -- not just on young people, but adults as well."
Now, with his performance of Brahms' Fourth Symphony with the Honolulu Symphony, Emil de Cou has come full circle. "While Brahms probably couldn't identify Hilo or even Honolulu on a map, I'm sure he would be thrilled at the prospect of his wafting lyricism combining with the scents of the pali, so maybe it's not such a long way from Vienna to Honokaa after all."