The surprising and fortuitous path to the appointment of LexPhil’s new music director
Lexington Philharmonic’s extensive search for a new conductor and music director came to a surprising twist ending in May, when Mélisse Brunet was named the fifth director in the organization’s 61-year history. Brunet is the first female to lead the orchestra – but the most surprising element of her appointment is she initially wasn’t a candidate. She turned the organization’s search on its head when stepping in to fill what was supposed to be a one-time guest conducting opportunity this past spring.
Mollie Harris, director of marketing and development for LexPhil, explained that as part of the search process, which began following the 2019 departure of music director Scott Terrell, each of the initial finalist candidates were invited to lead a LexPhil concert during the 2019-20 season. That process moved into the 2020-21 season, after the global pandemic interrupted that season of performances.
When the finalist who was originally scheduled to lead the May 2021 concert dropped out of the search, LexPhil invited Brunet, a conductor originally from Paris, France, who has quickly been gaining attention “on both sides of the Atlantic,” to step in and lead that show.
While she wasn’t initially being considered as a finalist, it was clear during the rehearsals Brunet led that “something very special” was taking place, Harris said.
“It just really clicked,” she said.
In what Harris described as an “unusual deviation from the process,” the search committee chair quickly set some things into motion for the organization to formally consider Brunet as a finalist.
“It was surprising, but something we all felt was just very aligned and fortuitous,” Harris said.
It was an alignment that almost didn’t happen for a number of reasons: The week that Brunet first came to Lexington, she was actually set to sign with another orchestra.
“I was going to sign a few days after the concert,” she explained, “but things went so smoothly here. I found that the musicians were eager to play great music and to improve and make changes. There was a good rapport between us.”
Knowing time was of the essence, LexPhil offered Brunet the permanent position the morning of the May concert. She recalls she and some of the LexPhil team members were headed to visit a Lexington horse farm, when they proposed the offer – a moment she said took her by shock.
Mélisse Brunet was recently named the new music director of Lexington Philharmonic. She is the fifth person –and first woman –to serve that role in the organization’s 61-year history. Photo by Miranda Meyer
“I was almost crying in the car – I couldn’t believe it was happening,” she said. “That was an unbelievable feeling.”
In addition to being impressed by the organization’s “dynamic” approach to music
and marketing, Brunet said she was pleasantly surprised by the speed with which Lexington Philharmonic pivoted to make their offer.
“Generally, professional orchestras are very slow-moving,” she said. “There’s a lot of inertia and they don’t dare move quickly, but here it was like ‘pow, pow, pow.’”
Brunet took the pace at which LexPhil jumped into decisive action to be a good sign about the overall state of the organization.
“If an organization can move something so quickly, that means it’s pretty healthy,” she said, “and that we can also change things as an organization to bring different things to the community.”
Brunet has long valued change and “shaking things up.” While she developed a love of music early in her life, her road to success was ridden with many obstacles along the way that she had to find ways to remove.
“I started with the cello – I wanted to play drums, but my parents said [they were] too noisy and not for girls,” she said. “It was one of my first frustrations in life.”
As a young musician, she gravitated toward trumpet and French horn, which she had to hide from her parents, who didn’t approve of those instruments either. About age 14, Brunet began to hone in on her true passion: conducting.
“[While] I love to play all instruments, I stopped very early because I knew I wanted to be a conductor, and I wanted to focus on that,” she said.
The world of conducting is hard for women to break into, however, and Brunet found herself lacking support in achieving her dream. With so few women in the field, her parents, teachers and other leaders in her musical life discouraged her.
Originally from Paris, France, new Lexington Philharmonic music director and conductor Mèlisse Brunet is also the director of orchestral studies at the University of Iowa, a position she will maintain while spending part of the year in Lexington. Holding multiple positions is a common way of life for conductors. Photo by Cecilia Shearon
Without a mentor or support system, Brunet forged her own path for moving forward in the field, asking herself, “What does a conductor need?” Focusing on that question, she began to spend much of her time and energy developing her inner ear.
“I thought, ‘If you’re a conductor, you need to hear everything that’s on the page in your head, without a recording,’” she said. “Then I taught myself how to get there.”
Today, as a result of that focus, Brunet says she can look at any score or sheet music and “hear everything.” She eventually pursued the formal education she desired, however, earning multiple diplomas from the Paris Conservatory and a bachelor’s degree in music from the Université la Sorbonne. Her education culminated with a doctorate in conducting from the University of Michigan. In addition to being the first female conductor and music director with the Lexington Philharmonic, Brunet also holds the honor of being the first female director of orchestral studies at the University of Iowa-School of Music.
Holding multiple positions is a common way of life for conductors, and Brunet will continue with her position in Iowa, while spending part of the year in Lexington working with the orchestra. The official 2022-23 LexPhil season kicks off this month with two October performances planned, and Brunet expressed great excitement about her future with the Lexington Philharmonic.
“I’m very excited to start that collaboration,” Brunet said. “I want us to create great music and push the limits.”
Brunet said she would like for the musicians to be more involved in the decision-making process of programming and of being in the community.
“In too many communities, classical music and orchestra music are something for an elite category of people,” she added. “So I really want the entire team to think about how we can change that – let’s change things, you know.”
Let the music play:
The Lexington Philharmonic’s 2022-23 season, “Renewal,” kicks off this month, with the following two performances:
Legacy – The Perry Family. Oct. 1. In partnership with local historian Yvonne Giles, LexPhil presents this free, outdoor chamber concert at the African Cemetery No. 2. Guest vocalists Alicia Helm McCorvey and Whit Whitaker will join a quartet of LexPhil musicians for this program featuring vocal and instrumental chamber works by female African American composers Julia Perry and Florence Price, interwoven with narration about the life and legacy of the Perry family, which is originally from Lexington. 4 p.m.
Limitless. Oct. 22. In the season’s first full-orchestra performance, LexPhil will take the stage at the Singletary Center for the Arts for a program celebrating the unbounded potential in all of us. The evening will open with Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Three Latin American Dances.” Violinist Simone Porter will return as guest artist for the lyrical Barber “Violin Concerto,” and Aaron Copland’s expansive “Symphony No. 3” will close the program. 7:30 p.m.
Under the direction of its new music director and conductor, LexPhil will kick its 2022-’23 season into gear with two shows taking place in October. Photo by Darren Elias