IMPROMPTU
by Rosie Constantine
Nicholas Hersh
ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR
Shortly after Associate Conductor Nick Hersh
moved to Baltimore for the 2014 –15 season, he
began looking for a new hobby, and his interest
was sparked by a documentary on sourdough
bread and the accessibility of baking.
“It’s not something that requires a whole lot
of predeveloped skill,” says Hersh. “You can
just sort of learn as you go, and it’s not very
expensive to start — I just had to get a couple of
pieces of equipment and a lot of flour. And I’ve
been doing it ever since!”
Hersh’s baking technique has also become
a topic of conversation backstage at BSO
rehearsals, receiving tips from other musicians
and even guests! “The composer John Adams
mentioned that he made sourdough, too, and
he said, ‘You have to check out this book.’ Later,
John actually sent me a copy of the book,
and since then, I’ve been using that method
incorporated into my own technique.”
He finds the biggest similarity between baking
and conducting to be patience, as well as having
a “light touch.”
“With conducting, you have to know when to
actively be working with it, and when to just sort
of let things unfold,” he explains.
Hersh also uses baking to organize his time when
studying scores for upcoming performances.
“When I’m baking, I have to tweak something
every 30 minutes over 4 hours. I use that as my
study time,” he says. “Then I’m on a schedule —
I know I’ll be studying the score for that long.
The timer beeps, and I go back and forth.
I just have to make sure I wash my hands!”
Although Hersh has tricks to get his bread just
right, there’s no need to ask him about the
famous San Francisco sourdough —he’s proud
of his Baltimore born and “bread” starter.
Although Hersh calls baking a solitary hobby,
one recipe makes two loaves, so you can
often find him sharing a loaf with Marin Alsop
backstage before a rehearsal.
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OV E R T U R E / BSOmusic.org
“With sourdough, it’s like a pet, you have to
maintain the initial culture, and I’ve had my current
starter now for at least three years. Its name is
Toto—after the band, not after the dog, of course.”