Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s (HPO) conductor and musical director James Kahane says there’s a lot he loves about working in Hamilton.

Kahane, who was born in France, said the city’s orchestra “is really respected” and “punches above its weight.”

He told CBC Radio’s Fresh Air that Hamilton’s classical music fans are also part of the draw.

“The community that appreciates classical music is really loyal and they also tend to be lenient and open to new ideas, which is rare,” said Kahane.

“It’s a very comfortable place to operate and have artistic freedom,” said the 30-year-old, who also conducts the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra and Polytech Orchestra in Finland, as well as the Orchestre de Chambre de la Drôme in France.

That leniency and open-mindedness is “very precious as a young musician” who is still evolving and trying new things, he said.

“It’s a place where you are allowed to do mistakes,” he said, noting the community here has been welcoming since he started with the orchestra in 2024 at age 28. “They will not be too harsh on you.”

Kahane, a pianist, studied conducting and was named assistant conductor at the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017, at age 21, according to the HPO. In 2020, he was featured in the documentary Conductivity, which follows three young conductors, and appeared in numerous film festivals around the world. 

He said he got into conducting to be able to work more with others: “It felt like a more attractive career prospect than being alone with a piano and practising for eight hours a day,” he said, adding, “I enjoy working with large groups of people.”

When asked about his relative youth compared to many of the musicians he directs, he said it’s become more common in recent years to see young people with the baton.

“It’s a virus spreading and more and more young people are catching it,” he said.

That’s a change from even a decade ago, when Janna Sailor, 41, was learning to conduct. Sailor, who apprenticed under renowned Hamilton conductor Boris Brott in 2015, fell into the role after injuries from a car accident limited her ability to play violin, which had been her life’s work to that point. 

She got her start when one of the conductors at the Vancouver Youth Symphony, where she worked as an assistant, had a family emergency. 

“They said, ‘Can you just take the rehearsals for this week and we’ll find an actual conductor for them next week?,” recalled Sailor, who went on to conduct for the rest of the season. “I was terrified [but] I wasn’t able to play and needed a job.”

She went on to find the British Columbia-based Allegra Chamber Orchestra, of which she is artistic director, and she is also the director of the Canadian Music Centre — Prairie Region in Calgary. She has conducted numerous orchestras including the Saskatoon Symphony, where she conducts several times a year.

‘Nothing but positive things’

Sailor said there are challenges to being a younger person in the conductor’s role, especially considering the musicians at that level are experts in their disciplines who have been playing their instruments for a lifetime. 

“There’s 60 different people that are all experts in what they do,” she said. “Sometimes that can be a weird power dynamic. I’ve had challenges with various section leaders that were like, ‘We’re going to teach this young conductor a lesson.’”

She said she learned to be humble and focus on what the group can create together rather than her specific vision alone.

“Conducting is a lifelong apprenticeship,” she said.

While she doesn’t know Kahane personally, Sailor said she has “heard nothing but positive things and people enjoy working with him. Reputation is everything because orchestras talk.”