Meet Maria Badstue, a Danish conductor with Maharashtrian roots

Born in Maharashtra’s Pandharpur village, about 350 km from Mumbai, Badstue was only five months old when she was adopted by her Danish parents and raised in a small town in Denmark.

Interestingly, every article, including the ‘about’ section on her website describes her as ‘India-born Danish conductor’. When asked as to when she began to embrace this identity, she immediately pointed out that she was always aware of her Indian roots. “But I didn’t identify with it because I grew up in Denmark. I am very much Danish. (But) When I grew older, I realised that people were finding it confusing — I was saying I am Danish but my appearance would tell another story, and they would ask. This was actually to clarify,” said Badstue who is in Mumbai after five years. She last visited in 2018, and was due to come in between but couldn’t owing to the lockdown.

Interestingly, it has always been music that brings her closer to her roots. When asked how her journey began in music, she said it was something she gravitated towards very early in life. “As a child, I would always be sitting in front of the speakers. I listened to a lot of music and then I eventually started playing. At eight, I had started playing in the brass band for the local scout organisation,” says the alumna of Danish National Academy of Music and a professional trumpeter, who was all of 16 when she first conducted an orchestra.

It has always been music that brings Badstue closer to her roots. (Express photo)

But what hooked her to it? “While playing an instrument, you don’t have the responsibility for others. You only have your own instrument. But I liked the idea of bringing it all together, and the psychology behind it. I liked working with people, of course, the gestures – I liked that I do something with my hand and they play.”

Over the years, Badstue – a recipient of the prestigious Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship and a prizewinner in 5th Lovro von Matatic Competition – has conducted for Italy’s Orchestre di Padova e del Veneto, France’s Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Denmark’s the South Denmark Philharmonic, symphony orchestras of Odense, Finland’s Orkester Norden, United States’ Portland Opera Theater among many others. She is also celebrated across Europe for her intuitiveness and versatility.

While the accolades are many, the hardest part, she says, is that it is a lonely profession. “Conducting, of course, is a lot of work, and you need to know the whole score. But the hardest part is the fact that you are alone. The moment you step out of the orchestra and conduct, you are not a part of the group anymore. And, you have to be really good at your job and also at managing people because at times you are working with people who are older and they have played that instrument their whole life. You need to know when to push a button and how much.”

When asked if age matters here, she admitted that it does. “It is also great to be young because you have different energy and approaches. But it is much easier to be a conductor when you are older, because you have earned respect by now and also because you are not necessarily working with people who are older than you and also because you don’t care so much,” said the conductor who has reunited with the SOI Chamber Orchestra for a musical evening at The National Centre for Performing Arts on Friday, which will see them performing the Battalia by Heinrich Biber paired with two melancholic pieces, Impromptu and Romance by Sibelius and a piano concerto by Beethoven.

Before bidding her bye, we asked if a visit to her birthplace, Pandharpur, is on cards and if we would see her here often. She admitted that she hasn’t decided about Pandharpur yet but she does feel a connection with the country. “I don’t have a family or a home here but I have a connection with the country, which is different from say visiting the US or UK. I didn’t visit India until 2017, I didn’t even search much about it but now I have realised that I like coming to India, and I think I would continue to come here because I want it to be a part of my life. I have two daughters now. I would like to bring them here to experience the country when they are a little older,” she concluded.