Christopher Dragon is no stranger to the orchestra. Having spent much of the past few years in Colorado, Perth-born Dragon is back visiting, to conduct WASO’s Favourites series in February, and A Symphonic Tribute to Comic-Con in April.
OUTInPerth spoke to him recently, shortly after he had come back to Perth from Colorado USA, where he is the Associate Conductor of the Colorado Symphony.
“Even though I live in the states I still get to fly back (to Perth) 3 or more times a year, so driving around seeing how things have changed and developed over here, it’s really interesting. It’s one of my favourite places in the world. It makes me really happy to return, especially to conduct over here.”
Having worked as the Associate Conductor of the Colorado Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor with the Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and, for three years, held the position of Assistant Conductor with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Dragon has led a busy, chaotic and rewarding life.
“One of the big moments was when I came back to conduct WASO as part of the first subscription series. Being from Perth and having played clarinet and knowing all of the musicians, it was a dream to have one of those concerts under my belt.” Dragon said.
One things is for certain; Dragon likes to surprise. In 2015, at the Denver Comic Con, he conducted the orchestra through the Jurassic Park theme in a T-Rex outfit, a performance which has become quite the viral hit.
“It was for a Comic Con concert in Colorado – the funny thing was that I didn’t tell any of the musicians I was coming out in the costume and they couldn’t even play the first part because they were just laughing – they had no idea it was happening.
“I like to have fun – quite regularly in Colorado often to keep people on their toes.I’m just trying to do some exciting things, to bring new audiences to the orchestra; especially younger audiences that are more my age, that have never been to the orchestra before.”
On the busy travel of a conductor, Dragon explained the struggle of finding a balance.
“This is the dilemma I have – being a conductor takes so much work, I don’t think people realise how many hours you spend preparing it. Once I wake up, that’s all I do till I go to bed. You do wonder how long you can work like this for. It really is one of the most exciting things once I get up on the podium. It instantly reminds me of why I put all of that work in. It truly is an amazing feeling.”
WASO’s favourites is performing Friday 9 and Saturday 10 of Feburary, and A Symphonic Tribute to Comic Con is on in April. Tickets are available here.
Davis Burke
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