Pola Benke Steps into New Role with Pacific Symphony

The Polish conductor will lead Musical Mornings series and Youth Orchestra concerts.

Pacific Symphony's new assistant conductor, Pola Benke. Photo courtesy of Pacific Symphony

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Pola Benke didn’t plan to be a conductor. Born into a Polish family of artists and musicians, she became a professional cellist and enjoyed a successful career before picking up the baton at 30 and changing direction.

“I was very happy being a chamber and orchestral cellist,” said Benke, who began her tenure as Pacific Symphony’s new assistant conductor on Aug. 1. “My heart was always in the orchestra. I did competitions and my teachers encouraged me (to conduct), but I was very stubborn about that. I was doing what I wanted to do. But my interest in conducting finally happened because I was playing cello in professional orchestras and I was able to watch excellent conductors.” 

Since arriving in California a couple of years ago, Benke has found continual work in her new profession. She will take on her role with Pacific Symphony in tandem with her position as music director of the Santa Monica Symphony. She also recently held assistant conductor roles with the Long Beach Symphony and Riverside Philharmonic. 

As assistant conductor, she will lead Pacific Symphony’s Farmers & Merchants Bank Family Musical Mornings and the Youth Concerts, in addition to being the music director of the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Benke began her long association with orchestral music when she began studying the cello at the age of 8. “I was a chamber and solo cellist, but my heart was always in the orchestra,”  she said. For many years she never gave a second thought to conducting as a professional career choice. 

But her exposure to major conductors slowly changed her mind and since switching careers, she has worked with leading conductors, including Neeme Järvi, Sian Edwards and Paavo Järvi. Her participation in prestigious programs such as the Järvi Academy in Estonia, the Dartington Music Festival in England and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music has allowed her to further refine her craft. Recently, Benke received a second master’s degree in conducting.

Benke said she has met Pacific Symphony’s music director designate, Alexander Shelley, and is very excited to be working with him during his transitional season at Pacific Symphony. The feeling is reciprocal. “Pola is an engaging and engaged musician who I know will bring energy, dynamism and commitment to her work with our Pacific Symphony community,” Shelley said. “I look forward immensely to working with her.”

A long list of dream scores

A background as a cellist is unusual for a conductor, but those skills give her many advantages when she is in front of an orchestra, Benke said.

“I play a lot of chamber music, and that helps me understand how to be efficient in rehearsal and what to rehearse. And then even just knowing string instruments is very helpful. I can be very specific in my instructions. I can easily address technical issues. Also playing in the orchestra, knowing string instruments, being in the heart of it for so many years, maybe that helps too.” 

Unlike many conductors, Benke is not a skilled keyboard player. “I’m not very good at piano. I can read Scott Joplin, but I should really study (keyboard performance) more. So that means I have a different approach than a classically trained pianist would have as a conductor.”

Like all conductors just starting their careers, Benke has many dream scores that she hopes to conduct one day.

“I’m a big fan of Stravinsky. I love Stravinsky. So (I would love to perform) anything by him. One of my biggest dreams is (conducting the) Prokofiev Classical Symphony. It’s hellishly difficult. You have to be careful when and how you choose the rehearsals. That’s on my to do list.

“I love modern music as well, and working with living composers. I find it fascinating to be the first person to work with the composer and discover the secrets together. I have some friends who are composers and sometimes they don’t even know what their music is trying to say. They need (a conductor) to help them. And their work will sound different with each conductor.”

This is the first season that Benke will be fully employed as a professional conductor. “I will be excited to see how it goes. I love traveling and meeting other musicians and to grow myself as well. We learn at the podium. We just have to go and try things and think about them. You just have to learn that way.”

Even now, Benke is thinking about what the culmination of her career will be like. “My biggest dream is recording. But for that you have to conduct a very good orchestra. I listen to a lot of recordings and I find that I have new ideas about even familiar works. I hope some people will find my ideas interesting. I love to approach familiar works in a different light. Some of the greatest conductors do their own thing and think about the score very deeply.”

Though her conducting career is on the rise, Benke still hasn’t forsaken her first love.

“I still play cello regularly, and I play in a quartet. I don’t play as much as I used to, but when I came to the United States a couple of years ago that was how I made a living. I do miss it. I would never quit it. I play orchestral scores that I’m conducting on the cello sometimes. If I can’t decide on bowings (instructions that specify which direction to move the bow), I pick up my instrument and try it out for myself. I love playing. That will always be a part of me.” 

Benke’s first performance with Pacific Symphony will be Oct. 18 when she conducts “Fantasia in Concert,” featuring highlights from two of Disney’s animated feature films, “Fantasia” (1940) and its sequel, “Fantasia 2000.”

Scenes from each of the two films will be projected in high definition on a large screen above the orchestra as it performs classical selections including excerpts from Dukas’ Sorcerer's Apprentice, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals.