Spring brings with it renewal and new life, and for Marc-André Bougie the closure of one chapter makes room to nurture new musical dreams.
Bougie, the longtime conductor for the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and one of its founders, will pass the proverbial baton forward after the upcoming "Symphonic Impressions" concert April 7 at the Perot Theatre.
That concert will be Bougie's finale as the TSO's full-time conductor after a dozen years building and perfecting symphonic music in Texarkana. He has, when he reflects on this time, learned something about life, and that may have something to do with the art of balance, a theme he returns to a couple times during a discussion about his TSO career.
What has the maestro learned about himself along this wild ride of serving as the TSO conductor?
Bougie has at least a couple answers to this question, it turns out. "I know how far I can push myself or not. And I know what's important for me: a sense of family, a sense of balance, and for me to reach that balance I've made choices that have led me to where I am now," Bougie says, noting he's had objectives with conducting, goals he's reached.
"I'm in no way done with that in my life," he said. But his intuition tells him that the work he's done there for now has come to a natural close. In the TSO, he's seen a dream become reality.
"I'm going to leave behind, I think, a first-rate orchestra. We've built a repertoire that's solidly grounded in tradition, so I'm proud of that," Bougie said. He also knows the TSO has maintained a solid, consistent pool of musicians to work with, a difficult task for a regional orchestra.
Looking ahead to the April concert, on tap for the season finale are composers like Gershwin, Liszt, Grieg and Fauré with pianist Luis Sanchez, a regional talent who's performed internationally, as guest artist. Bougie has called Liszt a visionary with respect to harmony and orchestration.
"I'm excited about the concert itself and working with the musicians because building an orchestra takes years," Bougie said. It's not just auditioning players, but also building relationships with them over time. He's worked with some TSO players for 15 or 20 years, and he's appreciated them. "You want to create this symbiosis there, which takes time."
He's also proud that together they've created an optimum environment for music-making in this way at the TSO. It's a project a dozen years in the making.
"It's a milestone, obviously, it's been 12 years. But 12 years is a lot of time to do such a high profile job, you know," Bougie said, noting his full-time work for much of that time has been teaching at Texarkana College. He points out the conducting position wasn't ever meant to be a full-time post.
Of teaching, Bougie said, "This is also part of my professional career which I enjoy tremendously. I'm there every morning before 8 a.m. preparing for classes, meeting young people and working with them." He'll continue this essential part of his life, which he thrives on doing.
"Education is one of my passions as a musician, and I think I've made that obvious with my work with TSO," Bougie said.
And while he's been a teacher, he's also a listener. Via the orchestra, he learns from the local audience, which he's seen grow up, in some ways, over these dozen years.
"I've been talking a lot to folks. That's one thing I've enjoyed about the job, listening to people and them telling me what they want to hear. And every time they do, I write this down and I think of connections I can do to bring some pieces together, some programs together," he says.
This planning has been one key to the TSO success, getting to know the population here and also expose the audience to music that may be new to them, he believes. Again, here's that balance. Seeing the pre-concert lecture popularity lets him know there's a thirst here for classical music knowledge, which is also representative of the desire in Texarkana for a symphony orchestra.
"There had been people truly wanting this for a long time, and they latched on to it pretty strongly," Bougie said. "That's something I've noticed and been proud of."
Has his relationship to the repertoire changed over time? His conductor's training was heavy with late German Romantic era music, such as Brahms, Schumann, Beethoven and the like. "To me this music will always resonate, but the older I get the more I go back to the Classical standards-mostly, for me, Mozart," he said. Mozart is the favorite, after all.
Of Mozart's piano concertos, Bougie says, "The history of the world is in that music, to me. All the emotions of the world in those piano concertos." The Classical period has a perfect balance between form, structure and passion, Bougie said.
Balance is a value Bougie appreciates in his life, whether it's
music, his work, his personal life or elsewhere. It's what he's striving to achieve all the time. It's not necessarily about the amount of work. "It's some other kind of balance," he reflects.
And during his time with the TSO he's worn other musical hats, too, such as with the Texarkana Regional Chorale. This next year will be his fifteenth with the choir. That's what first brought him to Texarkana. Religious music and working with his wife, the singer Candace Taylor, are also integral aspects of Bougie's musical milieu.
So, don't expect Bougie to slow down anytime soon. "I've had a lot going on and I'll continue to have a lot going on," he vows. "And be in Texarkana and continue being a musical leader in different areas." He's excited about all of this, including dedicating more time to writing his own compositions.
For the life of a musician, it's the natural way of things. "It was the same for Mozart, it was the same for Beethoven and Haydn. You had to do gigs, you know, you had to get busy," Bougie said.
Reflecting more on what he's learned as TSO conductor, he's realized that the act of conducting is important, awe-inspiring and impressive, but also ephemeral.
"Composing has always been a part of my training," Bougie said. It's something he began as a teen, then continued with his master's degree. An award for it helped with his U.S. citizenship, Bougie notes, a native Canadian.
"I knew it was important as a conductor to put yourself in the shoes of a composer to be able to emote a piece," he says. "I gathered that much." But in the past decade, he's realized that the music itself is what matters.
"If you can write something and leave something behind, that is something that is truly worth doing," Bougie said, adding that for him it's a demanding intellectual task. Making room for it in his mind, finding the freedom to do it, is important.
"You need that freshness and spirit of mind that leaves breathing room for you to write the music and come up with what you want to come up with," Bougie said. This has been a revelation found in his 40s and subtly changed his relationship to music, this desire to compose.
"I can see what the next 30 years need to be and what I want to leave behind," Bougie said, noting his emphasis, as a Catholic, is religious music.
Prior to this season, Bougie gave up his position as music director, another hat he wore for many years. That means he could focus on the conducting, which includes the rehearsals, conducting of concerts, preview talks and outreach, and he could ensure a smooth transition.
The two women with whom Bougie launched the orchestra, Remica Gray and Mary Scott Goode, look back fondly on the time the maestro devoted to the TSO and the quality he brought to the endeavor. And Bougie says, "The three of us had our part to play, and in the beginning it would not have worked if you took out one of the three of us."
As Gray puts it, "It was definitely a leap of faith to start from scratch." She recalls that Bougie's vision was to establish the standard for symphonic excellence in this area and he had the skills to make it happen.
"His personal charisma and enthusiasm were a big plus in drawing people to the symphony and getting them interested in supporting a new organization. He had good intuition in choosing repertoire that would draw an audience to the theatre while being interesting to the professional musicians as well," Gray said.
She believes the foundation he's set for the TSO's future is sound. It's what he nurtured all along.
"From the beginning, he understood the importance of bringing music and symphonic education to schools and other organizations throughout our region-encouraging the potential audiences and supporters for the future," Gray said.
To Goode, Bougie was the one who made it happen, who gave them the ability to transform the TSO from idea to reality.
"Remica and I had a big idea that we could and should have a symphony here, and we got the idea because we knew Marc," Goode said. "We didn't get the idea in a vacuum. We had the idea because we had him and we thought he was the right person. We thought with him we could do something like that. And I would say we were right."
Bougie has been a great founding director with the musical expertise to get the TSO established, she said. She, too, lauded his charisma. She describes him as winsome.
Goode's seen him as a Texarkana College teacher, a side to him that many others may not have seen. She says the pre-concert introductions he gave for TSO shows indicated he'd be a natural fit as a teacher. He can both do it and explain it.
"He presents classical music in a way that people want to know about it, want to have the experience," Goode said. It's an ability that can't be measured or bought. On top of that, he's just fun, she said, and he's inclusive in many respects.
"It's a wonderful quality that makes people want to go with you and be a part of what you're doing. I think that was crucial to get this thing up on its feet," Goode said.
Let's make one thing clear, though, now that Bougie is passing the baton. He and his family are staying right here in Texarkana. They have no plans to leave, so you'll see Marc and Candace continue their involvement with local music and their active careers.
"I intend to continue being busy and I'll do it right here," Bougie said. "The opportunities we've had here, they've been life-changing for me."