'Winning through the gaps'

a Presentation for Biotech 2005

“The Maestro’s baton makes no sound, but it creates the exact space in which the sound can exist, and can become meaningful” Itay Talgam (Conductor, ‘Maestro Program’ facilitator)

Presentation objectives:

• To give the participants the tools for understanding and shaping an alternative image of leadership by studying a leader-image that is singularly unique in the modern world – that of the Maestro.
• To encourage participants to explore their own personal and preferred leadership style.
• To identify key characteristics of successful leadership and help participants relate these qualities to their own leadership experience in organisations.

Gaps in music, gaps in business

“The notes I can handle no better than many pianists, but the pauses between the notes – Ah, that’s where the art resides”
Artur Schnabel (One of the greatest pianists of the 20 th century, in an interview to the Chicago Daily News, 1958)

Music is made of gaps: intervals and silences define the meaning of sound. Great performers manage these gaps, and through them the ‘objects’ of the music. Conductors deal with these musical gaps in much the same way, but also need to concern themselves with human gaps in their organization – the orchestra. Gaps of all sorts - between individual players, between sections, between the whole orchestra and the conductor – are a constant threat to the coherence and quality of the performance, as much as they are – a seeming paradox – the key to its success.
Gaps are often experienced as frightening, meaningless ‘blanks’ in the work process, or communication – and therefor are ignored or ‘filled up’ by more ‘objects’ – stiff procedures or just routine behavior. The leadership challenge, be it in music or business, is how to transform these ‘bad’ gaps into ‘good’ gaps, experienced as well defined, meaningful and rich space for creative work.
Great conductors identify gaps and use them to make music live and people grow. That is because managing gaps involves projection into the future - that is, dealing with ‘objects’ like people or music – or business - not where they are at present, but where vision tells us they can be.

ITAY TALGAM – condutor

Conductor Itay Talgam is one of the leading figures in the Israeli music scene. Talgam is a champion of contemporary music, and in particular music of contemporary Israeli composers. His outstanding achievements were acknowledged by audiences, critics, as well as by Israel’s composers Association, which awarded him an honorary prize for his personal contribution in performing and promoting Israeli music.
As Music Director of the Tel-Aviv Symphony Orchestra and of Musica Nova Consort Talgam won the prestigious prize for “Best performance of the year” for Israeli orchestral music, awarded by the National Council for the Arts.
Talgam’s International Debut took place in 1987, when he was chosen by Leonard Bernstein to perform in a special concert with the Orchestre de Paris, the great Maestro himself conducting the second half of the same concert. Since that highly successful performance, Talgam conducted many orchestras in Europe - being the first Israeli conductor to perform with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and with the Leipzig Opera house. He also performed in the United States, and, naturally, conducted and recorded many times with all of Israel’s major orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Israeli Opera, Jerusalem Symphony, Israel Chamber Orchestra, etc.

A native of Tel-Aviv, Itay Talgam received his Artist Diploma in conducting from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy. He than studied in the Accademia Chigiana, Siena, and in Tanglewood, USA, under Maestri Seiji Osawa and Leonard Bernstein. He also studied General Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, winning his degree “Cum Laude”.
Itay Talgam has taught orchestral conducting at the music academies in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. In addition to his current conducting activities, he is intensely involved in many educational projects, and is also a member of the Israeli National Council for the Arts
Itay Talgam is permanent guest conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Transilvania.