A Young Upper West Side Conductor Works to Widen the Appeal of Classical Music

By Bonnie Eissner

Since starting the chamber music orchestra Parlando in 2019, the same year he graduated from college, Upper West Sider Ian Niederhoffer has succeeded at something many have struggled to do: attract a following for classical music.

There was a full house at Merkin Hall on West 67^th Street on a Sunday afternoon late last month for the group’s most recent concert, where Niederhoffer, 28, displayed his conducting talents as he led as many as 34 musicians through three stirring and distinctive 20th- and 21st-century works, drawing enthusiastic applause for each one.

He was also a charismatic emcee.

On his Instagram account, Niederhoffer describes himself as “the conductor who faces the audience.” And before each of the performances, he did just that.

He introduced the ethereal 1910 work Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, for example, by talking about English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The great-nephew of Charles Darwin, Williams was an agnostic who nonetheless revered the traditions of the Anglican Church. “You can hear his inner conflict,” Niederhoffer said, “his inner doubts and complete love of the church in the piece.”

Niederhoffer similarly gave the two other works context, sharing stories about their creation, the composers’ intentions and states of mind, and how they’re reflected in the music. He also spoke about the sense of spirituality that linked the music in the concert, which was appropriately titled “Mystic Chords.”

“If you’re able to craft a narrative for people to engage with, then they’ll be open to anything,” Niederhoffer observed a few days later, over an early morning peppermint tea at Le Pain Quotidien on Broadway.

The packed concert and crowded reception afterward showed that Niederhoffer is on to something. And critics and members of his ensemble agree.

New York Classical, in a review published just after the concert, noted that the performances of the three works “epitomized the eclecticism and excellence through which this ensemble has found its musical niche in New York.”

“I think that Ian’s approach has some kind of appeal to the general population, whether it’s his explanation of the music or his expression through us as an orchestra,” Judith Insell told the Rag. Insell is the executive director of the Bronx Arts Ensemble and a freelance violist who performs with Parlando. “It’s working.” she said, noting that audiences keep coming and bringing even more people.

In addition to his narration, Niederhoffer lets audience members know how challenging the music is to listen to, using eighth notes next to each work listed in the program, in the same way chili peppers on Thai restaurant menus signify the spiciness of a dish.

The pieces at the most recent concert ranged from a single eighth note rating — for the Tallis Fantasia — to three eighth notes for Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine by French composer Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen’s work is a rarely performed piece from 1944 that features the haunting sounds of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument. Aheym, an intense 2009 piece for strings composed by Bryce Dessner, a guitarist with the rock band The National, earned two notes.

The rating system and banter are part of Niederhoffer’s desire to make “it so that no audience member has to do any homework before coming to a concert,” he said.

From his start as a conductor, he realized the importance of cultivating listeners, especially for the infrequently played classical works that have become his signature.

Niederhoffer grew up on the Upper West Side, surrounded by music. His parents, who worked in finance, are musical and encouraged him and his younger sister to pursue the arts. He started playing the violin at Lucy Moses School when he was 3. In high school, he was the assistant principal violist in the New York Youth Symphony when he realized he wanted to be a conductor.

“I was so enthralled by everything going on around me,” Niederhoffer said, that he was paying more attention to everyone else than to playing his part. “I realized that’s what a conductor does.”

But he knows that most people, even erudite Upper West Siders, don’t have the same access to music education that he has had.

In 2016, as a sophomore at Yale, Niederhoffer started the Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra. At the first concert, there were about 20 musicians on stage but only about seven people in the audience.

As he built his skills and the group continued to perform, he’d give brief remarks to the audience, sharing his knowledge of music and history. “People came up to me and they said, ‘You need to do this more,’” he recalled.

By the time he graduated from college in 2019, he knew what he wanted to do. After a summer studying conducting in Estonia, he returned to New York determined to start his own chamber orchestra. “I had the name; I had the concept,” Niederhoffer said.

Tellingly, the name he chose, Parlando, is a musical direction meaning delivered in a style that suggests speech.

By that fall, he and Andrew Beall, a percussionist who became the orchestra manager, pulled together professional freelancers and musicians Niederhoffer knew for Parlando’s first concert.

Broadway World dubbed it an “auspicious debut,” calling Niederhoffer “a young star on the rise” who chose an extremely ambitious program for the group’s maiden voyage.

Parlando has given 17 more concerts with a rotating group of freelance musicians, many of whom perform on Broadway. The next performance is on May 1 at Merkin Hall. And the group released its first album, Censored Anthems, in late February.

While running Parlando is Niederhoffer’s primary occupation, he has been a cover conductor for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and he aspires to have a full guest conducting career.

In his commentary at Parlando’s most recent concert, Niederhoffer observed that music creates connections. Later, over tea, he elaborated.

“I think that feeling of music connecting us to something larger than ourselves is just one of the most rewarding parts of being human,” he said. “Being able to have those connections myself and share them with as many people as possible, that’s why I’m here. That’s what I’m made for.”

Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.