Maestro, BBC2’s new celebrity conducting show, is reality TV gone highbrow. And yes, you did read that right. It’s a show in which celebrities (and I use that term relatively loosely) compete against each other to see who is the best at conducting the BBC symphony orchestra. In traditional style, they go up against a panel of expert judges, and every week one contestant is given the boot. The winner of this show will conduct the orchestra on that most British of occasions, the Last Night of the Proms, later this year.
I think it’s safe to say that no other television network in the world could pull this off. Only the BBC can get away with a show that involves David Soul (yes, David Soul, from Starsky and Hutch ) flapping his hands around ineffectually in front of an orchestra playing Adagio for Strings, or Sue Perkins conducting a full symphony orchestra through an extended version of The Simpsons theme tune.
And yet, despite the preposterous premise, Maestro really works. I found myself rooting for drum-and-bass star Goldie as he conducted the orchestra through a rousing rendition of the Cavalleria Rusticana, and cringing as cake-decorating sensation Jane Asher just wiggled her hips to Bernstein’s Mambo, forgetting all about her baton. But I actually learned a thing or two as well. I never knew how much difference a conductor can make to an orchestra, and how easily it can all go catastrophically wrong with an ill-timed flick of the wrist.
I have a new-found respect now, both for the professional conductors who make it look so effortless, and for these celebrity contestants, who despite never having done it before, get up every week in front of a professional orchestra, move their arms around, and make music happen. Bless them all for trying.
You can catch Maestro on BBC2 every Tuesday evening, or on the iPlayer any time you fancy it.
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