Mario Venzago, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra music director, displays the tools of his trade - a score, his hands and batons. (Frank Espich / The Star)

Swiss-born conductor Mario Venzago is the ISO's artistic chief. (Frank Espich / The Star)

When the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra hired Mario Venzago in 2002, he said he hadn't been seeking a music director job. Nearly six years later, the Swiss-born conductor remains the ISO's artistic chief. Along the way, he has championed major works, and met his goal of hiring more young players for key positions.

While Venzago prefers a yearly contract to feel "more free," he still has long-term dreams, such as tours and recordings. With his 60th birthday approaching, he talked about the ISO, his family, recent health problems and a new film about him.

In October, you canceled an ISO program for health reasons. Why?

My weak point is really my eyes. I had a detached retina, and we had to do a second surgery with my left eye. It was necessary to put gas in the eye, and with that gas you can't fly. I could travel by train, I could conduct, but I couldn't fly. Now, I feel quite OK. Still, I don't see well with the left eye.

How will you celebrate your 60th birthday?

I will come back from Australia and will meet my family in Dubai. We'll stay there for two days.

Your permanent residence is in Germany. Talk a little bit about your home in Heidelberg.

It's now 22 years that I live with my wife and children in Heidelberg, and we have a house with three levels. On the ground (floor) is the music room, also the younger son Gabriel's room where he's practicing. We have an old Steinway there, a gift I got when I was young, from a sponsor, and it's his piano now. There is another piano so we can play two pianos if we want, and we have big paintings there. Next to that, we have the living room and kitchen. Then a (second) floor where we all sleep, and the top floor is my floor, with my piano and library, all my scores and CDs. ..... The most beautiful things in the house are the paintings.

What are your sons doing?

Mario studies geology in Heidelberg, which has a very good university. He's 22. Gabriel is 17. He wants to become a musician -- not just a conductor, an opera conductor.

Your wife, Marianne, is a violist.. Where does she play?

She is viola solo(ist) in the Heidelberg orchestra, a very good small orchestra. ..... She's now more than 20 years there, 27 years. She never wanted to give up her job, and a music director's job is like a coach's job. If you lose, you have to go. The risk is too high to take all the family. ..... The consequence is I don't see them very often.

To what extent does she serve as a sounding board for your work?

She's critical in a very good sense. I am so glad she's not flattering, but she's very positive and she has fantastic ears. ..... Sometimes I fear her, because she can be very tough.

Your brother (photojournalist/filmmaker Alberto Venzago) did a film, "My Brother, the Conductor." What does it feel like to see yourself through your brother's lens?

Horrible! I had to learn to accept it. I had to go through a process to say, "OK, it's a movie. It has nothing to do with ..... the person I am now." Eight and a half years ago, I had a chance to open a new hall in Lucerne ..... with "Penthesilea," an opera by Othmar Schoeck. I asked my brother, please could you help with your camera, and if we go under, at least we'll have a good document. ..... Two years ago, my brother sneaked into what we did (looking over the previous footage), and wanted to make a movie. I thought it was impossible, because he used only one camera and no sound. The first cut was a catastrophe, and he decided to add comments, which we did at the seaside in Gothenburg (Sweden, where Venzago led an orchestra). It's mostly about what I'm thinking about, what I'm talking about. It has been shown in Switzerland. I would love to show it here.

What impressions of the ISO do you have now that you did not in 2002?

First of all, we have a true relationship, which when you start you don't have. A relationship with an orchestra means that they can read you and you can read them. I now have much more of a picture of the steps we have to go through.

What do you consider highlights from recent ISO seasons?

The (Richard Strauss tone poem "Ein) Heldenleben" they played was wonderful. I'll never forget that. ..... I liked very much the Brahms (Piano Concerto No. 1) with John Lill, again a big thing. Ninth Beethoven they did very well.

Initially, you wanted to get more young people in the ISO, and you have: concertmaster Zach De Pue, principal bass Ju-Fang Liu, etc. What do we gain from a multi-generational orchestra?

That's a very interesting question. I have had ..... experience with (Hamburg's) NDR (Symphony Orchestra) being all the same age. You could think, "Oh, that's fantastic; they have the same rhythm of life," but it does not work, because they think all the same. If you go with a youth orchestra, the emotions are overwhelming, but they have no control. What I see now in our orchestra is that the mix is fantastic.

Of the ISO's six music directors, nearly all were born abroad. What do you, as a European, bring to a U.S. orchestra?

It's a question I ask (myself) many times, too, because the conducting schools in this country are really first-class. One way to explain it is, the American orchestras, many have gone with an old German sound, the sound between the two world wars. To keep this tradition, they go with European conductors.

In your video clip at the ISO concert for Raymond Leppard's 80th birthday, you clearly envied his European tours with the ISO. Do you plan an ISO tour?

Of course we have to go to Europe, Chicago, New York. Going to Carnegie Hall is my dream. If you tour, you are aware of the competition out there. One possible way to start would be a small tour in someplace like Florida. It may not be so far away.

If you and the ISO make a commercial recording, what would you play?

I don't know, because it would be going out after 10 years with no recordings. (Hilbert Circle Theatre) is not a recording hall, but our recording engineer changed equipment, and if we have a program with two or three good concerts, we can make an edit.

What about the ISO's 2008-09 season?

We believe we will have an organ installed in the hall. We can do more music that is perfect with organ. We hope to do collaborations with the opera, if we have money, and with Dance Kaleidoscope.