Andris Nelsons new BSO Music Director; initial press release tantalizingly incomplete

May 16, 2013 3 Comments

Andris Nelsons (photo by Marco Borggreve)The big buzz this morning is the Boston Symphony’s long-awaited announcement as to who will fill their Music Director’s chair that has been vacant since James Levine officially stepped down in 2011 (though health problems kept Mr. Levine away from the podium long before that).

The choice:  Andris Nelsons, the 34-year old Latvian maestro who has been Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra since 2008.

The BSO’s initial press release, along with reports based on it in the Boston Globe and The New York Times, contain the following salient facts:

  • Mr. Nelsons becomes Music Director Designate beginning in the 2013-2014 season, “making his first appearance in that official capacity October 17-19, leading Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C, with soloist Paul Lewis, and Brahms’s Symphony No. 3; he returns to the BSO podium on March 6, 2014 to lead a performance of Strauss’s Salome.”
  • Prior to that, he will conduct the BSO in Symphony Hall in late June of this year (program TBA), and will return to the orchestra over the summer to conduct the Verdi Requiem at Tanglewood
  • He will be the third youngest Music Director in the BSO’s history.  Only Georg Henschel (31 years old in 1881) and Arthur Nikisch (33 years old in 1889) were younger when they began their respective tenures.

All good info; however, there are some important bits missing from this release.  The first three that come to mind:

  • When will Mr. Nelsons’ official tenure as Music Director (not just Designate) begin?
  • How long is his initial contract for?
  • How many weeks of concerts will he conduct that first season?

This is non-trivial stuff.  I’m guessing/hoping more details will be released later today.  Thankfully, Mr. Nelsons’ own website answers one of the questions:

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Burt Hara wins LA Phil Associate Principal Clarinet chair

May 3, 2013 4 Comments

Burt Hara (photo by Nate Ryan)The first time the Los Angeles Philharmonic held auditions to fill its Associate Principal Clarinet chair, no one was hired.  During the past week, they tried again, and this time it looks like they  made an offer — and it’s a doozy.  No official word from the orchestra, but according to numerous sources, Burt Hara, Southern California native and current Principal Clarinet of the Minnesota Orchestra (MO), will be taking the job.  (Ralph Skiano, Principal with the Richmond Symphony, was the runner-up)

This is a huge coup for the LA Phil.  Mr. Hara is one of the leading clarinetists anywhere.  In addition to having held his position in Minnesota since 1987, he spent the 1996-97 season as Principal with the Philadelphia Orchestra and played some noteworthy concerts with the New York Philharmonic in 2010.

Unfortunately, this also happens to be a huge loss for the MO.  Mr. Hara has been one of the undeniable stars of that orchestra.  Just last week, he was the featured soloist in the Mozart clarinet concerto during a special concert being given by the musicians of the orchestra (a self-organized gig in the ongoing wake of their misbegotten lockout by the MO’s management).   Larry Fuchsberg, writing for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, described his playing this way:  ”Hara, at once soloistic and self-effacing, made it look easy. His was marvelously centered playing, unembellished but by no means plain.”

That Mr. Hara would be willing to take what most would consider to be a step down (from Principal in one major orchestra to Associate Principal in another) points to just how big a cluster-f*** the situation with the MO has become.  According to the most recent offer from the MO’s management, principals in that orchestra would have to take a 50% slash in their salary — and there is no indication that the MO’s musicians will agree to such a drastic cut. As a member of the musician’s negotiating committee, Mr. Hara has had a front-row seat to all that nonsense.   This past October, he seemed resigned to the situation and foreshadowed his departure:

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Dudamel, Shaham, and LA Phil make old standards sound fresh; Julien Beaudiment sits in as first-chair flute

February 28, 2013 Leave a comment

Gil Shaham (photo by Luke Ratray)Gustavo Dudamel returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic podium for the first time since October 14, 2012.  Most of the next few weeks will be devoted to preparing programs for the orchestra’s upcoming tour to Europe and New York, but this past weekend’s concerts were not going to be played out of town.

On paper, it seemed like an unexciting tune-up — Music Director and orchestra getting a little re-acquainted after a few months apart by playing some Romantic oldies by Wagner and Schumann, and joined by star violinist Gil Shaham for another run through the ubiquitous Brahms violin concerto.

Fortunately, what could have been a hum-drum concert turned out to be a lovely Sunday afternoon of music, with Messers. Dudamel and Shaham helping to bring these works to life.  Pieces that can easily feel like drab museum pieces instead were made to sound vigorous and contemporary.

The collaboration between conductor and soloist in the Brahms was particularly rewarding to experience.  These are two extremely committed musicians who are always having fun while they are on stage, and they aren’t afraid that anyone else knows it.

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James Conlon extends contract to be Music Director of LA Opera until 2018

February 20, 2013 Leave a comment

At the end of my review of last year’s production of Albert Herring, I wrote this about James Conlon:  ”Long may he reign at Los Angeles Opera.”

It looks like I’ll get my wish — at least for another five years.

The company just announced that Mr. Conlon has extended his contract as LA Opera’s Music Director through the end of the 2017/2018 season (full press release below after the jump).  Plácido Domingo, the company’s General Director, says this:  “James has had an incredible impact on the artistic quality of LA Opera performances.”

Damn straight.

His impact on the quality of LA Opera has been so good that among certain circles, there was speculation (read: fear) that the native New Yorker would get wooed away to take over the mighty Metropolitan Opera after James Levine was forced to give up the bulk of conducting duties there due to health reasons.

Serious hints that Mr. Conlon would stay in Southern California came up during the season opening press conference this past September when he said, “Los Angeles is one of the greatest places to be, to live, and to make music.”  Today’s announcement makes it clear that those comments were more than just lip service.

This news undoubtably bodes well for Los Angeles Opera’s future.  After suffering through some rather lean years, the company seems to be on the cusp of returning to the level of artistic prominence (some may add “relevance”) that it had during the middle part of the last decade.  I can’t imagine that a conductor of Mr. Conlon’s stature would stick around if he didn’t think — nay, know — that things will be better very soon.

There should be much rejoicing in Southern California musical and cultural circles tonight.

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Dale Clevenger to retire from CSO this June; let the speculation begin about who could possibly fill his shoes

February 19, 2013 5 Comments

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced this morning that Dale Clevenger, their renowned Principal Horn since 1966, will be retiring from the orchestra on June 30 of this year (read the official CSO press release HERE). This comes right on the heels of Indiana University announcing that he will join the Jacobs School of Music as “professor of practice” beginning this fall.

Dale ClevengerMr. Clevenger, together with Adolph “Bud” Herseth (Principal Trumpet, 1948-2001) and Jay Friedman (Principal Trombone, 1962-current), has helped to create the iconic brass sound for which the CSO has become world-famous.  For most of his career, he has been known for playing with a rare combination of  power, warmth, and precision.

For the past few seasons, however, he has been the subject of increased scrutiny for refusing to step down despite recurring instances of what many critics described as sub-par playing — sub-par not just for Mr. Clevenger, but for any principal horn.  As recently as this past December, reports emerged about potential behind-the-scenes activities at the CSO to get him to step down.

Now that this announcement has been made, the orchestra can spend the rest of the season preparing appropriate tributes to him to honor his distinguished tenure instead of allowing all of the lingering negativity to fester.  Despite the very legitimate criticism about his playing of late, Mr. Clevenger certainly deserves the boatload of praise that will be coming his way.

Of course, with this announcement will also come speculation about who may potentially be able and willing to take his place.  Just for proverbial grins, let me be among the first to toss a name out for your consideration:  William Caballero.

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Robert deMaine officially accepts LA Phil Principal Cello chair (UPDATED)

December 16, 2012 2 Comments

Robert deMaine: MadMen'ed and Hockney'ed.
Robert deMaine

Coming directly from the man himself — or at least his Twitter account — is this short and sweet statement from Robert deMaine:

“I’m starting as Principal Cello in the Los Angeles Philharmonic officially on May 11. So excited!”

Let me be among the first to congratulate Mr. deMaine and the orchestra on this excellent news.  I am very much looking forward to having the chance to see and hear him full-time in Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.

With a start date of May 11, 2013, it looks like his first subscription concert in his new job will be the May 17 semi-staged production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel conducting.

UPDATE (10:31am PST):   Read more of this post

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Catching up with the LA Phil: trying to fill empty chairs

October 27, 2012 1 Comment

It’s been an unexpectedly unruly past two weeks for yours truly.  I squeezed in a few concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, but unfortunately didn’t have any capacity to do much of anything else, including write, until now.

Time for me to start catching up.  Before we get into my views of the performances, let’s warm up with the matter of the Los Angeles Philharmonic trying to fill some open positions.  The orchestra recently had two open auditions for titled woodwind chairs:

  • Associate Principal Clarinet:  this is essentially downgrading the Principal Clarinet chair previously held by the late Lorin Levee, continuing the orchestra’s move away from the two principal system in place between the 1960′s to the mid-1980′s
  • Principal Flute:  the latest attempt to bring stability back to a position which, after two decades of  having the same two people hold the position, has been in constant flux.  If you count former principals Janet Ferguson (who stepped down in 2006) and Anne Diener Zentner (who retired shortly thereafter), four people have held the title in the past six years — the other two being Mathieu Dufour and David Buck.

So what happened at those two auditions?

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A case of musical ADD: Andsnes and Dudamel headline latest LA Phil concert, but news of deMaine creates the biggest buzz

October 11, 2012 1 Comment

The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s second week of concerts in the 2012/2013 season was clearly meant to be a contrast from the first.  After having regaled us all with a sparkling world premiere of Symphony by Steven Stucky and a romp through the modernist machinations of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), Gustavo Dudamel decided to go old school with an all-Beethoven set of concerts:

  • Mr. Dudamel and orchestra would be taking their first shot together at the expansive Third Symphony (the “Eroica”).
  • For good measure, he and the orchestra invited the formidable Norwegian pianist, Leif Ove Andsnes, to join them in not just one, but two of Beethoven’s piano concertos:  the first and third.

That was certainly the draw going into the concerts, and the results thereof should have been the big story coming out of them.  This is not the way it turned out.

Don’t get me wrong:  the concert itself was a success, with Messers. Dudamel and Andsnes each bringing a different — but not incompatible — approach to Beethoven; however, when the weekend was done, all of the talk was about a less well-known (but ultimately just as important) musician that was also on stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall that weekend — Robert deMaine.

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They are the knights who say Niehaus: Milwaukee Symphony names Principal Trumpet as new President & Executive Director

September 13, 2012 Leave a comment

Finally, some good news on the orchestral administrative front.

The Milwaukee Symphony offered up a one-two punch with their press release today, announcing not only a balanced budget but also the appointment of Principal Trumpet Mark Niehaus as the MSO’s new President and Executive Director.  According to the MSO:

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Unofficial announcements: Los Angeles gets a new 2nd Flute, and Orange County gets its music critic back

August 18, 2012 Leave a comment

Just to show that good things can actually happen to good people, music critic Timothy Mangan will once again be the classical music critic of The Orange County Register.   According to his blog, Classical Life,  Tim’s new/old job was definitely — if not yet publicly — confirmed by the newspaper’s new regime.  No word on when that’ll happen, but he sounds convinced that it’s happening — and I doubt Mr. Mangan would have said anything so definitive if he weren’t sure about it.

While it’s almost too bad that we will no longer get the benfit of his caustic wit applied to the Lindsay Lohans of the world, not to mention his mystery celebrity quizzes, his talents were wasted as the paper’s celebrity columnist.    At least they kept him on staff so that he could be reinstated.  No word yet on if he gets to keep his weekly Friday radio gig.

Congrats, Tim!!

But wait . . .  there’s more!!!!

Multiple sources report that the Los Angeles Philharmonic has filled one of their two empty (or soon to be empty) flute jobs:

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LA Phil is gonna need a new Principal Flute — again

July 6, 2012 8 Comments

In May 2010, a few months after Mathieu Dufour decided to return to his old chair in Chicago, the Los Angeles Philharmonic held auditions for a new Principal Flute to replace him.  They ended up offering the position to David Buck, then principal with the Oregon Symphony, without requiring any kind of trial period.

Fast forward to the present, and it appears that after two years of playing with the orchestra, Mr. Buck was not awarded tenure in the position.  So in the near future, the LA Phil will need to find a Principal Flute once again.  This is on top of the Second Flute audition that the orchestra is holding this coming August, the second attempt to permanently fill the position that has been handled by substitute players since Cathy Karoly was promoted to Associate Principal in 2009.

In the meantime, Mr. Buck is getting ready to make his next move — earlier this week, he won the Principal Flute audition with the Detroit Symphony.  It’s good to see that he landed on his feet.  No confirmation yet on when he will officially depart Southern California for Michigan.

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Photo:  Los Angeles Philharmonic Association

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A tale of two percussionists and the Boston Symphony (updated)

June 29, 2012 3 Comments

An article in Boston magazine recently posted on their website tells the tale of two percussionists and their attempts to join the Boston Symphony.

The bulk of the story follows Michael Tetreault, a Colorado musician who is trying to fill one of the two vacancies in the BSO’s percussion section.  There is also time spent with Lee Vinson, whose recent departure from the orchestra created one of the open seats for which Mr. Tetreault was vying.

The generalities discussed in the article about auditioning for a major orchestra will not be new to anyone who is familiar with the process. Indeed, every city with a professional orchestra sees their local press publish one article of this kind every decade or so.   In this case, you have to look past the lopsided boosterism for the BSO in Jennie Dorris’s writing:  she rightly touts the orchestra’s artistic merit, wonderful hall, and large endowments; but conveniently ignores the fact that it’s missing a Music Director since its last one has had to step down after multiple injury-plagued and cancellation-filled seasons, and it has no obvious prospects to take over any time soon.

If you’re willing to take that and a bit more with a pinch of salt, it’s compelling — and a little sad — to read about these two particular musician’s travails.  Mr. Tetreault’s regimen in preparation for his big audition seems a tad extreme, but it seems to follow the writer’s notion of the orchestra:  the orchestra is so extremely good that even extreme audition prep may not be good enough.  There are also some interesting quotes from a retired BSO percussionist about his own audition back in the day.

The full article can be found HERE.  If it doesn’t load right away, or if the subsequent pages give you an error message, be patient and try again in a minute.  I’m guessing Boston is getting more hits on this article than they expected, and their servers are having a hard time handling it.

UPDATE (6/30/2012):  conductor Kenneth Woods has a lengthy response on his blog (HERE), with interesting contributions in the comments section given by Mr. Tetreault himself (beginning HERE) comparing the differences in getting an orchestral job in the US vs. the UK.

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Results from LA Phil’s recent 2nd Horn audition

June 8, 2012 2 Comments

No official announcement from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but it looks like their recent Second Horn audition was won by Gregory Roosa.

Mr. Roosa is currently horn player with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.  He joined that orchestra in 2003 after having held similar positions with the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony.  He’s also played with a number of other orchestras including the Chicago Symphony and Detroit Symphony, among others.

He has played in the orchestra of the Colorado Music Festival since 1999.  It’s worth noting that Andrew Bain, who joined the LA Phil as Principal Horn this past September, has been Principal Horn of the festival since 2003, so the two musicians are familiar with each other’s playing.

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Who’ll be the next LA Phil Principal Cello? Two finalists emerge

May 30, 2012 5 Comments

The Los Angeles Philharmonic recently held auditions to find a new Principal Cello to replace Peter Stumpf, whose name still appears on their roster as being “On Leave” but who hasn’t been with the orchestra all season.  The required repertoire list for the audition included some excerpts that would be expected (Haydn Concerto, Don Quixote, La Mer) and some others that are a bit less expected (Mozart String Quartet, City Noir).  After multiple rounds of playing, two players emerged from behind the screen as finalists:  Julie Albers and Robert deMaine.

By all accounts, they are two very good cellist.  Neither has a prior connection to the orchestra.  They both have experience as soloists and chamber musicians.

Despite those similarities, there is one big difference:

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Glenn Dicterow to leave NY Phil and join USC Thornton

May 24, 2012 2 Comments

As if there hasn’t been enough big, crazy musical news out of New York this week, the announcement came earlier today that Glenn Dicterow, Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic since 1980, will join the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in Fall of 2013 and then step down from his NY Phil chair at the end of the 2013-2014 season.  He will become the first ever “Robert Mann Endowed Chair in Violin and Chamber Music.”  He currently teaches at the Juilliard School.

It is a homecoming  for Mr. Dicterow.  He grew up in Los Angeles as his father, Harold Dicterow, was the longtime Principal Second Violin of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  The younger Mr. Dicterow was himself recruited to join the LA Phil by former Music Director Zubin Mehta and eventually rose to the position of Concertmaster.  Soon after Mr. Mehta left Los Angeles to take the same post with the NY Phil, he offered that orchestra’s Concertmaster chair to Mr. Dicterow, who has been a fixture there ever since.

Mr. Dicterow will be joined on the USC Thornton faculty by his wife, Karen Dreyfus, a viola player and teacher at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music.

For more information:

  • The USC Thornton School of Music press release HERE
  • The New York Philharmonic’s press release HERE
  • Story in the Los Angeles Times HERE

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