It is a path well traveled and it always seems to lead to a dead end. An orchestra hires a shiny new Music Director. He or she is hailed by the staff, the board and the orchestra as the great unifier who will bring all parts of the organization together for the common purpose of bringing great music to a city, developing a unified mission for the community’s cultural and economic goals, the face, the voice, the one….yeah right!
Has anyone seen or heard from Fabio Mechetti?
Let me set one thing straight right off the bat: I am not calling Fabio out, well not exactly. He is not the problem. However, if the now paper thin assertions I mentioned above about the position of Music Director were actually true, he might be the solution because of the fact that a music director is a unified and many times unanimous choice…..
I also use the word “he” in general terms, because time and time again when lockouts or strikes occur, almost every Music Director does a David Copperfield and disappears until it’s safe to reappear, or their board will tell them to butt out. The only thing I have seen about Fabio is a letter from a patron wondering when their “beloved” Fabio will be able to make music again!
Let me set another thing straight: The position of Music Director is not a lifetime position, but for many musicians in an orchestra their positions are for life. They are the ones who should be beloved and their demonizing in Jacksonville is driving me (and Bill it seems) crazy! In the not too distant future these current board members will be long off the board and Fabio will have also moved on, but the decisions and actions that are taking place now will effect the musicians and the greater community for many years to come. For crying out loud let the musicians have more say, and trust them, they more than anyone don’t want to screw things up! *
I say in conducting school stop the microscopic analysis of the Fibonacci sequence and start to teach about how to deal with people and situations like this that will arise because; HELLO, they always do!!!! When in school everyone, instrumentalists, singers and conductors alike are colleagues. We take classes together, we eat together, we all hang out together (well maybe not Organists). It shouldn’t change that much once we are all in the professional world. The stick in our hands is not there for the purposes of ruling, but for the purposes of continuing to be together unified as ONE. What is more important the quality of tone, or the quality of life? We should always care more for someone’s well being then how they sound and/or make us look.
Forget the outside mediator, you already hired one, he’s called the Music Director and right now in Jacksonville he is needed more than ever! Please Fabio, I know you, you are a good guy, a great musician and I am sure you care about the musicians. Don’t leave a legacy in Jacksonville, leave a future for the musicians for when you move on. It will be greatest performance of your career!
*I must mention the brilliant 3 part series filmed on the London Philharmonia Orchestra called The Phil. Filmed in 2000 it shows just how integrated the musicians are in all of the decision making. Most startling is a moment backstage when the orchestra committee sends out the CEO to decide whether or not to renew his contract! There is also a hilarious moment when Concertmaster Christopher Warren Green compares the great conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov to a prize bull at his farm!
I think you are right on the money here. In my opinion, music directors need to constantly check who they are allowing to make them look good. Many times, musicians are the nameless people who make the conductor a super star. And many times, there is a thankless arrogance toward them in a difficult time. MDs who side with boards or say nothing in crisis times are really showing a cowardly behavior.
Tom, thanks for your comment. To balance things out here, I want to add something. Being that we all have our own ways of trying to work out problems and situations, some MD’s who do get actively involved in labor disputes might prefer to mediate and handle things behind closed doors and not in the public eye. Whilst I can respect this approach as it is a valid one (and any resolution usually comes during a closed door meeting), personally I would want the public to know where I stand.