Wow. It seems like every day we get yet another strange story about a conductor going down, or going south, or going wherever. What the hell is going on?
Yesterday was the last straw. I’m minding my own business trying to decide between the 003 Rack or the 003 Rack+ (if you don’t know, don’t ask) and suddenly Facebook lights up with the news story out of Aspen that David Zinman has bailed. I have to say I was just a bit surprised by this news. I first met David 30 years ago when he was Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic and I was a young(er) punk at the Eastman School of Music. Some people have called him mercurial. Some people have called me mercurial, so there. Rumor has it he’s mellowed out but I think this caught everyone by surprise …… and this seems indicative of some really strange trend in the conducting world. Conducting, suddenly, is a dangerous profession. What’s going on?
The list of strangeness is legion – I bet that both the Boston Symphony and the Met would give half their endowments for a quiet season next year. There’s still tons of fallout from out west where a conductor decided to go all “you’re either with me or you’re agin’ me” on his orchestra. Wassup in Philly? Or, wassup in Philly after Christoph went all commando on their behinds? Is Seiji OK? Openings in Cincinnati, Indianapolis….. I’m sure I’m missing something somewhere. On the flip side of that strange coin is the whole “gee, I wonder when he’s going to get around to turning water into wine?” thing that, personally, I’m getting just a wee bit sick of. You know who I’m talking about. Then Seattle has gone an put some 17 year old kid up on the podium. I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about this kid, but I’ve got a 15 year old nephew, and I wouldn’t trust that brat with an iPod, let alone an orchestra.
Whatever. I’m just glad I have a job. But it begs the question – is this how we want our profession to be represented in the media? We’ve got to figure out a better way, a better narrative, to put in front of our current and potential audiences. Else we’re going to end up looking like the wackos on American Idol, but with a LOT less media coverage.
There are openings in Denver, Columbus, Hartford, Charleston, too. Has Colorado Springs hired someone? As we say in Brooklyn: Ya can’t tell the players without with a score card.