Is the era of the globe-trotting Maestro over

First end-of-an-era kind of op-eds to appear in music journalism at the beginning of the covid crisis were on the topic of globalized music careers. Is the era of the globe-trotting maestro over? Is it reasonable and sustainable to plan seasons and book opera singers five years in advance? The globe-trotting conductor could on any given year have a combination of one or two Music Directorships in orchestras, an associate conductorship, and the recurring and one-time contracts in opera houses and SOs. Sometimes there’ll be a wife travelling with him (ex. Gianandrea Noseda). All of the globetrotters used to be men until a few years ago, when a handful of women managed to break into their ranks. The pioneering generation found that having children was incompatible with this kind of a career and largely did forgo them (one notable exception was Simone Young, who conducted the Vienna State Opera in ’97 one month before her due date—but must have had spectacular childcare arrangements or a husband who was the primary caregiver, like the mezzos Sarah Connolly and Ann Hallenberg, who are on the record on this). Or they happened to be lesbian (Marin Alsop, Judith Yan, Nathalie Stutzmann… and over in the globe-trotting directors corner, Deborah Warner, Phyllida Lloyd, Francesca Zambello).

The previous era’s uber Maestros globe-trotted too, but maintained the unavailability and capriciousness (Carlos Kleiber) or aloofness and shyness (Abbado) mystique; you knew what their politics were because they talked about it (Barenboim, Abbado, Thielemann… Gergiev) but if they were gay, they stayed firmly in the closet (Bernstein, Levine). I’d pay some money for Levine’s thoughts on the topic of how welcoming the Met was to his openly gay successor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Is the quality of season planning, rehearsals and performance in individual orchestras affected in any fundamental way, positive or detrimental, by the repeat engagements of the fly-by conductors who are a major box-office draw? This is my pre-covid info, perhaps it’s changed since, but back in 2019 I’ve learned that the TSO would do about 1 (!) rehearsal with visiting conductors and soloist instrumentalist before the concert itself. This might be enough if everyone’s doing a warhorse performed a million times before; it is not if not. Perhaps the tight scheduling of visiting musicians affects the programming too and is one of the reasons why it’s so predictable.

Does having an elsewhere-busy MD affect the orchestra in any way? I mean, there is such a thing as an MD not busy enough with other engagements. You want your MD to be coveted or recognized outside your own village. Last TSO MD Peter Oundjian was initially somewhat under-engaged externally, but this is arguably what the TSO needed at the time, and he did get an additional MD-ship with a Scottish orchestra, which he abandoned alongside the TSO after announcing retirement (this is also when I learned that his permanent residence is actually in Massachusetts). The New Music Festival, created under his leadership, was the best thing that he did and is a great example of a “rooted” project that an MD can undertake. Tafelmusik’s long-serving MD Jeanne Lamon was pretty much exclusive to her one band: probably not ideal. The organization has had difficulty keeping executives ever since she and before her the long-time ED Tricia Baldwin took a bow. The young British communications exec (excitedly announced after Baldwin) left within two years. Their post-Lamon MD, the Italian violinist Elisa Citterio, whose somewhat unexpected appointment in ’17 was announced with fanfares, left the organization just as the covid pandemic was winding down. (Rumour had it that she had moved her family back to Italy much earlier.)

And the fact that Gemma New, the Hamilton Phil Orch MD (effectively a part-time job), is also the principal Guest Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra can only be good for the HPO. She is, as of recently, also the Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. When a globe-trotting maestro starts accruing titles, their oldest or least prestigious MD-ship is probably on a death watch. Or perhaps the globe-trotting maestro era is here to continue? Her home, by the way, is in Florida, where she resides with her husband.

Then there’s such a thing as a too-busy-elsewhere MD. This is the reputation that Gergiev had while heading the LSO and several other organizations at the same time. This started to emerge in the media after Simon Rattle was appointed to the LSO following his notable tenure at the Berlin Phil. Rattle is one of the first star conductors who publicly raised the question of rootedness of conductors who are MDs. His localness was celebrated when the LSO appointment was announced and he had big and serious plans which appeared rooted in the needs of the orchestra, the city, the local audiences. Many of those were overshadowed by his advocacy for a new concert hall for London, a plan which did not pan out. He was one of the first big names in classical music to advocate and lobby the UK politicians for a return to live performance in the bleak 2020. We are willing, eager and ready to collaborate with you to make this work. Live music is essential. No Canadian—or American--conductor did anything similar. I tried imagining YNZ getting colleagues organized on either side of the Canada-US border to advocate before Cuomo, or Doug Ford, or Trudeau, and I couldn’t. I think this has to do precisely with the lack of belonging and groundness in many MD and exec appointments, but it could be a host of factors. Having someone head an org who is somewhat interested in the local situation I dare say will be better for the org. Meanwhile Brexit and covid happened and Rattle parted ways with the LSO to return to Germany, where his wife and children live, and where the Bavarian government expressed interest in building a new concert hall for the local SO that he was appointed to head. It’s there that I am rooted, and the politicians are much more interested in arts, he all but said before leaving the UK.

So I come to what originally inspired this post: the recent announcement that the TSO’s still very new and essentially untried (covid, again) MD Gustavo Gimeno was appointed to be the MD of the Madrid’s Royal Opera House starting in 2025, when his contract with the TSO will be up for renewal. He has already announced his tenure with the  Luxembourg PO would end that year, but about Toronto everybody’s keeping shtum. Teatro Real is a stonking house with ballet and opera under one roof and ten operatic productions per year plus multiple opera-in-concert one-offs. Even conducting just half of those productions is a considerable obligation. Also, Madrid, to state the obvious, has the advantage of being located in his own country. [By the way, Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian, which had its world premiere at the COC in 2018, is about to open in new production at the Teatro Real this summer.]

Will the TSO directorship, unless an extraordinary amount of love happens between the city, the orchestra and the MD in the next three years, find itself on the chopping block too in ’25? If he continues on, how much attention can the TSO claim? I don’t really know GG as a musician very well, so this is not about him; it’s about a large SO having to look for executives every few years, a pattern which the administrative side of the business also took since the hasty departure of Jeff Melanson due to… well, a particularly bad marital breakup, by the look of it. Matthew Loden lasted as the CEO ’18-21. Could be worse; some major Toronto arts institutions like the ROM or Soulpepper held on to their chief executives for an even shorter period of time (the Australian Janet Carding and the Briton Emma Stenning, respectively). And in what must be the record case of an exec running for the hills after a fanfareous appointment which messes with my argument that the foreign appointments are the ficklest ones, Heather Conway left her recently announced executive position at the Hot Docs within 5 months, just as the annual festival was kicking into gear.

I chatted informally with a colleague about the GG news yesterday and he said OK, but why is the MD news so important, doesn’t the TSO have other, structural problems that should be looked at (they don’t own the RTH for one, he said; and sure, I added, the dying subscription and donor base is a bit of a problemino too). But the MD figure is still key in how the orchestras tell their stories or if you want, let’s have that awful word, they brand themselves. Audiences are attracted to the stories of individuals and soloists, perhaps romantically – but the big job of programming and (no pressure!) saving the symphonic orchestra music for the future generations is in huge part down to the MD. Yes the outreach and education are extremely important as are the figures like Aubrey Bergauer. But for the advocacy, making the art form come alive, the whole seduction through ideas bit we still look to the artistic execs.

One for the road:

The Pacific Opera Victoria is producing an opera podcast and… I don’t know, but I don’t think they’re selling the genre exceedingly well?