News in the Conducting World and some predictions

As expected, the pending marriage of Simon Rattle and the London Symphony has been announced.  Will a new concert hall be included in the dowry?

Sir Simon's "old band," the Berlin Philharmonic will vote on a successor May 11.  It appears to be a horserace, but among the contenders are Christian Thielemann,

formerly leader of the Munich Philharmonic, he conducts the Staatskapelle Dresden through 2019.  The Telegraph calls him "Germany's most sought-after conductor." John Allison goes on to write, "Whichever way you look at the situation, Thielemann is an obvious and leading contender for the Berlin Philharmonic, best placed to restore its Teutonic credentials, if that is what the orchestra wants. Whether Thielemann wants it is still far from clear, though it is hard to imagine him resisting the lure of Karajan’s old orchestra."

And then there's Riccardo Chailly, although he becomes Music Director at La Scala in 2017.  While a great choice, it's probably far-fetched.

Alan Gilbert is leaving the New York Philharmonic just as that orchestra is forced into a two year hiatus from Lincoln Center.  It will take a charismatic leader to retain the old audience (and work toward grabbing the attention of a new one).  In my mind there is one (easy choice):  David Robertson.

After the long and mostly joy-less tenure of Christoph Eschenbach, the National Symphony of Washington, DC is looking for a new leader.  Given the locale as well as the "gravity" of the ensemble's name, one would think that the NSO would be a plum job.  It's not, due in no small part to a rudderless parent (the Kennedy Center) that fails to seek out a conductor to actually lead what should be our National orchestra.  I'm hoping that an American is hired, but really have no predictions.  If Michael Tillson Thomas were a decade younger (he's now 70), I wouldn't hesitate.  Then again, the man has it made in San Francisco--an orchestra and a concert-going public that feasts on new music.

How long will Jimmy last?

In a recent review of the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble concert, David Allen noted that conductor James Levine was not onstage for the performance of Charles Wuorinen's "sitcom cantata," It Happens Like This.  The work was written for the conductor in 2011 but he's never taken the time to learn it.  One can only wonder how many years Levine, 71, has left in him.  One would hope that he leaves the podium in full possession of his "chops," rather than hanging on to the stage for dear life, like Placido Domingo.

Boulez

Pierre Boulez, a giant in the music field for (literally) as long as I can remember, celebrates his 90th birthday on March 26.  Although he has been in absentia during the last year, I hope that it is a happy day for him.  Although he wrote some of the most difficult music known to man or beast, I'll never forget his later career as a conductor, which I was able to experience more than once in Chicago's Orchestra Hall.