At the closing performance of the Glyndebourne season, chairman Gus Christie announced that Vladimir Jurowski was leaving in three years (as tweeted by Jessica Duchen). By then he will have put in 13 happy years and kept Glyndebourne fresh and challenging throughout, deepening the Wagner content, introducting Russian operas and generally being there through each summer as a hands-on musical leader. The ever-rising Juro will be just 41 when he moves on.

That year, 2013, will also be Antonio Pappano’s last at Covent Garden. There will be plenty of press chatter in the years ahead about likely contenders and I don’t intend to waste this space on idle speculation. That said, you’d have to be a slow-witted Martian with mobility problems not to spot that the timing of the two departures looks just perfect for the Metropolitan Opera.

The Met will need strong candidates to be free when it has to get to grips with James Levine’s health problems and its artistic future. Those issues cannot be dodged much longer. It helps that there are now two hats in the ring, each with an outstanding international record.

   

At the closing performance of the Glyndebourne season, chairman Gus Christie announced that Vladimir Jurowski was leaving in three years (as tweeted by Jessica Duchen). By then he will have put in 13 happy years and kept Glyndebourne fresh and challenging throughout, deepening the Wagner content, introducting Russian operas and generally being there through each summer as a hands-on musical leader. The ever-rising Juro will be just 41 when he moves on.

That year, 2013, will also be Antonio Pappano’s last at Covent Garden. There will be plenty of press chatter in the years ahead about likely contenders and I don’t intend to waste this space on idle speculation. That said, you’d have to be a slow-witted Martian with mobility problems not to spot that the timing of the two departures looks just perfect for the Metropolitan Opera.

The Met will need strong candidates to be free when it has to get to grips with James Levine’s health problems and its artistic future. Those issues cannot be dodged much longer. It helps that there are now two hats in the ring, each with an outstanding international record.

   

On tonight’s edition of the Lebrecht Interview, Sir Clive Gillinson charts his progress from the second desk of cellos in the London Symphony Orchestra to the leadership of the world’s most prestigious concert hall…. a rags-to-riches story to warm every musical heart.

Or is it? The job may carry a million-dollar tag – the actual salary, Clive clarifies, is much lower than that – but there are high pressures to perform and deep infrastructural flaws. We had a discussion about the hall’s stagehands and electricians, five of whom take home $400,000. Clive explained that the union theatre agreements are city-wide and cannot be tackled unilaterally by a single venue.

Back in England, he continues to attack the Arts Council’s refusal to recognise excellence, funding all London orchestra at roughly the same level regardless of whether they rehearse much or not.

Catch Clive at 9.15 tonight on BBC Radio 3, and streamed for the next week.

The season’s final Lebrecht Interview, next Monday, is a man who has never spoken on British radio before.

On tonight’s edition of the Lebrecht Interview, Sir Clive Gillinson charts his progress from the second desk of cellos in the London Symphony Orchestra to the leadership of the world’s most prestigious concert hall…. a rags-to-riches story to warm every musical heart.

Or is it? The job may carry a million-dollar tag – the actual salary, Clive clarifies, is much lower than that – but there are high pressures to perform and deep infrastructural flaws. We had a discussion about the hall’s stagehands and electricians, five of whom take home $400,000. Clive explained that the union theatre agreements are city-wide and cannot be tackled unilaterally by a single venue.

Back in England, he continues to attack the Arts Council’s refusal to recognise excellence, funding all London orchestra at roughly the same level regardless of whether they rehearse much or not.

Catch Clive at 9.15 tonight on BBC Radio 3, and streamed for the next week.

The season’s final Lebrecht Interview, next Monday, is a man who has never spoken on British radio before.