How Lorin Maazel spends a lazy weekend
mainCanadian audiences are biting their fingernails about the Black Creek Festival, which has cancelled several events.
Among the dates in jeopardy are three concerts of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, played by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lorin Maazel. Between one Friday rehearsal in Toronto and Saturday performance, Mr Maazel will also conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Tanglewood. How does he do that? Here’s the festival’s version of his schedule:
He will rehearse the LSO in Toronto on Friday, August 26, fly by private jet to Boston that night and conduct the BSO rehearsal Saturday afternoon and then head immediately to Toronto for that evening’s performance. We’ve known about his other commitments from the beginning and have scheduled his BlackCreek dates accordingly.
Mr Maazel is 81 years old. What’s he trying to prove? I’ve asked him the question several times and never got a satisfactory answer. Maybe this is it:
All I can say is that it must be nice to have enough money to hire a private jet to taxi oneself from one gig to another. Of course I understand that he did quite well in his last year in New York: how many millions for a few weeks of work?
Dear Brian,
He is definetely not paying fo this private jet! Usually the travel expences are covered by the orchestra. I doubt it is different in this case.
Well, looks like he now has more free weekend time, huh?–since some of the concerts have been axed.
… and then one wonders why all these sponsors are required for classical music to survive! Or they aren’t finally?
Don’t be worried about the free weekend time! The Brazilian Symphony Orchestra that just dismissed 33 musicians without paying a single coin has just hired Mr. Maazel for a luxury Beethoven Festival. Does some one know how much cost to hire a private jet to taxi him to this profitable tropical gig??