Lucerne eyes Rattle as its next chief
mainThe Lucern Festival is having a transitional year after the death of Claudio Abbado and the frailty of Pierre Boulez, its two stalwart conductors of recent years.
Now, the festival’s director, Michael Haefliger, has told an interviewer that he wants Simon Rattle to take over the helm.
Haefliger doesn’t actually say that! He is extremely careful with his words, and extols the virtues of Andris Nelsons with an equal enthusiasm.
He knows Nelsons is unavailable. BR picked up correctly on his enthusiasm for Rattle.
Love that image!
I’m surprised to see you claim as ‘official’ the statement from
Michael Haefliger that Simon Rattle will take over the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra. That is not what he said in the BR interview.
What happened to all the scuttlebutt about Sir Simon taking over the LSO? Things have fallen quiet after all those rumors made the rounds last fall.
And if not him, who do they choose?
Apparently he is not really interested in moving with his family back to the British Isles.
He’s on record as saying the family made a decision they will not move from Berlin. That, though, rules out neither a London Orchestra nor the Lucerne Festival. Nor would it rule out a US orchestra.
So which US orchestra would he go to? Philadelphia was interested in him before he took Berlin.