Man fires conductor, board fires man

Man fires conductor, board fires man

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norman lebrecht

August 01, 2015

Turmoil at the San Luis Obispo Symphony, midway between San Francisco and LA.

Three months ago executive director Edmund Feingold terminated the music director Michael Nowak, who had served for 31 years.

This weekend, the board fired Feingold, who had been in the job for just over a year.

michael nowak

Comments

  • Doug says:

    Looks like a clever way for the board to have a completely clean slate. Get your executive director to do the dirty work and then you fire him. Normally, the board of an American orchestra hires and fires the music director so they had only enough spine to fire one but not both. What a bunch of gelatinous cowards.

    • Edmund Feingold says:

      Pretty good speculation, Doug. This half year later, I feel that this needs to be corrected as this article creates a false impression of the events. The board hires and fires the Executive Director and Music Director and took action on both. The board made this decision to fire the Music Director, not me. I was instructed as the chief executive to send a press release, drafted by an independent contractor and hired by the board, announcing this change under my name. That does not change that the board made the decision and directed the course of action following the dismissal of the music director. I am happy to be done with this issue and only write in here because the author of this article has been careless in his analysis of the events. I felt this deserved correction as a record of the events that transpired. Thank you, Doug, for your speculation is more on the mark than the original article. I wish all, including Michael Nowak, well in the future and hope that these changes are the best for everyone.

      • I am surprised this happened even though it is so late, Mike Nowak worked on many Hollywood movie scores in the past with Composers like Alan Silvestri and John Williams.

  • John says:

    Doug, that sounds like rampant speculation. It’s equally possible the board was angry he fired the M.D. so they fired him. Perhaps the true facts will come out.

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