Philly heads for confusion as Kaiser climbs aboard

Just when everything seemed to be going so well, the Philadelphia Orchestra has hired Michael Kaiser as a consultant to help out with income policy and future strategy.

Kaiser’s record is mixed. He helped London’s Royal Opera House out of a deep pit of despond, leaving before the job was done, but the latter half of his decade in charge of Washington’s Kennedy Center was marred by inertia, jobs for pals and general retreat. The Center has thrived again since his departure.

Philadelphia musicians might like to be reminded that Kaiser in Washington hired his friend Christoph Eschenbach, a conductor they overwhelmingly rejected, at the highest music director salary in the US.

That Philadelphia should now need Kaiser’s non-FDA tested brand of snake-oil is cause for despair.