US orchestra retires eight players

US orchestra retires eight players

main

norman lebrecht

June 12, 2017

Summer may be clearout time, but the Milwaukee Symphony is ushering out eight players at a go, which (as Damon Runyon would have said) is more than somewhat.

The departing players are former associate concertmaster Anne de Vroome Kamerling, violinists Andrea Wagoner, Les Kalkhof, and Taik-ki Kim, cellists Elizabeth Tuma and Margaret Wunsch, assistant principal flute Jeani Foster and pianist Wilanna Kalkhof.

Together they represent more than three centuries of playing experience.

More here.

Comments

  • Steven Holloway says:

    The header and elements of the post surely suggest that the players are being forced into retirement (“…retires eight players…clearout time…”) rather than that, as is in fact the case, that they have chosen to retire after many years sterling service. This sloppiness in writing (or is it understanding of the announcement linked to?) does a disservice to the musicians retiring and/or the conductor/management of the orchestra.

    • Pamela Brown says:

      I agree. This does seem a bit tacky…

      • Steven Holloway says:

        Thank you, Pamela, and not just for the endorsement. I clicked on your name. I’m not a ‘twitterer’, but I am now following you on that site, and more importantly on your Die Zauberflote site. And I’m following you on YT. I haven’t yet quite grasped it all, but your situation in Minnesota sounds decidedly odd, the others’ behaviour way out of line. During the first half of the 1970s I used to spend much of every Sunday accompanying a friend who was studying with Gareth Morris; earlier he studied with William Bennett, the flautist I most prize. And thus I listened to your YT uploads with great interest. You are playing under difficult conditions there — I’ve done that. I’d just love to hear you play a Bach sonata — and maybe the Poulenc? Just a thought. I’m with you, and I encourage others to look at your sites. Best wishes.

    • rick cox says:

      i believe you are correct in your assessment. i had already read that one of these players, margaret wunch, was retiring and it seemed obvious in the couple of places i’d seen it that it was a totally voluntary decision on her part. after all, from what i’ve read she began performing with the mso while still in her teens, in the very early 70’s, her career with them spanning very close to half a century(!) for this article/writer to imply that musicians of this caliber and dedication are being given “the boot” is a great disservice, most unfortunate and sad.

  • Dileep Gangolli says:

    I agree. I have subbed periodically with the MSO and all these players are respected and have enjoyed lengthy careers. This headline is deceiving, however, it did make me click on it to read more. So perhaps that is the purpose.

    • Steven Holloway says:

      There is an awful lot of clickbait on this site, Dileep, and you may be right. But clickbait that hurts people is in a category of its own. I’m inclined to suspect, given that there are as many errors as clickbait here, that this was just extremely careless. Posts are uploaded too quickly, part of the effort to establish SD as the ‘go-to’ classical music site (and referred to as if it is thus the best, which is fallacious logic indeed) and I’ve often thought that headers and posts are concocted without having read the details properly, as with the article to which the post is linked. No one who has read that would think that the players were ‘retired’, passive voice, a “clearout”, rather than that they decided to retire, active voice. It’s baffling, really.

  • MOST READ TODAY: