Two principal clarinets are confirmed by the Met

Two principal clarinets are confirmed by the Met

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norman lebrecht

March 21, 2018

The Metropolitan Opera today granted tenure to a pair of co-principal clarinets, Anton Rist and Inn-Hyuck Cho.

They tower here above the music director, Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

Comments

  • Robert Holmén says:

    He’s just holding them close to the camera to make them look bigger.

  • Mark says:

    Behold the Little Canadian Semiconductor 😀

    • Bob W says:

      Mark .. what kind of stupid remark is that ? .. You remind me of another press hungry nitwit without a filter. What do you look like ? Allow us to judge you.

      Onto business:
      Peter Gelb has been instructed by seasoned technical crew for many years now, to give a full day to build and “tech” huge opulent sets like those wonderful and popular operas La Boheme and Turandot .
      He refuses to listen. For him, the only thing that matters are his movies.
      Yesterday, the company was rehearsing a large opera ( set wise ) Luisa Miller on the main stage during the day.
      By afternoon, the entire set had to be taken apart, loaded into trucks, removed and the HUMUNGOUS TURANDOT set had to be brought in from the trucks, loaded in, built and lit in a few short hours. Probably no dinner hour for the crew. PG doesn’t care.
      That is simply not enough time to put these enormous and complicated sets together with care so that they are SAFE FOR COMPANY MEMBERS.
      Last night, during Act 1 as Turandot makes her first appearance as the set rises up through the darkness, a huge crack was heard and one of the singers, literally dropped in the tall pagoda, as the floor of it began to crack apart. The dancers below her ( playing Turandots handmaidens ) quickly moved themselves away from what they suspected may become a disaster. Part of the pagoda fell down with them. Thank heavens on this occasion all these seasoned artists had the savvy to stay as still as possible until the curtain came in and they could be brought off the set safely. Years ago, the beloved mezzo soprano WENDY WHITE was not so lucky. She fell through a lose plank and was irreparably damaged.
      Mr Gelb has done his time at the Met. It hasn’t worked.
      Time for someone with a true love of the art form, who believes in it that the company can respect.

  • collin says:

    Be wary of 8 foot tall co-principal clarinetists; like Fasolt and Fafner, they’ll demand their salary in gold, then club each other to death.

    Just sayin’, it happened in my orchestra. We now only hire short clarinetists.

  • Mr Oakmountain says:

    Since noone else has anything nice to say: congratulations to both of them and many artistically rewarding years in this job!

  • Michael Comins says:

    Former Met principal clarinetists include current NY Phil, Philly and Chicago tooters. Not bad!

  • Marcus Clayton says:

    Congrats to both Mr. Rist and Mr. Cho. They are both excellent musicians.
    It is nice to see some good news come out of the Met during these troubling times.
    The Met orchestra is sounding better that ever these days under Maestro Yannick Nezet-Seguin. The Parsifal was superb, as was the Elektra.
    I

  • Old Man in the Midwest says:

    Who ever was playing principal in Parsifal was fantastic. Kudos to the MET for coming up with great players esp in the wind sections who go on to bigger things. Not that a career at the MET would not be the best job in the world!

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