Cinc’y Symphony adds 8 musicians
mainThe new appointments include two assistant concertmasters and a principal clarinet, trumpet and bassoon. Five musicians are new hires, two are internal upgrades and one is a returnee.
Principal Trumpet Robert Sullivan rejoins the CSO. Christopher Pell is the new principal clarinet and Christopher Sales principal bassoon, StefaniMatsuo and Philip Marten become associate and assistant concertmasters, Charles Morey, Caterina Longhi and Christopher Fischer join the strings.
That’s quite a shakeup.
All desire for sensationalism aside, it is not a “shakeup” at all. The orchestra is simply filling vacancies, several of which have occurred because long-serving musicians have retired, while others are positions that have been open for the past few seasons. Anyone looking beyond their own assumptions can easily determine the natural and orderly nature of these new hires.
Indeed, not a shakeup, just an unusually large number of vacancies filled at one time. Three per year seems to be more common in an American orchestra (thus you see quotes that a 20-year music director has “hired” more than half the players).
I would imagine a typical orchestra hires more than three new musicians in a typical year. A typical number would be more like six or seven, given retirements, and musicians moving on to do something else, or moving to another orchestra (or failing probation). Not everyone joins in their twenties and stays for forty or more years.
I know you know this already, but: no apostrophe in “Cincy.”