Noseda hires 15 new players in two years
mainWe hear from the National Symphony in Washington DC that four more players have joined the orchestra – violinists Marina Aikawa, Peiming Lin and Derek Powell and trombonist Kevin Carlson.
That makes 15 new hires by Gianandrea Noseda in just under two years, an unusually high influx for any orchestra, especially an American one.
We understand that some of the recruitments were to fill long-vacant seats.
Can we please get over this “NOSEDA hires?” The NSO, like most American orchestras, has an audition process when vacancies occur. There is an audition committee that listens to and winnows down candidates. The music director has a role/vote on the committee; how influential that vote is at the NSO, I have no idea. But the orchestra hires new players. It’s not like Noseda is saying “I want to hire my buddy Joe as 2nd horn” and they jump to make it happen.
MacroV: It’s a way of saying “Noseda fires 15 players”.
Baseless and totally uninformed comment @Novagerio.
Noseda has fired no one. Genuine openings.
Call it what you want, replacements, recruitments.
He is filling vacancies that often appeared several years ago (certainly before he became music director).
Who has left? Older players or younger ones? Men? I hope they’re not purging the men. I’m only being partly sarcastic there. I was listening to Cho-Liang Lin talk a few months ago and he noted how the violins at the NY Phil are becoming mostly Asian women.
So? If they are statistically the best in blind auditions, then so be it.
Or what are you saying?
And there’s a predominance of female Asian string students @ Juilliard and other US music schools. Since Lin teaches @ Juilliard, his remark was probably part of a larger context.
The point here is not that Noseda has special hiring powers, or that he has driven players away. If the seats are long-vacant, those players left during Eschenbach’s tenure as MD. Noseda’s significantly superior musicianship and leadership qualities have attracted more worthy players – and Noseda (with his player committee) was able to make quick decisions for those open positions, at the end of the audition process. The high number of positions filled should be a testament to the new direction the NSO is headed.Though I live in a Philadelphia, I am eager to hear how this fine conductor is shaping the NSO. There is excitement in the air, among my friends from our Capital City.
Noseda has “significantly superior musicianship” than Eschenbach? At least you are funny.
Sure he has. I’m sure Noseda would never let a musical atrocity like T. Barto happen on stage. To name only one example.