The unpredictable Greek has cancelled the rest of September.

Michael Sanderling will take over his duties at SWR.

 

We have been here before.

At the end of Ernest Fleischmann’s inspirational 28-year leadership in 1997, the organisation appointed a Dutchman,  Willem Wijnbergen, who had been running the Concertgebouw. Wijnbergen, it was clear from the outset, was unsuited. In the most open-shirted of cities, he was uncommunicative and withdrawn. Walt Disney Hall ran into a building crisis. The Dutchman had no solutions. He was gone inside a year, replaced by Deborah Borda, who was plucked from the New York Philharmonic to put the LA Phil back on track.

Over the next 17 years, Borda brought the hall to a triumphant opening and signed the most exciting conductor available in Gustavo Dudamel. She changed the dynamic of the organisation, made the players the best paid in the US and spread a feelgood atmosphere.

When she left in 2017 to return to the NY Phil, the board learned nothing from history. Looking no further than the West Coast, it hired the effective though unimposing manager of the Seattle Symphony and expected him to fill large shoes. Today, we learned, that didn’t work.

Borda’s shadow was too long and Dudamel’s needs too insistent to give a successor much chance of success. The true causes of Woods’s departure may emerge in the coming weeks, but the immediate suspicion is that he was miscast in the role through no fault of his own.

What next?

LA’s headless future.

 

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced the abrupt departure of Simon Woods, its chief executive since January 2018.

No reason was given. He will leave immediately.

Woods said: ‘The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an extraordinary organization in every respect. It has been my complete honor to lead it for almost two years. However, after a great deal of reflection, I have concluded that my hopes and aspirations lie elsewhere, and as a result, I have tendered my resignation. I wish Gustavo, the musicians, the staff, the Board and everyone associated with this organization all the very best as it commences its second century.’

Two board members will run the organisation until a new CEO is appointed.

UPDATE: We have been here before.

Woods, a Londoner, previously spent seven years at the head of the Seattle Symphony. Before that, he was with New Jersey Symphony and, prior to that, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. A sometime record producer for EMI, he has a post-grad diploma in conducting.

He has never left a job before in mid-movement.

His predecessor Deborah Borda told the LA Times: ‘The cultural ecology of every artistic institution is unique and particular, and a leader who works brilliantly in one setting may simply just not be right in another. Bravo to Simon for his clarity, as it must have been a difficult decision.’

The prominent UK music educator has died at 84.

A prolific composer and arranger, he worked initially for the Royal Ballet School, then for Trinity College of Music, where he was chief examiner.