Just in: Frankfurt names French music director

Just in: Frankfurt names French music director

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norman lebrecht

December 05, 2019

Frankfurt Radio – the HR Sinfonieorchester – has just named Alain Altinoglu as its next chief conductor.

He will replace Andrés Orozco-Estrada as soon as 2021.

The Colombian, who’s in charge at Houston, is heading that year to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He will have served seven years in Frankfurt, but it was not a happy match.

Altinoglu, 44, has just extended his contract as music director of La Monnaie in Brussels.

 

Comments

  • John Rook says:

    AA’s upward path is unstoppable. He is excellent.

    • Cornishman says:

      Indeed he is. And for once this seems an eminently sensible portfolio of jobs – one operatic, one symphonic, only about three train hours apart.

  • Nils Angmar says:

    – „He will have served seven years in Frankfurt, but it was not a happy match.“

    If this assertion is based on the length of his contract, it’s not much to go on. Of the hr-Sinfonieorchester’s 10 chief conductors, 7 were in the post for <8 years, the three exceptions being Hugh Wolff (1997-2006), Dean Dixon (1961-1974) and Eliahu Inbal (1974-1990).

    • Max Grimm says:

      +1
      The hr-Sinfonieorchester being intent on maintaining “artistic collaborations and a continued relationship” with Orozco-Estrada in the future, also undermines the “not a happy match” claim.
      Orozco-Estrada (who resides in Vienna with his family) has been pretty upfront about his desire to reduce travels between home and his posts, trying to better combine “work and family time”.

      • Saxon Broken says:

        Yes. Taking the Vienna SO job means he can live at home and work, avoiding some travelling. People under-estimate how much the sheer grind of endless travelling and hotels takes it out of many people.

  • Steve says:

    ‘…not a happy match’?
    Judging by their concerts on YT they seem to be playing better than ever now…

  • Beni Klarer says:

    It was a happy match artistically!

  • Charles says:

    Why does it seems NL doesnt really like Orozco-Estrada?

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