Just in: London Philharmonic hires Chicago’s ex
mainThe London Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed Cristina Rocca to be its Artistic Director from November 2020. Cristina, who has one of the best contacts books in the biz, was formerly Vice President for Artistic Planning at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Before that, she was artistic director at the Orchestre National de France, head of artistic planning at the Cleveland Orchestra, artistic manager for the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and head of Artistic Planning for the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. She’ll bring a healty dose of comopolitanism and plutocracy to the London scene, joining David Burke, the LPO’s Chief Executive, and Edward Gardner OBE, Principal Conductor Designate.
Good news for the always excellent LPO, and for all of us
Brava!
Congrats to Christine and the LPO!
Quite a résumé!!
Not a good time for dear Cristina to jump ship
“She’ll bring a healthy dose of comopolitanism and plutocracy to the London scene,”
Really, Norman? And this is a good thing in your estimation? Perhaps you want to reconsider your choice of words. I’m unsure about the cosmopolitanism, but more rule-of-the-rich the world can do without. Classical music already has a bad rep for elitism and existing for the fatcats. It certainly does not need more “plutocracy”. (Funding, yes. Control by the moneybags, no.)
Perhaps you’ve forgotten European history. What happens when the gulf between the Haves and the Have-nots becomes intolerable? Then you get what happened in France in 1789 and in Russia in 1917. Do you really want to see history repeating itself? That’s the direction we may go in with Thatcherism in the UK and Reaganism in the US.
With great wealth comes power, which often results in corruption. Plutocracy in the US has today given us a company in which the CEO earns more than the company’s 500 employees combined, and it has given us plutocratic garbage such as Rupert Murdoch, his False News Network, and, of course, the Orange Fuhrer.
I hope this is not the “healthy dose” you had in mind.
She also worked for several years in UK at Bournemouth Symphony
Who wrote a “Bournemouth Symphony?” Like a “Prague Symphony” (Mozart)? Maybe you mean an orchestra: the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Thank you for that Jan This was when she was at her best and her happiest She should never have left us
Jonathan
I met with Ms. Rocca for a mentoring session when I was interning at the CSO. She was a kind, honest, and down-to-earth person. Wishing her the best in London!