Maestro move: France names an Uzbek chief

Maestro move: France names an Uzbek chief

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norman lebrecht

July 15, 2020

The next music director at the Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg will be Aziz Shokhakimov, 32, from Uzbekistan.

He will succeed Marko Letonja in September 2021.

The agent is HarrisonParrott.

Up to now, Aziz has been Kapellmeister at Deutsche Oper am Rhein.

Comments

  • BP says:

    Düsseldorf-Strasbourg seems like a sensible commute.

  • France, the country of the young musical diretors

  • fflambeau says:

    Do we need information on the agent?

  • alex piantedoux says:

    That’s a great news for Strasbourg! Aziz is a real conductor, musician, and has a natural music talent supported by an incredibly clear conductor technique.

    • We privatize your value says:

      Your message seems to imply that Marko Letonja, by contrast, is “not a real” conductor and musician, and “has not” a natural music talent supported by an incredibly clear conductor technique. Letonja is very good and has done great with the orchestra. He should be given more credit.

      • Ben G. says:

        They are both excellent conductors, but Marko is 59 and obviously has many more years of experience compared to Aziz (31). There is no comparison game to be played here.

        Nevertheless, time marches on and the page must turn for the Strasbourg Philharmonic.

        • We privatize your value says:

          Not necessarily. As a matter of fact, people in Strasbourg were very disappointed when Letonja declined to sign a new contract. They gladly would have kept him another five to eight years. He’s no Otto Klemperer, but he’s solid and reliable, and you don’t fix it if it ain’t broke, usually.

          • Peter San Diego says:

            In other words, the page must turn because Letonja decided to depart. Which is no slight to him, or to the orchestra, or to his successor. It’s a matter of people deciding on career paths. I didn’t read M. Piantedoux’s comment as any slight on Letonja: he was simply praising the choice of successor.

      • alex piantedoux says:

        no no no!!!….sorry if my message wasn’t clear enough….I wanted to express my opinion on Mr. Shokhakimov without any comparison or confrontation to Mr. Letonja.

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