The Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra has appointed the German Jun Märkl as artistic advisor, effectively its chief conductor.
Märkl, 61, is German-Japanese, a protege of Seiji Ozawa. He was last employed by the Basque National Orchestra, ending there in 2017.
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Very fine conductor!
Too old, conductors over 45 should not be appointed, otherwise we risk having to endure performances with ‘tempi’ on the slow side, with the consequent boredom of the public, which will do little or nothing to attract young people to the auditoriums.
What drivel! Are you joking?
Except in Asia Darrell. They prefer old white men.
In that case they should try conductors from the ‘Historically Informed Performance (HIP)’ approach, as they have a habit of going faster and keeping audiences awake more easily. Slow conductors bore the audience even with Vivaldi.
Leonard Slatkin/Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2
1979 Recording at age 35 – 58:45
2009 Recording at age 65 54:05
I shaved almost five minutes off the first time around. Most of my performances these days are usually a bit quicker than my earlier ventures.
Interesting – Neeme Järvi has also become quicker over the years.
He once told me (with a twinkle in his eye) that at old age he had less time to waste so tends to speed things up.
Someone would say that this is anecdotal evidence, an exception to the rule, albeit a pleasant one. Upvoted.
“We” risk nothing Darrell. As long as we stay far away from Taiwan. As for the Taiwanese… this man in German-Japanese and a PROTEGE. He was made for Taiwan. Enjoy him my Taiwanese brothers.
Markl had the fastest tempi for a performance of Schubert 9 and Schumann 1 I’ve ever heard live. I did wonder whether the Schubert would go off the rails at one point but it did not.
they’ll luv him long time there (after the obligatory 14-day quarantine)
He’s extremely talented. The Taiwanese are lucky to get him.
Isn’t Eliyahu Inbal their chief conductor? Is this nomination to replace Inbal who was recently nominated?
Märkl has the National Symphony Orchestra and Inbal leads Taipei Symphony Orchestra. This and next week Märkl will conduct 2 concert programs to a nearly sold-out hall, where Inbal will put on Mahler 5, 6, and 7. Yo-Yo Ma, Daniil Trifonov, Ray Chen, Christian Lindberg, Radovan Vlatković are among some soloists who undergo 14-day quarantine to perform in Taiwan recently.
Almost every musician visiting Taiwan undergo a 14 day quarantine. Except that YoYo Ma only took a 7 day quarantine, and Trifonov also took a less than 14 day quarantine. Actually, because of that, their shortened quarantine become some scandal in Taiwan. The scandal is not not to the musicians, but for their shitty agent in Taiwan, the MNA.