The concertmaster resigned. No, I didn’t, she says.
mainWhen an email went out last month with the subect line ‘my resignation’, all who received it thought that Reiko Niiya was steping down as concertmaster of the Southwest Florida Symphony after 37 years.
The orchestra certainly thought so and issued a press release to that effect.
But now Ms Niiya, 67, said she didn’t mean it.
What’s going on?
Read here.
Wow. Imagine a conductor announcing s/he plans to leave in a year, expecting a “farewell season” and whatnot, only to have management say “Since you’re so keen on leaving, we’ve decided to let you go right now. ‘Bye!”
There is a clip on the News-Press article of the South West Florida Orchestra playing the opening of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony. This is a very fine orchestra.
Take a closer look at that video. It is not the Southwest Florida Symphony, but the Santa Barbara Symphony in California.
People living in the great metropolitan centers might be very surprised at the liveliness of the classical music scene and the high quality of orchestras in the boondocks. (Incidentally, if it is the same clip, it was Nir Kabaretti’s ‘other orchestra’, the Santa Barbara Symphony. He has now resigned from the SWFO after five years. I have no idea how he managed the commute between Santa Barbara and Fort Myers!)
That SWF Orchestra…got jealous of her..