Maestro move: HP snatches top Spanish baton
NewsThe London agency HarrisonParrott has signed the rising Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno, music director in Luxembourg and Toronto.
Gimeno, 45, was previously at K D Schmid alongside his close contemporary Andris Nelsons.
HP have been signing artists wholesale during the Covid pandemic, most of them Baltic women. Gimeno will be managed out of London by Lydia Connolly.
I don’t understand. Seriously, I don’t get it. He came to conduct a choral-symphonic program a few years ago and he was all energy with no clear indication of a music intention and no technique (which translates into lots of talking during rehearsals).
He’s pretty cute, though.
Which conductors do you like FrauGeigerin?
Hi JK, I like the conductors that make us play even better; conductors who give us direction, clear instructions; who have good knowledge of the orchestra and the instruments and do not ask for silly things; with a plan for rehearsals; conductors who who do not waste time in rehearsal; conductors that do not make performances about them but about the music (that are on the podium to serve the music); who are respectful and understand that without us there is no music; conductors who have a clear vision; conductors who have a good technique and do not need to talk all the time… Qualities very difficult to find these days we live in; the times where there are so many reasons (economic and “political” interests) other than quality to have someone on the podium.
Of course there are no perfect conductors, but of all the conductors I have worked with my favorites have been (for one reason or another) Semyon Bychkov, Abbado, Mehta, Paavo Jarvi, David Zinman, Jun Märkl, Haitink, and Chailly. If I had to choose one it would be probably either Haitink or Bychkov. Bad ones? So many (for so many different reasons), but of the really famous one there is a particular Japanese-American conductor I find particularly bad…
My God, so much bitterness always in between your lines.
Considering several of the conductors you just named aren’t conducting you regularly, I understand your frustrations. I hope for you that you have ‘a life’ in addition to talking and writing about conductors.
Always interesting to read your conductor views.
Probably, when you saw him it was early in his full time conducting, which apparently started in 2013, although he was conducting some time before that. He may have changed since then.
As background –
He was Principal Percussionist at the Royal Concertgebouw orchestra (2002 -2013?).
I understand that his early mentors were Mariss Jansons and Claudio Abbado (in Bologna and as his assistant in Lucerne – surprising as it has been said that Abbado did not talk a lot in rehearsals).
@Derek, it was less than 5 years ago. Our (the orchestra’s) note to the artistic committee was that he should not be re-engaged, but who knows! agencies are powerful and sometimes if the orchestra wants to engage a particular conductor or soloist the “price” is that we also have to engage another conductor or soloist they want…
We have a very beautiful profession in a dirty business!
Then he sounds just right for HP.
The talking in rehearsal is a clear sign of bad conducting skills. Great conductors usually don’t need to rely too much on spoken instructions (Abbado and Mehta come to mind). Poor technique and conductor stills are common (more these days) because many musicians believe that being a good musician, buying a baton, being energetic and charismatic, and acting frantic is enough, and don’t bother to learn to communicate clearly with the orchestra through gestures (=conducting technique).
Who cares?
Well the agencies run everything and call the shots, especially those stupid unsustainable fees these people get. As always, if you’re chummy with the right people you get the gigs.