LA Opera hires Chicago’s apprentice conductor
NewsThe Colombian-American Lina González-Granados has been named resident conductor at LA Opera, succeeding Grant Gershon who wants to spend more time with his Los Angeles Master Chorale. Lina will conduct one major production for each of the next three seasons. She has also been renewed by the Chicago Symphony as the Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice until June 2022.
Also at LA Opera, James Conlon has been renewed as music director until 2025.
she got lost and was very bad when conducting carnival of the animals with Philadelphia orchestra. Not good.
Well, she does check at least DEI boxes, so there’s that.
Context? If James Conlon hired her in LA I trust his judgement more than yours……..
But she has qualities that are essential to Muti. He handpicked her.
Oh yes … Muti knows what he is doing!
And so is Alexander, who meticulously codifies the duties of certain personnel working closely with Muti!
uh …. Muti. He may have issues with “the Chinamen”, but judging from his Chicago activities and interests in recent years, he certainly has no issues with Latin .. x?
I see on the horizon …. Latin fights for the Italian Gallo, with “The Rock” as mediator.
I’m sorry to say this…But this is such a miserable choice for LA Opera. I saw her conducting in a conducting competition in Paris where her conducting was just horrendous! It was obvious she doesn’t hear anything or knows what’s going on. How on earth is she going to conduct a whole opera?!
As an orchestra player who played under her, I must say that I cannot recommend her as a conductor or as a musician. I do support female conductors and would love to see more of them on the podium, but this one has such poor technique and understanding of the music that I honestly do not think she deserves to work with orchestras of such caliber.
It’s a travesty that they will waste three productions on an untrained opera conductor who is already over-exposed (beyond her ability to keep up) in other big markets. Weak performances in Philadelphia and Chicago have not endeared her to the musicians and there must be other young conductors deserving of opportunities, rather than management’s pathetic attempt to “even the playing field” by hiring the same person for all these three important positions just because she checks other boxes. The shallowness of these appointments is appalling and donors and musicians should be able to demand both quality and diversity. I would hate to be a young conductor in this day and age…
I am also an orchestra player (who has been with a certain orchestra for more than 20 years) who played under her, and will also not recommend her. I am pretty sure Maestro Muti DID NOT handpick her and it was some part of a board decision.
before anyone points any sexist remarks here – i am a female member of a big 5 orchestra.
Remember, if you play in Chicago, you are not in a big 5, even if Muti would like people to believe it 🙂
In terms of the handpicking, yes Muti absolutely did handpick her. Surely we are not discovering today that Muti would never bow to the Board. He would rather become a decent man than doing that.
It is very possible that the outcome pleased both the Board and Muti, for different reasons. A win-win situation should never be discarded, even by the Bill Clinton of classical music.
I honestly do not understand how she got these opportunities. This shows you what has become out of our music business… It’s all about connections, ass kissing and most importantly – diversity bs. disgusting.
My question here is…has she conducted an opera before? I am not sure if she has done at least one production. Anyone knows?
There are many descent female conductors out there, but this one is definitely not one of them. You might want to reconsider this #LA Opera, especially after her unacceptable performances in Chicago and Philadelphia where she almost made everything fall apart and was completely unprepared.
I know her personally. She is not a good conductor and she can be a very nasty and mean person. I wouldn’t want to have her as my colleague and definitely not as my conductor.
The LA Opera musicians are good musicians who need to be pushed. Conlon has done a good job of getting them to play well. Under Nagano, the playing was usually subpar.
If this new conductor can’t get their respect, it will be a train wreck.