Maestra rising: Ariane gets second shot at Germany
NewsThe French conductor Ariane Matiakh quit as general music director in Halle 20 months ago in the middle of her first season.
That would normally count as a career setback. But Ariane, 41, has bounced back.
Today she was announced as chief conductor of the Württemberg Philharmonic in Reutlingen, starting next season.
Leaving an orchestra that has 118 musicians where you can play quite big repertoire to an orchestra which has 68 musicians, where you need always atleast 20 substitutes to play any even then shredded Mahler or Bruckner symphony, is quite a setback.
Anyways, looking at her Pastorale in Frankfurt – she is a complete joke.
Her new position is not a great one.
Regarding the previous comments (from Achim Mentzel and Frank Flambeau) I don’t see where anybody said her new position is equivalent to the one she left.
Anyway, the fact that she was able to get another job in Germany at all tells me that her new orchestra doesn’t think her problems in Halle were her fault. It’s a big risk for a conductor to leave a job (especially a new one) before their contract is up: they may look like a prima donna or something, and make other orchestras wary of working with them.
First: The world loves prima donnas – look at Kleiber, Muti, Thielemann or Currentzis.
Second: Hiring a female Music Director or Chief Conductor brings these days a lot of free PR, which is much more worth than talking about problems of the candidates previous post.
Third: Good luck to her and her new band.