Maestro move: Big stick to Rockies
NewsThe former Toronto Symphony music director Peter Oundjian has been named principal conductor of the Colorado Symphony, starting now.
The orchestra lost its music director Brett Mitchell six months ago. Oundjian’s role as principal conductor will be t set the wheels turning again, but not too much The chief exec says he wants audiences ‘to experience a larger variety of conductors each season’.
Photo (c) Michael Esminger/Colorado Symphony
Wonderful move. Peter is an underrated talent who has been unfairly overlooked for some time. He built Toronto into a musical powerhouse that can compete with Berlin and Vienna on a good night. Methinks he ought to get a look in the Windy City…
Agreed. I always looked forward to the TSO concerts when they visited Montreal or Ottawa. I remember a Dvorak 6th Symphony in January 2020 just before the world ended.
LOL! Toronto has been an excellent orchestra for many years, but hardly can it begin to match the two you mention. The Colorado Symphony is a good orchestra in a crappy hall, in a crappy arts city. The hall is rarely even half full unless Perlman or Yo-Yo shows up. I hope he can breathe some life into things.
Will he continue at Boulder’s Chautauqua Festival? If so, one wonders if that will become just a “run-out” for Denver musicians. Boulder’s longstanding tradition of housing out-of-town musicians with host families has been a winning formula for years and we’d hate to see it go.
Nothing changes in Boulder. Two jobs, different organizations.
Peter is still the music director of the Colorado Music Festival (Colorado Chautauqua is the venue). There is absolutely no plan to change the makeup of the Festival orchestra, which is comprised of musicians from all over North America. We already enjoy a strong relationship with CSO staff and musicians and are excited about how Peter’s increased presence will attract more attenton and interest to the arts in our region.
Better musician than conductor. The performances can be quite insightful and exciting, but the execution can be terribly lacking. Sadly I’ve heard it might be because of his injury, and he deserves better in his career than his setbacks have allowed him. He’s a wonderful guest but I worried we would get him permanently in Baltimore, but I look forward to his coming here again as a guest very eagerly.
Bang on
The “acting” chef exec is a she, not a he. And she has absolutely no background in arts management. Also, they didn’t “lose” their former MD, they fired him after only a couple of years, just as Litton was fired after a couple of years. Conductors would be wise to avoid seeking the MD position with this ensemble.
You sound salty! I’m sure their new additional endowment funds will keep those wise conductors away.
He’s a very good conductor. Toronto is probably unsafe.
PO is an outstanding musician. More power to him.