Geneva maestro is paid half a million for 2 months’ work
NewsThe Orchestre de la Suisse romande, long known as one of the world’s worst managed orchestras, has turned a new leaf and come clean about what it is paying its music director, the English conductor Jonathan Nott.
Nott’s salary comes to 550,000 Swiss francs ($587,263), for which he spends as little as 64 days of the year in Geneva.
On top of that, he is paid 52,500 francs for accommodation in Geneva, which includes travel to and from his home in Lucerne. Nott, 59, has an open-ended lifetime contract with the orchestra, dating from February last year. He is managed by AskonasHolt in London.
Nott is also music director of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. His father was a humble priest at Worcester Cathedral.
Full details here.
I think half a million swiss francs is not as much as let’s say half a million in the USA. The prices are different in Switzerland. Inflation rate also matters 😉
PS just my humble opinion, of course 😉
It’s A LOT even for Switzerland.
64 days on location is already a lot for a “chief” conductor these days. It amounts to 10-12 programs?
Of course the whole business model of the modern jetset “chief” conductor is a farce. Happy agencies. Rich conductors. Music is suffering.
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Isn’t 15 to 18 weeks plus a tour or two the most any music director/chief conductor does with an ensemble, and for that, they can be paid upwards of $3 million USD?
Going by empirical evidence about 10-12 weeks per season seems to be more the norm these days for a full time chief? Makes the agencies happier, so they can milk their cash cows a few weeks more with guest conducting gigs.
I have heard Nott three times in concert and reviewed a few of his recordings – never again!
We in Bamberg think differently…but we are musicians,not critics,so what do we know…LOL
That’s how he can afford a Lamborghini. Still, it’s a lot less than many others we could mention for their work with a single orchestra.
Jonathan … NOT!
Jonathan Nott used to be but is no longer managed by Askonas Holt – he left some years ago.
Days on the ground in Geneva doesn’t necessarily translate into the sum of his work. As music director he is probably involved in discussions and decisions all the time, wherever in the world he is.
How many concerts is he conducting for that money? I’m guessing the pay is in line with industry standards, for better or worse.
If that’s his “salary,” his performance fees might be on top of that. That’s how it worked in my (largely but not solely US-based) experience.
Your concern well taken, but look around. So-called music directors making much more often commit no more than 8-10, maximum 12 weeks to their orchestras.
What is outrageous to me is nott his salary but that he was given a lifetime contract. That is nott smart on the part of OSR management. And accommodations in Geneva when he lives in Lucerne? Lucerne is 3 hours away by train. Anyway, it’s nott for me to judge. Or perhaps it’s nott true.
Kleiber was like this but, well, he was Kleiber!!
ANGLICAN priest’s son, (not Catholic).
NL doesn’t recognise religion unless it’s Jewish…. lol
What would be the interest to conduct there otherwise? Was Paavo a philanthropist? Maybe Ansermet wasn’t into it, who knows… If you can make a lot of money doing a job a lot of people would do for free, life is not so fair…
Institutions world-wide are overpaying conductors/music directors. Many can do without.