A funny way to fire a conductor

A funny way to fire a conductor

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

May 10, 2023

Over the past six years, we have received encouraging reports from Ecuador, where a conductor called  Dante Santiago Anzolini has been giving national premieres of two Mahler symphonies, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Firebird, Berio’s Rendering, Bartok’s Music for Strings percussion and celeste and much else. He has also exhumed the works of Ecuador’s national composer Luis Salgado.

However, all this counts for nothing when politicians get involved.

Ecuador has had six Minister of Culture in as many years and each of them has a God-given right to meddle with the orchestra. The latest is called María Elena Machuca.

The Orquesta Sinfónica de Guayaquil, has had five executive directors over that period. The latest, Ana María Tamayo, has fired the orchestra’s music director for no apparent cause. No word of the putsch has been published on the orchestra’s website.

Ms Tamayo spends much of her time on Instagram and Facebook under an assumed name (below). Meanwhile, the music dies.

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