Atlanta boldly goes with Stutzmann where Philadelphia fears to tread
OrchestrasWe reported last week that Philly had cancelled a four-concert California tour with conductor Nathalie Stutzmann on financial grounds.
She was disappointed.
So guess what? Her other orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony has taken up the tour with no financial qualms. Nathalie shall go to the ball after all.
Here’s the Atlanta statement:
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has announced that it will embark on a four-city tour of southern California during the week of March 3, 2024.
The Philharmonic Society of Orange County in Costa Mesa; Palm Springs Friends of Philharmonic; Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in Northridge; and the Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara (CAMA) will host the ASO, led by Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann and featuring pianist Haochen Zhang, Gold Medalist of the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition, as soloist.
The ASO last toured California in 2006 for performances at the Ojai Music Festival. This will be the first tour with Nathalie Stutzmann, who began her tenure as Music Director in the Fall of 2022.
“taken up the tour with no financial qualms”
There are always financial qualms, someone is footing the bill, whether it’s a sponsor or a trustee or the orchestra itself, and whether you worry about it today or tomorrow is a matter of accounting and accountability.
Good point. The leading companies in Philadelphia have not been as forthcoming in sponsoring orchestra tours as those in some other cities – perhaps cross-state Pittsburgh most notably. And the fact that the Philadelphia went through bankruptcy within recent memory unquestionably is making them more cautious about taking on money-losing projects.
Just curious why Philly was supposed to go with her instead of Yannick? Isn’t touring part of responsibilities of the MD?
Yannick was busy at the nail salon!
As the homophobia continues to fly freely.
Yes, he had to wait untill they were done with your nails at the salon.
We’re soon going to get very cross with these nails comments.
Thurs 3/7/24 is opening night of the MET’s Roméo et Juliette with all performances to be conducted by YNS. He was never scheduled to conduct Philly in CA.
Yannick is over-stretched as is with 3 orchestras.
A question for someone who knows Los Angeles and orchestra touring better than I do – would/could the tour described above be done as a series of ‘run-outs’ from a central location, with the orchestra staying in the same hotel every night?
No. They will be changing hotels for each stop. Going from Costa Mesa to Northridge, for instance, could take anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours, depending on traffic.
Most likely. It works well in LA if you can avoid the rush hours. A sponsor that Ms Stotzmann must have cultivated must have picked her over the orchestra. And she’s right. Most opera orchestra musicians phone it in
Tricky situation at the moment, given the ongoing strike by the hotel workers union, which has now asked Taylor Swift to cancel her four scheduled LA appearances in solidarity with the strikers. Philly may have to decamp to neighboring Ventura County or beyond or pitch some tents to avoid crossing deep picket lines.
It certainly could, with sufficient accounting for the vagaries of traffic congestion.
It depends on their union contract but yes it’s possible and that may well be what they’ll do. All 4 presenters are within range of a central hotel location say in the San Fernando Valley.
Be nice if they filled some of the numerous open Principal positions or hired more full-time core players in Atlanta before splurging on a meaningless tour…..