A four-concert California tour with Nathalie Stutzmann next March has been called off, some while after tickets went on sale.
The orchestra blames ‘logistical challenges’ and ‘recent significant increases in cargo and travel costs.’
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No problem for the history of musical interpretation.
I don’t know about the other California venues, but the Northridge concert will be substituting the Atlanta Symphony also conducted by Stutzmann.
Perhaps the ASO can teach the Philadelphia Orchestra a thing or two on troubleshooting logistics and keeping travel and cargo costs under control.
The sure can, it’s called not touring! Atlanta hasn’t toured for years with the exception of a few Carnegie Hall appearances.
Atlanta is a pretty dysfunctional organization tbh. Anywhere you see musicians and staff fleeing is usually a sign it’s a mess.
The biggest cargo expense would be ferrying around Stutzmann’s ego and hubris.
Oh, do you know her personally? I’ve found her to be most warm and gracious every time I’ve encountered her.
She’s a tyrant.
Really? We loved her in Ireland with the RTE. Amazing then what America then does to people and turns them into tyrants????
RTE’s not that great, sorry.
You are clearly not a professional musician. She makes up her interpretations on the fly, doesn’t know the score except for the notes, and everyone who works under her notices the hubris and ego.
Gwin I don’t think meeting an artist a few minutes at a stage door after a performance means you “know her personally”. Most artists are very nice then. What they really are can be quite different.
What a poor, incompetent guy you are that every successful woman in a male dominated field makes you shiver. Get a life!
Would you make the same kind of comment about a male conductor?
Yes. Böhm was a tyrant in rehearsals.
I absolutely would make this comment about male conductors. I have worked with Ms Stutzmann, sadly. It is possible to dislike the work of a member of an underrepresented group because it plain sucks, no? With her, Every dynamic has to be exaggerated, no sense of when the orchestra needs you and when it doesn’t, tempi which have no relation to composer’s indications, no to mention lack of tact and inconsistent stick technique.
Oh, really? How strange. Not how we found her.
Have you worked with her?
Yes – 2nd sentence in.
That’s funny; I seem to recall reading atrocious comments here about JK.
I think you mean ferrying around her enormous talent.
Interesting how a woman conductor and opera singer would get such a negative response by someone on social media who probably couldn’t conduct themselves out of a paper bag. Sounds like misplaced envy.
Mister New York, when you express displeasure with a meal you’ve eaten at a restaurant, do your friends assume you’re envious of the chef? Should Mets fans shut up when their team’s bombing because they can’t pitch or slide into home like a pro? Maybe we should just sit in our seats, passively and worshipfully, content in our mediocrity, until it’s time to applaud. Be rational, bro.
Spot on!
I am very happy I will still get to see her at CSUN. US West Coasters don’t get nearly enough of her!
4 concerts in California presents “logistical challenges” and concerns about “cargo and travel costs?”
I’d believe that for a mid-size orchestra, but not for Philly.
Have to wonder if bad blood has developed between Stutzmann and YNS after her remarks about the Met Orchestra. Yannick sided with the players, publicly.
Next spring Yannick Will tour the Philadelphians to Ann Arbor and on to Ottawa, Toronto and his hometown of Montreal.
Her remarks about the Met Orchestra were made in colloquial British English, which never sits well with Americans. They just don’t get it or our humour [yes, spelt with a U] – two great nations divided by one common language, and yet amazing she gets it as her second or third language. We understood what she meant. The Met Orchestra took it as an insult!
Which was highly unprofessional, IMHO.
YNS was quite nasty in “liking” the Met orchestra members Facebook postings a few months ago attacking Stutzmann who in fact did a wonderful job in conducting Don Giovanni and Zauberflote. Suspect that plays a role here as well.
Well, it was a stupid thing to say.
Yes, Don Giovanni for once was interesting with her conducting, and having been a very fine opera singer herself. Wonderful phrasing as a result.
That was quite unprofessional, in my opinion.
‘logistical challenges’ and ‘recent significant increases in cargo and travel costs’ Who can believe such a tale ?!
There’s obviously more going on here behind the scenes than initially meets the eye. Management has had unresolved issues with Stutzmann for quite some time now!
Eh, Philly probably just decided it didn’t make sense to send the orchestra out with a conductor who is not going to be with them after next year to go play in smallish auditoriums in the periphery of LA. The Atlanta CEO is balancing trying to keep the deficits away and also keeping her chief conductor happy who is demanding tours and recordings.
These are not smallish auditoriums. The Soraya has 1,700 seats and the Segestrom has 1,954 seats. Both have world-class acoustics and very discerning audiences.
Good to hear. My bad…
They did well last year at the Proms! Arrived in time, all masked up in case they got British Covid, for our gracious Queen to die, and then be there to play our national anthem, and Nimrod, and then go home after a tour of London in the rain with two concerts cancelled.
The travel logistics of a major orchestra are complicated and very expensive. They can create significant financial difficulties that may create problems with their budgets. There must be a high expectation of financial success. I’m sure the orchestra will create other opportunities for the conductor.
The Met cry-babies really didn’t like the “big bad woman” who DARED to call them out. That orchestra is full of WHINERS!
She did the Brahms’ Requiem with us (BBC NCW) quite recently and we liked her a lot; nice interpretation too
The tour is going on with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: https://operawire.com/philadelphia-orchestra-cancels-california-tour/
“The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, led by Nathalie Stutzmann, will join us. Yes – the same conductor, but with a new orchestra! It’s a coup. Stutzmann is the Music Director of the world-class ensemble from Atlanta.”
No one cares about the Philadelphia Orchestra, it’s Nathalie Stutzmann the star!
Didn’t the orchestra and its administration know of the “logistical challenges” and increased traveling costs before tickets went on sale? Have the costs suddenly doubled or trippled overnight? Will the orchestra pay the guest conductor for breach of contract?
could it be owing to the fact that actually she can’t conduct.