Chicago appoints a British principal horn
OrchestrasThe Chicago Symphony Orchestra has installed Dr Mark Almond as its next principal horn.
A British hospital doctor from Bolton, he has played associate principal horn in the San Francisco Symphony, co-principal horn of San Francisco Opera Orchestra and third horn of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
He inherits the hot seat from David Cooper, who narrowly and controversially failed to obtain tenure.
Other Chicago hires for the new season are Danny Yehun Jin as assistant principal second violin, and double-basses Ian Hallas, Alexander Horton and Andrew Sommer. Justin Vibbard is to be principal librarian.
Well, that breaks the mould and having a medical doctor on call too!
Why do you think Muti appointed him?
At the beginning of his tenure at Chicago, Muti fainted on the podium, keeled over in front of the concertmaster who failed to catch him (who was no doubt debating in his head: violin, Muti, violin, Muti…), fractured his jaw, and had to have a pacemaker installed.
Best of luck, Dr. Almond, for the treacherous (or traitorous) trial period Chicago is (in)famous for. Muti is known to quote in Latin, here’s a quote Dr. Almond might need to practice: Et tu, Muti?
I had a similar thought. First, I think they hired Dr. Almond in record time to make sure Mr. Cooper was permanently iced out given that there was a chance he could return at some point with Muti out of the MD position. But yes, they wanted a horn/physician in the role to tend to some of the elderly players and Muti when he’s in town. It’s brilliant!
Funny thing is Cooper is on trial for principal in SF which he won alongside with Almond, but SF will have the last laugh because if Almond doesn’t win, he’s surely going to CSO and SF will take Cooper who’s ten times the player. CSO can thank Muti and their second horn for screwing this up because the orchestra overwhelmingly wanted Cooper to stay
After the final Ravinia concert a couple weeks ago, some of the musicians hung out with DC on the lawn to say goodbye. They also presented him with a huge card that appeared to be signed by a large number of the orchestra musicians. I wasn’t there myself, but I saw a video montage on Instagram. Very moving, and it became clear that he made a strong impression on many in his short time with the orchestra.
The horn section of SFS will have two retirements (Ward and Roberts) and two exits (Almond and Hawkins, to principal positions in Chicago and Dallas). This leaves the section with only TWO players when the season opens. The situation in SF is really starting to look dire. Has the board read too much Alex Ross? They seem to think programming is all that matters and players are faceless and interchangeable. NOT TRUE.
Other orchestras are also experiencing an exodus. In the last two years the Philharmonia Orchestra has lost one of its concertmasters, its principal cello, its principal viola, one of its joint principal oboes, one of its joint principal bassoons and its principal horn, not to mention rank-and-file players. Either there’s a dangerous virus around or a lot of incompetence and mismanagement.
In the Philharmonia you are treated as a freelancer and paid per concert. This can be great when times are good, but it’s not so good when times are hard. The principal oboe has gone to the BBCSO and the principal bassoon (who I think has several very young children) to ENO. These are salaried orchestras, which offer more security and, probably, less touring.
In the Philharmonia, there’s probably now enough work for one principal, but not for two. They’ve had only one principal flute and one principal clarinet for ages.
Not limited to Philharmonia. British orchestras have been facing a mass exodus for years. Top talent fleeing for better salary and working conditions overseas.
Both Almond and Hawkins are leaving for big promotions….these are not lateral moves. That’s normal.
Four out of six horns leaving at the same time is “normal”?
Sure. But it’s still an awful big coincidence to have two thirds of a horn section leave at the same time, regardless of reason.
The issue of “tenure” is becoming a major problem in many orchestras today. Extraordinary musicians are being denied the job security that tenure provides often for the flimsiest of reasons and in many instances for no logical reason at all! The credibility of managerial decision-making is seriously being jeopardized and undermined.
The issue of “tenure” is not at all becoming a major issue here in US orchestras. In Germany, approximately 50% of audition winners fail their probation year. How many people fail their tenure review here in the US, honestly? It does happen, and when it does it’s generally in a high-profile position such as Concertmaster or Principal Horn. But it’s not all that frequent.
I understand there was a spectacular tenure failure recently in KC…
To all the fans and admirers of Mr Cooper out there, in Chicago and all over, and we know they are in the multitudes; always remember whom you have to thank for Mr Cooper leaving Chicago and for not being able to listen to him anymore in Orchestra Hall: our dearest Italian Stallion.
To Mr Cooper: thank you, your playing was unforgettable. We were so lucky to have you here, even for a short time. We didn’t deserve you.
Speaking of Chicago departures. JS, any more updates? Perhaps in the viola section?
Yes, we all know about why Cooper left and it’s seriously sickening that 3 people in the horn section and Muti can overturn the will of the audition committee and pretty much the entire orchestra. Good luck in LA David, and I hope the trial in SF goes well so you can make Muti and his three horn puppets look even more foolish. Almond might come good but the Beethoven Missa, Schubert 9 and Tchaik 5 were certainly underwhelming, especially coming right after Cooper’s Mahler 9.
On the topic of certain violist, I don’t know if that’s public knowledge so I won’t say anymore than what’s necessary but if she really did what’s being said then she doesn’t deserve anything else and good on management for having the guts to do what they did.
Hmm…. there aren’t exactly many opportunities for a 1st horn to be ‘overwhelming’ in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Schubert’s 9th. Your citing of Mahler 9 would be a valid one only if you had heard it played by both Cooper and Almond.
“sickening that 3 people in the horn section…”
But that’s 50% of the section, so if 60% (3/5) of your closest working colleagues (and subordinates) don’t want to work with you, does the will of the orchestra override the will of those who know the horn best and who will need to support you and back you up the most and, vice versa, who will rely on you and your leadership the most?
Of course, I am assuming that the 3 people had legitimate reasons (artistic or musical or organizational or leadership skills), because despite everything that has been said, no one has actually posted any specific reasons for the denial of tenure.
“We all know why…” Well, maybe the insiders and the closed horn community, but we the public actually don’t know.
Yes the public does know: Muti is a jerk and a little Duce.
Would you please tell a little bit more that what person N.N has did?
Big shoes to fill, and I assume must adapt to the Lewis horns they all play in Chicago………….
How about…
Congratulations Dr Mark!!!
But wait- there’s more to Mark Almond. He is an MD/PhD pulmonologist, who spent his enforced down time during the pandemic doing COVID research in a lab at the University of California San Francisco medical school. Leaving aside all the snarky remarks about Chicago, they have acquired a very serious person and a great horn player. Watch his horn hangout with the great Sarah Willis, in which he gives a lung primer for horn and other brass players:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enf95BpYJsw
That was a terrific video, thanks for suggesting it.
Mark Almond was a triple-threat in San Francisco during his tenure here, he’ll be much missed… https://www.sfcv.org/articles/artist-spotlight/doctor-wont-blow-his-own-horn-until-symphony-returns
He’d better get a new picture! People will freak if they think he’s playing an 8d in Chicago!
They play Lewis horns in the CSO – or they used to. The whole section.
Mr Kelly: I’m not sure about that. When I met Dale Clevenger about 35 years ago he was playing several different horns: a Carl Geyer, a C F Schmidt and a Paxman.
Tony, my info comes from here…https://cso.org/experience/article/1317/cso-horns-agree-local-craftsman-steven-lewis
This is good news. I will always remember the great years with Dale Clevenger as Principal horn. Good luck to Dr. Mark! Interesting reading some of the comments on this topic; certainly concerning the American horn sections and some UK orchestral principal positions. Tom Blomfield played some superb oboe solos for the BBC Symphony Orchestra during this year’s Proms. The Philharmonia’s loss is the BBC’s gain. There do seem to be plenty of musical chairs going on in horn sections. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra are certainly without two regular players, including principal horn. Challenging times in the orchestral world, it would appear.
I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Almond preform with the CSO during his ‘trials’ weeks under Maestro Muti’s baton and he sounded GREAT! Good hire by the CSO.
Are French hornists preternaturally multi-talented as a group? Here we have a research physician and principal horn; for a quarter century, tenured physics professor Charles Kavalovski was principal horn at the Boston SO. I imagine there other examples…
Yes!
So many double basses hired all over! Up north in Milwaukee they hired three basses themselves at the beginning of the ‘22-23 season.
Mark is an exceptional musician, and a genuinely nice guy. Class act. Chicago it’s lucky to have him. You can credit SFS negotiation troubles and board/management attitude as a deciding factor in his move, because he was being considered for the prince position there, too.
*%#£ing autocorrect. Chicago *is* lucky to have him. “Principal*, not prince, though Mark is a prince of a person.
I am endlessly happy for Mark getting this position, but the San Francisco Symphony Board better get with it and provide competitive salaries and benefits to the musicians (they’re at the bottom of the top-tier orchestras). With the horn section looking very empty right now, we’re not even close to being able to fill seats with comparable talent to those we’re losing.
All male new hires, guess times they aren’t a-changing…
Look, the elephant in the room is David is very hard to work with. He is a great kind guy and a world class player. He is also a pain in the a** and anyone on the inside knows this. All the things that many take for granted as far as professionalism on the job are lacking here. It is a deal breaker for many doing a hard job in a stressful environment which might not be what an audience goer that is a fan wants to hear but it is real and it is not an isolated opinion.
Mark is a fantastic guy and fantastic player and Chicago is lucky to have him.
So many people speak of Cooper like they have played with him. He’s an amazing horn player and kind person. But there’s a difference to being a great soloist and being a great orchestral section player. Having to learn new music quickly, be a great sight reader for those new pieces that come in last minute, and to be able to do all that while keeping track of your rests and play well with your section. It’s a different skill set that people listening in an audience may have no clue of what’s actually happening in the orchestra.
Last night (season opening) CSO’s Horn Section sounded like a local pick up orchestra… Dr. Is a good player but nothing close to what Chicago had…
By the way, the Bass section sounded great!