Gardiner musicians lose Canada tour
OrchestrasThe Canada leg of a late-October performance by the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists has been cancelled due to the conductor’s withdrawal.
It remains to be seen if their subsequent Carnegie Hall date will go ahead under a different conductor.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner is unavailable for any further dates in 2023.
Here’s the word from Montreal:
Chers amis du Festival Bach,
Sir John Eliot Gardiner ayant choisi de se retirer des prochains concerts prévus en 2023, le concert du 27 octobre avec le Monteverdi Choir et les English Baroque Soloists à la Maison symphonique n’aura malheureusement pas lieu.
Tous les billets déjà achetés seront remboursés directement sur la carte de crédit utilisée lors de l’achat au cours des 15 prochains jours.
All Jeggy’s own bloody fault.
This is a tragedy for the musicians of the English Baroque Soloist, ORR and Monteverdi Choir. JEG should have conceded that, as a man of 80, his health meant that he was unable to sustain the position of MD of all three organisations, thereby allowing a replacement to be appointed rapidly, or at least an interim. As it is, venues that have booked them, don’t know who they will be getting and may well back out of engagements.
It’s a sad state of affairs, Sir John. I believe you a owe all of your musicians you best ability to use your tremendously persuasive influence to remedy this catastrophic situation ASAP before matters get even worse! Only you can use your enormous professional clout to redeem your tarnished reputation and “save your people”! Do it, Sir John! DO IT NOW!!!
Absolutely! I agree fully.
Do it now. Do it for the future of your musicians.
Do not do it for yourself as you always did. Do it for their future. Time to leave the stage… on the left or right hand side without hurting people…..
Shame he is not appearing. He is a big hit.
Have you checked your spelling in the second sentence, or is one of you computer keys not working?
A big hit means he is popular.
Er, yes but I was thinking rather more negatively. (Consider the power of the letter S used judiciously in the last word of the second sentence.)
Or is that big hitter?
Don’t know about a big hit but he tried to be a big hitter with disastrous results.
Yes, that is the reality but no one wants to admit it or believe it on here, and rely on heresay than those of us who worked with him. 80 is not old this day and age, and never been the case for conductors. Bash JEG down even forther when he is already down is the name of the game. No one is justifying the recent allegations, but I pray he comes back as a new man for we are all flawed human beings.
There are plenty who have commented on here who *have* worked with him, the majority of whom do not agree with your sycophantic position. These are not allegations. His actions were witnessed, and he has admitted them. There can be no equivocation.
I wouldn’t hold your breath.
In what capacity did you work with (for) him? I think you didn’t say what you meant when you said “No one is justifying the recent allegations”; the physical attacks are now uncontested and his bullying ways have been brought to an end. He is his own nemesis.
Hit? I can think of another word for him that sounds very similar.
How utterly unimaginative of the Canadian hosts!
It was my first reaction.
But this morning article of music critic Christophe Huss (in “Le Devoir”) mention that renting this hall (home of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal) is extremely expensive.
The delay of cancellation are short; and, with JEG potential replacement by an assistant unknown in North America, it would become difficult to fill the house.
I was at the The Proms performance, and they had alot of returned tickets, some of which they resold, but not a sell out.
I think also, no other conductor has a relationship with the Monteverdi/EBS (Dinis Sousa excepted). It’s not like a symphony orchestra where you can draft in pretty much any conductor from an existing roster to cover a cancellation.
And so disappears a big chunk of October’s income for dozens of people. The classical music industry needs an insurance system to protect musicians against events totally out of their control. Gardiner himself should make a contribution to the lost income, in this case, as he caused this by his own actions.
No reason for the concert not to go ahead in Canada just because JEG is ill. Sounds like they’re using JEG and his poor state of health as an excuse and not the reason to cancel.
“Ill”. Cut the excuses. They’re not even threadbare.
“Poor state of health”? You misspelt “violence towards colleagues”.
I can’t help thinking that the Montreal Bach Festival is using Gardiner’s withdrawal as an excuse to save money by cancelling the performance (since most classical concerts lose money).
The Bach Festival receives almost no public money – if they don’t make money on their concerts, they don’t stage them. They can’t afford to turn a loss.
And anyone who’s seen their roster in the last years knows that they are very keen and have a proven track record of bringing in top class ensembles and performers. They don’t skimp on quality to save a buck.
“The Festival Bach Montréal is North America’s premiere destination for the timeless musical genius of Johann Sebastian Bach and the cultural legacy that he has inspired. “
But apparently not…
I’m sure the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists have performed Bach’s Mass in B Minor countless times, and could do it brilliantly under any conductor.
At the Proms this week, Berlioz’s Trojans was galvanised into electrifying action by Dinis Sousa
Lot of people here wait up to 2 or 3 days before an event before to their ticket. It is very current in Montréal, a problem that all concert organizations have to deal with. If people discover at last minute, when they want to purchase ticket, that Gardiner have been replaced, a lot of them will decide to wait another prestigious B Minor mass which Bach Festival will certainly organize in the future. With Suzuki ? Maybe: he’s becoming a regular visitor.
Personally, I live in the Ottawa area: I bought my tickets for that concert immediately even If I have to travel 2 hours 30 minutes to reach Montréal, and the same time to come back. Which mean reaching home at 1 am (minimum). Yup: 5 hours driving for a little less than 2 hours of music. But when I saw English Baroque with Gardiner in the program, I shout “Torrieu” and didn’t hesitate to buy tickets. Would I have done it if Dinis Sousa have been announced from start ? Maybe; but after many hesitations. Lot of peoples wouldn’t hesitate of not buying it. In Canada, Dinis Sousa is an unknown conductor.
Another cue: it would have been first Gardiner visit in Montréal since 1990. 33 years ago was his first and only concert in the city; not with English Baroque soloists, but with the Montréal Symphony. For us, it was a first opportunity since long time and possibly the last one.
Bach Festival decision is not elegant; but it was certainly not obvious.
Exactly. Those musicians baying for Gardiner’s demise are going to find out the hard way that audiences were coming for him, not them! He was in effect providing them with work, not the other way around. How ridiculously naive.
Yes, very naive.
A curious bit of gloating, this. The victim in this situation is not JEG.
A responsible artistic leader should work to raise the profile of his group independently of his own leadership; by this stage in his career he ought to be sharing the workload with, and working to raise the profile of, his associate conductors. There’s little sign of JEG having done this. A conductor who seeks, selfishly, to keep his artists wholly dependent on himself is not to be admired. Nor is it “ridiculously naive” to expect to be able to make a living without the risk of physical and emotional abuse.
Perhaps your attitude reflects a reality in some quarters; if so, it’s a reality in need of radical reform.
Reporting physical violence by your employer is not naive. It is the right thing to do. Yes it will cost them dearly. This is not a one off event nor is he the only one doing this.
Much of it is a matter of perception: Dinis Sousa’s fantastic reviews for the Berlioz show that the success of the show was not all about JEG.
They may well have been coming for him – but the incredible reaction to the performances conducted by Sousa might wake people up to the importance of the actual musicians.
That’s unfortunate, because I think the event could have been marketed very effectively by (accurately) portraying Dinis Sousa as the conductor who saved the tour of Les Troyens and led it to triumph at Versailles and the Proms.
PS — Personally, I think the conductor which the Bach Festival should be engaging in the future is Eric Milnes, with his Ensemble L’Harmonie des Saisons. I’ve been revisiting their work on YouTube this week and I’m very impressed.
Is it known whether Sousa would have been available for that part of the tour? If not, the ensemble would have needed to find a 3rd conductor, who is likely to have been someone who had not worked with the ensemble recently. Such a solution may have been feasible, but may have been deemed too much of an artistic and/or financial risk…
Thanks for the cue. I immediately look for their recordings.
Wow 2h30 to go Ottawa-Montreal? How slow is your car?
🙂 🙂 🙂
I am about to celebrate 40 years of driving with no speed ticket; as I want absolutely to reach that, I respect the speed limits and it take me 2:30 hours to reach Montréal.
At 40 years and 1 day, I’ll drive at the same speed as the others; which mean 30 kilometers/hour over the limit for the slow motion peoples.
Very sad! It should be about the music and NOT the conductor. Surely all the musicians could perform the MUSIC under another capable conductor. What really matters is Bach, Mozart ….
The email address for the Festival Bach Montreal, should you wish to comment to them directly, is info@festivalbachmontreal.com
Had you bought a ticket? If not, under what right are you telling the festival how to run their programming?
I did. I simply notice that Chicago and New York keep the program on while Montreal cancel immediately.
And it come with a funny end. The organizer of the Ottawa “Music and Beyound” festival used the opportunity of the empty space in the calendar and hired them for a concert in Ottawa.
I attended the greatest concert I heard since 30 years I am in the area and was back home for the dinner. And I raised my beer to the poor Montrealers who don’t know what they missed !
It doesn’t have much to do (or yes) but, how is it possible that Currenzis has two internet sites, one for him-Utopia-Europe and another for him-MusicAeterna-Russia? The SWR Orchestra for sure has no idea about this…
http://www.teodor-currentzis.com/
https://musicaeterna.org/
Whenever I read “Sir John”, I have to think of Falstaff.
And then I realise that actually fits perfectly.
Max: Sir John Falstaff doesn’t bitchslap nor punch anyone, and he has self-awareness. JEG doesn’t.
Did his ensambles ever appear in concert with other conductors?
Yes, and without one too. On tours as well but obviously most of those are done with Gardiner so to sell tickets properly.
Carnegie has just announced that Dinis Sousa will lead the October performances.
The captain steered towards the iceberg and then left the sinking ship.
Cancellation works both ways.
And still there are some who make excuses for him. He and they should be ashamed.
No excuses for bad behaviour through mental illness. But yet some of us worked happily with him. Some still in the Choir singing with him for years.
His entire career has been spent under the shadow of mental illness? Pull the other one. He’s a spoilt prima donna who expects to be indulged and fawned over. This time the publicity was too great to cover up, so out come the numinous excuses. The defences are really feeble, and deeply insulting to the many he’s bullied, assaulted (variously) and destroyed.
… conductors not drivers!
The performers committed to the tour a long time before the incident. Wouldn’t canceling it just hurt them ? What was the point in that?
It’s pretty rum that many people, having bayed for his blood, are now asking him to step in to fix things, and come back!
This is a somewhat misleading headline: only one concert has been cancelled, in Montreal. 5 concerts in the USA are still going ahead with Dinis Sousa conducting.
And the Montréal concert has been replaced by one in Ottawa.