New maestro in Warsaw
OrchestrasThe Warsaw Philharmonic have chosen Krzysztof Urbański as their next artistic director, starting in the middle of next year.
He succeeds the Polish-Russian conductor Andrey Boreyko.
Urbanski, 41, is about to start a term as artistic director of the Bern Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland. Before that, he was music director in Indianapolis for ten years.
Excellent recording of Rite of Spring
Hope he’s found a decent hairdresser by now
Ageist conductor. He has treated older, veteran US players very unkindly. Interesting that now he’s on the way to getting old himself he runs home to the safety of Poland.
There’s no safety in a music career, no matter where you are.
On the basis of several live concerts I have attended, he is nothing more than a timebeater, totally lacking in charisma and imagination. In an interview he gave some time ago, he said that as a teenager he wanted to become a professional footballer. Perhaps he should have pursued that instead.
I beg to differ with Mr Hall and heartily agree with Emanuele P.
I have heard maestro Urbański on many occasions in both Poland, France and Switzerland, mostly conducting concerti played by his young Polish/Canadian compatriot Jan Lisiecki.
In many ways Urbański is physically and artistically reminiscent of Vasily Petrenko who is definitely not “totally lacking in charisma and imagination”.
In fact, both could have stepped out of a boy band while Lisiecki looks like he is too young to even join one.
In one review I wrote for Bachtrack, I commented that Urbański “sensually shapes the musical phrases as if Rodin reincarnated with a baton instead of a lump of clay.”
https://bachtrack.com/review-chopin-lutoslawski-urbanski-lisiecki-lyon-february-2018.
Urbański often conducts and also rehearses complicated scores such as Shostakovich 10th from memory – a formidable feat more associated with great maestri of the past such as von Karajan and Maazel.
The genuine rapport and obvious mutual affection Urbański engenders with his orchestras is surely testament to his musical acumen and formidable artistic insight.
This is a clever move by the Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie.
I would bet serious złotys that the number of their under-30 subscribers will increase faster than they can sell hot pierogi once he steps onto the podium.
Absolute nonsense Alexander- he’s a good conductor with plenty of charisma- unlike others we might care to mention.
40 isn’t exactly old for conductors. And it’s hardly unusual for conductors to come in and try to replace players who may be past their prime.
If a new conductor comes in & decides to terminate the professional career & livelihood of an older orch player, it should, at the very least be done strategically, and with kindness & respect. And, especially in the US, it had better be damn well justified artistically. Twenty-something conductors seldom realize that. Older conductors often don’t.
Orch players are not on short term, high paying contracts as conductors are. They are employees, and they usually have to work until age 65 or 67 or so in order to receive their retirement. Switching to another full time orch job as you near that age is impossible. Full time teaching jobs are few & far between. So you don’t just throw older players into the street with no retirement, no way to make a living, simply because a conductor considers them “past their prime”. These players have value. They have wisdom, experience & they know the orch better than any new conductor.
You value your older players, you don’t throw them under the bus. It’s the most shallow of conductors who don’t realize this. Carlos Kalmar didn’t realize this & it came back to bite him in the butt. Eschenbach’s contract was the shortest in Phila’s history because he didn’t realize this. Urbanski was in his 20’s when he tried to “clean house” in the US. Now as he approaches mid-life himself (considering the wunderkind conductors out there, he, now, is possibly also no longer in his prime), hopefully he’s learned his lesson. I hope that the fine musicians of Warsaw benefit from his errors & that he will show his older players kindness.
I saw him twice in Basel conducting the Basel Symphony Orchestra, amazing interpretations of the Shostakovich 10th and the Riste of Spring, the orchestra was literally blowing up and showed an unbelievable strong character which they normally don’t have. For me he’s one of the most interesting conductors of the young generations. His recordings are also outstanding. If he found great artistic conditions in Poland why not?
I was skeptical too towards him, but then I saw the recent video of him conducting 4th Tchaik with Frankfurt Radio and that was interesting to say the least. Orchestra was clapping him twice after the performance. Maybe he became wiser, who knows
I think he’s great! Poland seems to be getting conductors with a great international profile: Urbanski in Warsaw, Eschenbach in Wroclaw, Alsop in Katowice. Not to talk about the amazing halls they have. Worth keeping an eye on what’s going on there!
He certainly has a great memory and seems to be very proud of it which is why during rehearsals he sometimes says something like “Start from the upbeat to 3 bars before rehearsal number 45!” demonstrating that he really knows where that is in the piece, but this is just about the only impressive quality he possesses as a conductor. Thanks to JS for reminding me never to bother reading his “bachtrack”.
A clown. Glad he’s out of the US. We called him Jordache model when he conducted us.