Breaking: Yannick takes another job
OrchestrasHe is already music director of the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal – as well as regular summer conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at Baden-Baden and other watering holes.
As of September he will take up a further position as Head of Conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Yannick is 49. Evidently, he wants more.
photo: George Etheredge/Curtis
Klaus Makela needs an opera house. If the Paris Opera had any sense it would offer the directorship to Klaus in 2027 when he’s freed of the Orchestre de Paris.
He is not an opera conductor. They already had a failure with Dudamel, it wouldn’t be wise to hire again somebody who doesn’t understand opera.
Aren’t there many precedents of high profile opera houses going for high profile conductors without pit experience?
LOL. Has the brat even seen 10 operas before
Klaus Mäkelä conducted his first opera “Aino” on Sunday 26 May 2017 in Helsinki (Finnish National Opera) and later also the Magic Flute. He was appointed as Esa-Pekka Salonen’s assistant in Richard Wagner’s Ring series for the years 2019–2021. However, Salonen Ring was canceled due to Covid and Mäkelä’s career continued as a conductor in Oslo and Paris.
Klaus Mäkelä sang also in the children’s choir of the Finnish National Opera from the age of 7 in at least five different operas: Carmen, Tosca, La Boheme, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina. So he has had time to hear a few operas anyway.
What an ignorant comment. This guy is the best conductor in America. The pit of Cleveland should be thrilled to have him. He’ll put Cleveland opera on the map and help this dying institution
About 5-10 orchestras and gleaming positions for Yannick and Mäkelä, by all means – but let`s see if anyone remembers anything they have done after 5-10 years.
Let alone after 50-100 years…
Sad.
Awaiting the same vitriol Makela was subjected to
This won’t happen since Yannick already had a “pass” and isn’t a blank slate for the mass hysteria and unjustified projection of hatred as the fresher Klaus. However the arguments against both cases are the same (funny how selectively the trolls apply their arguments).
Not ideal, of course, everyone agrees he is overstretched as is, but this position is in Philadelphia, same as in one of his orchestras. All of his jobs are relatively close to each other. Furthermore, this new position probably only amounts to his taking on conducting students at Curtis as assistants for his performances at the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Met. Compare to Makela, who shouldn’t have been entrusted with one “top” orchestra at this age, let alone two, let alone two on different continents, and let alone two with reputations of problematic management.
On what basis do you claim the Concertgebouw and the CSO have “reputations of problematic management” other than the unverified and unsubstantiated drivel that appears on this blog? From my vantage point it seems quite clear both orchestras are being run well. And I will add, as I wrote previously, the CSO’s appointment of Mäkelä, based on the concerts he has conducted here over the past two seasons, was a brilliant one. Who cares how old he is? The music-making is wonderful.
How they handled the tenures of Daniele Gatti and Riccardo Muti have shown a high level of incompetence. Both then went for Makela as a sign of desperation. CSOA insider admitted as such on this blog (“the bar is so low that Makela can only be a success.”) Makela then accepted, clearly believing he will be the hero whose youthful charm will make all problems go away.
As for “wonderful” music-making? Here is his Mahler 5 with CSO. I have honestly never heard a worse Mahler 5 in my life. Comparably bad, maybe. But I cannot remember a worse one. https://soundcloud.com/chicagosymphony/makela-conducts-lopez-bellido-mahler-broadcast
The cheering audience is clearly full of morons in your eyes. You could just let those morons have the conductor of their choosing, and you could just move along.
Those who can, do. Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, get on blogs and complain about others’ successes that they’ll never sniff.
The management of the CSOA is comprised of some of the most inept individuals I have ever encountered. No wonder these individuals are working in arts administration—they couldn’t hack it in any other professional field and most likely failed in school. Every decision they make, along with the similarly inept Board of Trustees (of which its members know nothing about music), suggests that common sense is truly nonexistent there.
It is absolutely appalling how they have treated RM, someone who has given so much to the orchestra and the community, over a period spanning more than a decade. People in the administration, board, and orchestra all seem to have conveniently forgotten what a brilliant coup it was when RM first signed with Chicago years ago, with the whole music world clamoring about this partnership. He could have gone anywhere he wanted to, but no, it was Chicago who practically begged him to join them. Now, they don’t show an ounce of respect to him, giving him a meaningless emeritus title while still using him to sell tickets (i.e. the recent European tour, because of course, they all know his popularity in Europe, especially in Italy, is nonpareil)…it’s disgusting behavior on their part.
https://cso.org/experience/audio/18013/makela-conducts-lopez-bellido-mahler-5
Listen and weep and tell me he doesn’t deserve his appointment
Are we supposed to say this is good? LOL
That rat wasn’t lying about this, at least: the principal trumpet IS a brute.
What about the trumpet, specifically, makes you say that? I’m not swinging either way, it’s an academic curiosity. I only heard a bit, and it sounded pretty standard to me.
Some listen to music, and there are always those who listen to Hurwitz instead.
This recording proves beyond a doubt that Mäkelä took the position for the money. He couldn’t possibly have done it for their playing unless he is even more clueless than I thought.
Makela’s Mahler is no Abbado. Not even close.
Have you heard Abbado’s Mahler when he was 27 years old? (No, none exists)
Abbado did record some Mahler with Chicago later on, and in an interview when he was heading Lucerne, he said he’d listen to his Chicago Mahler recordings and think, I didn’t know what I was doing.
So even Abbado was no Abbado when he was young.
I heard Abbado in Budapest in the late 60s, and I certainly thought that he was a fantastic young “Abbado”!!
Yes, Abbado, like Mäkelä, wasn’t “good” when he was 27. But the thing is that 27 yr old Abbado wasn’t the chief of CSO
And more, I am awaiting further scathing assessments from you Norman and psychological evaluation from irrelevant psychologists
Let YN-S stretch himself (not the fabric) thin until there is nothing more to give. The signs are already there. In the meantime, someone please appoint him a clothing consultant. As has been noted before, the Miami Vice look has been over for 40 years?
Mr T meets Miami Vice. Odd for a GenXer
Just do not appoint him as a voice coach, since he knows NOTHING and more NOTHING about proper singing. He even went so far as saying that “chest” voice came into use only 30 or 40 years ago, but the exact opposite is true! It was then that chest voice largely disappeared from female voices, hence the lack of “core”, the faulty diction, the unsteady vocal production, and the inaudibility when the notes go below the staff.
He’s been on the conducting faculty at Curtis since 2013, so not really a new job… more like an increased role.
https://www.curtis.edu/news/curtis-announces-expansion-of-conducting-program-providing-unparalleled-training-for-emerging-conductors/
see photo: the man engraves his initials on his baton
1) does his office mate borrow his all the time then “forget” to return it? Oh, I hate that. Seriously, assistant conductors, buy your own!
2) does he swap batons with other conductors when he guest conducts their orchestras, like football players swapping jerseys at the end of a match? Hey Klaus, here’s mine with my hand sweat all over it.
3) does he trade them like baseball cards? I’ll trade you ten of mine for one of Kleiber.
Bernstein and Solti also had their initials engraved on their batons.Sir Georg gave me one of his broken batons at Schleswig Holstein Music Festival.
Curtis has fallen far since the Graffman/ Otto Werner-Mueller days. Ever since Diaz took the reins in 2006 it’s been a steady decline.
How do these people find time to study? Surely their interpretations can’t be that deep if they’re always traveling from one gig to another.
Some of them don’t study … YNS totally wings it… uses the orchestra as a learning tool after listening to recordings while travelling. FACT.
They learn the piece by listening to recordings and watching youtube.
That’s why today you can have so many child prodigy conductors, there is no need to learn, or to be able to hear in one’s inner ear, solely from reading a score.
Imagine the early conductors, you got news that so-and-so just wrote a new symphony, months later you finally get your hands on the score, you had to reduce it to the piano yourself by sight-reading it transposing every instrument not in C (Bernstein’s audition at Curtis to be Reiner’s student, he had to cold play on the piano a score opened up in the middle with no name and no title), having no prior or other interpretations to guide you at all, no videos to show you how to conduct the piece, your first aural experience of the piece is the day you first stand in front of the orchestra and give the downbeat. Ohhh, that’s the say the opening chord sounds…
What’s up with the necklace? Bruh thinks he is Mr. T
You’re worried about a necklace?
Another excuse to buy new clothes…
gay people love fashion they would buy new clothes & accessories anyway.
A gross generalization, if not an out-and-out homophobic comment. What if I said that all lesbians shop at Home Depot?
For YN-S, it is simply represents a lack of taste and self-awareness.
Yes,you are tired
“What if I said that all lesbians shop at Home Depot?”
I’d love it if I was a Home Depot shareholder.
….and most of them have taste unlike Yannick
Check out the thumbs down, Zandonai. I’m not the only one who is sick and tired of people who use the cover of anonymity to bare their hateful attitude and spread cowardly poison.
I actually meant it as a compliment. You woke people are too touchy.
couldn’t one style him a bit…? It’s just hideous
Klaus has style!
And so he shall!!!!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Actually, that’s very good news for Curtis. When I was there in the ‘70’s, Curtis had a very close relationship with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In time that relationship waned. Hopefully they will become closer again.
He will be forced to spend more time in Philly, so it is good for the Philadelphia Orchestra, however, it is bad news for the MET and Montreal. These boards need to put finite outside roles into their MD contracts.
So he’s already connected with Curtis, next door to his orchestra. So he spends a morning or two there every time he’s in town. It’s not like he took a job in Shanghai.
This is “non-news” news.
This reminds me of Deion Sanders back in the day. He’s out of control!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikG0nFjzQ0
Oy vey! All these hiring committees need to give someone else a shot. So many worthy candidates whose attention is less divided.
Hmmm…Chicago is giving Mäkelä “a shot” and the reaction has been less than welcoming.
absolutely not true. what fake news universe are you inhabiting? did you attend his concerts? read the reviews? poll the cso musicians? nah.
The Curtis conducting head should have been filled years ago. It has been one of the most successful parts of the Institute under Rudolph and Werner Muller. The list of distinguished alumni from that program is long and rich. It is no small irony that, as far as I know, the most promising recent conducting grad didn’t study conducting there: Canellakis.
It is NOT a part-time job. I’m pretty sure Gary wanted David Zinman to take over if Werner Muller’s retirement had happened under his watch.
He’s another Klaus Mäkelä.
No, there’s only one KM (thankfully).
Makela is another him! Klaus hasn’t been on the scene long enough for us to know what another klaus would be like. We have no idea.
I like the idea that conductors should train in the opera house, like Bruno Walter. He played piano in rehearsals, eventually becoming assistant to conductors, then conducting opera. If they choose to conduct symphonic music, it’s after they did their time in opera. After the chaos of opera, conducting a Beethoven symphony must seem like a night off. But you don’t get there by 27 usually.
This is actually not correct – he is not taking a new position, he’s already been teaching the conducting fellows at Curtis for several years, this is really just a change of title. I have been lucky enough to be one of his conducting students and find him to be an extremely generous and present teacher despite his many commitments. His joy and kind attitude is something that his students and those who work with him benefit from greatly, and he pays each of his students great attention.
Thank you Micah!
Let’s be honest: Many of the faculty members at Curtis are members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, including principals, and there are some very busy soloists on the teaching roster like Yefim Bronfman.
So how much time are faculty members actually putting in each month?
You should call and ask
He wants to wear more hats so he can wear fewer shirts. 🙂 🙂 🙂
He will follow many eminent conductors who also taught at Curtis including Fritz Reiner. Bravo maestro! The students are very fortunate!
My fascination with your work is equal to the enthusiasm you have expressed. The sketch you have presented is elegant, and the material you have authored is of a high caliber. Yet, it seems you are apprehensive that you may be embarking on something that could be seen as questionable. I believe you will be able to resolve this issue efficiently.
YNS has had the title of “Mentor Conductor” at Curtis since 2013. This announcement is simply of a new title for him, not a new job necessarily.
This post should also mention that James Ross has been appointed “Director of Orchestral Studies”, which is new for Curtis. Along with leading the orchestra, he will presumably be teaching the conducting students alongside YNS.
that’s correct!
In contrast, Kiril Petrenko of the Berlin Philharmonic only has 1 job which he does brilliantly (coming from operatic background, no less).
He is making money while he can, who can blame him? Music is a fickle Mistress to earn a living by, after all.
“Head of Conducting” probably means he shows at Curtis a couple times a semester for a masterclass or two and then takes off again lol. Maybe he guest conducts an orchestra concert every now and then.
So it’s reached the point where Mäkelä shows up whither the story concerns him or not? Where are the moderators on this one?
He is definitely a superb conductor, love to watch him
I’d also note that people constantly complain about music directors who don’t live in or get involved in their community. OK, he didn’t join the Elks Club or the PTA, but spending some time teaching conducting students at Curtis (and hopefully conducting the orchestra on occasion) would seem to qualify as community involvement.
He didn’t actually take another job- he just got a promotion in his existing one. He’s already been teaching at Curtis – which is very near the Philadelphia Orchestra base and concert hall. Most orchestra musicians and conductors teach at one or two or even more music conservatories/academies near the orchestra they work for. It’s standard practice and expected.
1) Montreal is not a “full time” orchestra 2) Curtis is in Philadelphia less than a mile from Kimmel Center where the Phila Orch plays 3) Phila and NYC are a short Acela ride away 4) all of these posts are eastern North America. Lastly, YN-S delegates well, is seemingly unconcerned with competition, listens to his orchestra and invites the guest conductors they most like to work with.
Curtis is literally one block from Yannick’s Phila residence. One has to walk past it to get to the orchestra hall. It’s less than 2 minutes from his front door.
He is showing signs already of being too scattered. A position like music director of the Met is pretty important and pays such that he shouldn’t need extra part time jobs to make ends meet! I think an institution like the Met should have a music director that makes it his #1 priority. If he does the other jobs don’t get the attention the expect and eventually everybody loses. Just a theory. I know how I get when I have so much going on , nothing get my full attention. Maybe Yannick is the exception. A workaholic with lots of assistants to take care of the mundane tasks so all he has to do is sign off or make suggestions. If he can take on all these positions without his work at the met suffering, my hat is off to him
Well the Curtis is in Philadelphia after all. Just around the corner.
Curtis is literally one block from Yannick’s Phila residence. One has to walk past it to get to the orchestra hall. It’s less than 2 minutes from his front door.
The US government monopolies division should investigate this conductor consolidation!!
Very interesting comments. But question remains: HOW MUCH MONEY DO THEY NEED???
Male model? Escort?