Retiring conductor confirms Chicago tie
OrchestrasThe US conductor James Conlon, who recently said he was stepping down as music director of the Los Angeles Opera, has no intention of giving up his other regular gig.
Conlon, 74, confirmed he would continue to perform at the Ravinia Festival, where he has been for 37 years.
“One of the happiest relationships I’ve had is with the Chicago Symphony,” he said. “That is the longest, fairly continuous relationship that I have in the United States, and obviously I value that and treasure that enormously.”
Mäkelä in shambles !
Er…no CSO music director deigns to set foot within a mile (1.6 km for our European friends, ; )) of Ravinia.
(Muti rather flies off to Salzburg every summer.)
(Is Mäkelä the only CSO music director who had never conducted at Ravinia (as part of the usual “audition”) prior to being appointed? The NYT headline put it correctly, he’s a “conducting phenom”.)
I think it is fair to say that the actual musicians Makela conducted in Chicago last week are infinitely more enthusiastic about his appointment than the experts behind their keyboards. But what do we know?
Muti and Barenboim both conducted at Ravinia decades before they became Music Director, Solti 15 years earlier; hard to see that as part of the “audition” process. But I recall a brilliant concert version of “Figaro” under Barenboim when he was Music Director on a brutally cold evening at Ravinia. In 2008, when Haitink was Principal Conductor in the interregnum between Barenboim and Muti, we prepared some of the repertoire for the upcoming Europe tour, notably Mahler’s 6th, that summer at Ravinia.
I would love to see Makela continue this pattern at some point.
Max Raimi, was Conlon ever considered for CSO MD? I certainly think he has the skills. Perhaps he would not have been interested at this point.
I was not on the Music Director Search Committee or privy to their discussions. And they were remarkably good at keeping the deliberations confidential.
“he would remain in charge at the Ravinia”
Er… Alsop is in charge.
So all this is really saying is that he will still make appearances with the CSO, though he no longer has any official position at Ravinia.
Conlon’s term as Music Director was over in 2015. However, he still has an annual presence there.
The post is incorrect. James Conlon is not in charge at Ravinia and hasn’t been for some time, and the linked article does not suggest otherwise. Marin Alsop is Chief Conductor at Ravinia.
Marin Alsop is now “in charge” at the Ravinia Festival. James Conlon, formerly music director, is a welcome guest conductor.
http://www.ravinia.org
Why refer to him as retiring? Seems like he’s just giving up his MD position in LA.
Agreed. I heard Conlon criticize errant media accounts & state emphatically that he is not retiring & will continue an active role in LA.
“Charge” is a wildly misleading word that fundamentally misreads the affectionate quoted piece (promoting a guest conducting stint). Would remain an annual guest makes more sense, you should probably edit this
??? He hasn’t been in charge of Ravinia for 9 years…
Well, I don’t think this is quite right. James Conlon holds the position created for James Levine, which is Conductor Laureate and Music Director of The Ravinia Festival, but indeed, for the past 3 1/2 years Marin Alsop has been the Principal Conductor. Wanna guess who works harder and puts on longer hours?
I only saw Conlon conduct a symphony orchestra (LA Phil) one time. He’s quite good and should do it more often. Opera conductors tend to do better with a symphony orchestra than the other way around (like Dudamel trying to conduct opera, eeek!)
Conlon has been Music Advisor in Baltimore the past three seasons, conducting wonderful Wagner and Zemlinksky (including in a few weeks). He did a wonderful job with Wotan’s Farewell and Magic Fire a couple years ago; just such a steady hand.
This is incorrect information,.James Conlon is not retiring – only stepping down from LA Opera. He conducts frequently at the Ravinia Festival and was principal conductor there for 11 years.