US conductor lands French post

US conductor lands French post

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

April 25, 2024

The Solti award-winning conductor Roderick Cox has been appointed music director of Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie from SDeptember.

He succeeds Michael Schønwandt, who stepped down in 2023 after eight years.

Comments

  • John Borstlap says:

    He is very good. Explore his videos:

    https://roderickcox.com/

  • Roger A. Smith says:

    He’s terrible. And he knows it. I’ve never seen a conductor that is so insecure. I’ve seen other conductors that are terrible. But being this insecure and conducting opera is a recipe for disaster. Good luck to the young maestro. I’m sure we will also a lot of him.

  • Curious says:

    There seems to be an unusually proportion of homosexuals among conductors : Mitropoulos, Bernstein, Eschenbach, Nézet-Séguin, Sokhiev, and more. Now Roderick Cox.
    Certainly the percentage of gay conductors is higher than that for the general population. I wonder what causes it ?

    • Herr Doktor says:

      Oh, NO!!! You’ve uncovered our SECRET PLOT, Curious.

      Now you’re leaving us with no choice but to RECRUIT you so you shall never speak of this publicly again.

    • William Ward says:

      Maybe they’re just naturally better. Or maybe it’s none of your business.

    • Pauker says:

      What!!!!!!!!

    • Manfred says:

      To reply to Curious: ….. a former French stand up comic by the name of “Colluche” once stated that “Gays cannot reproduce, but somehow there are more and more of them each day”.

      Hope that answers your silly and out of place comment which has nothing to do with the conducting ability.

    • John Borstlap says:

      What kind of totally nonsensical comment is this??

    • Anonymous Gay says:

      Read ‘The Velvet Rage’… it shouldn’t come as a surprise that homosexuals (at least those who feel unwelcome in certain parts of society) feel the need to prove themselves, work hard, master a skill, and push themselves to excel. Explains why gay men (the difference is more pronounced for men) in the US earn on average 10% more than their straight counterparts with similar education, and same sex married couples have a 27% higher median income than straight couples.

  • ParallelFifths says:

    Had to give away a ticket to his guest spot conducting a night of Ravel, Dawson, and Prokofiev at LAPhil last season–the lucky recipient raved about the program and his conducting.

  • Marc says:

    Yikes.

  • tramonto says:

    Years after seeing him conduct Prokofiev 5, that performance’s still seared in my mind for how wonderful and thoughtful it was. I hope the Montpellier audience have similar experiences.

  • Allen says:

    I’ll never forget once when a conductor search committee told me that they were on the fence about him, certain members wanted to hire him, but the orchestra members were against him. They ended up hiring him for diversity, and everyone was unhappy in the end until he finally left.
    How did he get this job in France? Does he even speak French?

  • Paul Joschak says:

    His conducting of Barber of Seville at ENO recently was most underwhelming.

  • SouthernWoodsman says:

    oof. Poor them. Played Handel Messiah with him. Some of the most boring uninteresting rehearsals I have ever seen. Dress rehearsal he ran out of time about halfway through the piece he stopped and talked so much. With an audience there! Embarrassing

  • NYC musician says:

    Nice enough guy but awful conductor

  • Joel says:

    The WORST Brahms 4 I’ve ever played. And mean and b*tchy. Boooring!!!

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