How NY Phil’s safe hands dropped the ball and ran
OrchestrasWhat could possibly go wrong for Gary Ginstling?
He’d worked with orchestras all his life and was ready for the ultimate challenge – running the uber-rich and self-regarding New York Philharmonic as it transitioned from an unwanted conductor to the superstar Gustavo Dudamel.
The orchestra’s outgoing president Deborah Borda had secured Dude’s autograph on the legal documents before she left and the conductor showed willingness to help even before his start date.
But the Dude and Gary show never got on the road.
The chemistry stank and the lines of authority blurred. Ginstling found Dude was not taking all his calls. Dude kept talking to Borda, as he had done for half his life.
Fundraising all but stopped when Borda left. Then the players cleared their throats, preparatory to a tough wage round. Ginstling eyeballed them, and blinked first.
A sordid case of historic rape led to two musicians being suspended and the atmosphere going sour.
Why Ginstlling chose today to quit is not clear (the NY Times hasn’t a clue), but our sources have been saying all year that he won’t see Dude in as music director, and that eventuality has now come to pass.
The big question is, will Dude stay? Or will he join ex-LA Phil pal Chad Smith in Boston?
Or will Smith replace him in NY?
Watch this space.
It wasn’t the job he applied for and it wasn’t the job the Philharmonic advertised for:
-to defend against 2 major million dollar lawsuits
-to nullify a binding arbitration agreement involving 2 employees
-to deal with 98 other employees threatening a class action suit for hostile work environment if those 2 employees stayed
-to conduct 2 separate legal investigations into the culture of the Philharmonic as well as into past instances of sexual harassment
-to work under the shadows and implicit authority of Borda who remains employed, and retains an office with her own assistant, as adviser to the Board and the CEO
-to work with a music director hired by Borda and answers only to Borda
-to negotiate a new labor contract even as money is drained to pay lawyers left and right and to be held in reserve when the Philharmonic loses both law suits and to deal with new revelations of sexual harassment unearthed by the investigations
-finally, to hire a new music director, because Dudamel, who quit Paris in the middle of his very first season because he didn’t like the French accent or whatever, sure ain’t gonna hang around NY for the shit show
I hate that you’re likely correct.
Agree
You made my day Downunder!
I’m pretty much with you until your last item. Seems to me that Dudamel quit the Paris Opera because it became clear that having his first opera job be music director of one of the biggest opera houses in the world, and arguably the most complicated, was not a good idea. (Especially if his French wasn’t good.)
“-to deal with 98 other employees threatening a class action suit for hostile work environment if those 2 employees stayed”
Do you have any evidence that the orchestra’s musicians are threatening a class action suit, or were you speaking figuratively?
I am speaking logically:
What would you do if you were a woman required to sit next to an accused rapist, to share the same work space with 2 of them, when the music director himself tells the NYT that the Philharmonic must be a “safe space”, to participate in after-hour social events where they are free to attend because there’s where real networking is made and tenure decisions made, yet management tells you to show up?
Just as speaking logically, prior to knowing if the 2 accused players were going to file suit or not, you were asked:
What would you do if you have a signed binding arbitration agreement guaranteeing you a job and performance on stage for the rest of your life, then with no new evidence management decides to break the binding arbitration and very publicly suspends you and again speaking to the NYT?
In either case, you have no other recourse but to sue, to fight for what protects you by right under the law.
In both cases, it is the proverbial unstoppable force (#metoo and a woman’s right to a non-hostile work place) meeting the proverbial immovable wall (a binding arbitration agreement signed by the employer, the union, the employee, the arbitrator).
The #metoo landscape will change dramatically in a few months when the US votes itself into an exceedingly dark future. The backlash has all the momentum. It is not right but it is the way things will be.
**. PEOPLE’S right to a non-hostile work place.
Both sexes deserve consideration.
‘Unwanted conductor’? Not true. ‘Super star’? I would not say that. In LA maybe, but that is an odd place anyway.
I couldn’t read it all after unwanted. So rude and wrong
Get over it, Mr. Borstlap. There is not an orchestra in the world that would not salivate at the prospect of Dudamel coming to guest conduct. Doesn’t make him the best; doesn’t make him any better than he is. But superstar he is.
Paris
You don’t live in New York. We could do better.
Isn’t there an underemployd Finn somewhere around who is looking for his 5th orchestra?
Deborah Borda will NEVER cut the cord. As accomplished as she has been throughout her career–without doubt– the term “drunk on power” seems apt. Getting sober (metaphorically) takes great strength of character.
She set up her successor for failure. I would have thought better of Ms. Borda, but all humans have their flaws. Most without such consequences.
Yes, she needs to try golf, pickleball, book club – SOMETHING else. It is not your party anymore.
A Norma Desmond moment – “I promise you–I will never desert you again. This is my life. It always will be. There is NOTHING else. Just us, and all you wonderful people, out there in the dark.”
Like Ms. Desmond, it will not end well.
Don’t people at this level have contracts?
There has to be more to it than him just deciding to leave… for him to leave, no?
Does anyone else remember when the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore? Can we just move a good orchestra into New York and let the NY Fill players play the freelance game? Maybe the city would finally have a good Brahms orchestra.
When Mr Bernstein was there they practiced.
Insiders know that one the major reasons for this is the malicious interference of Dudamel’s manager at all levels of the organisation, just as he did non-stop in Los Angeles.
Norman, it would be interesting if you could investigate this through your connections. Apparently is shocking.
Dudamel and orchestra administrators can always so no to the agent, so his agent is not where the ultimate responsibility lies.
One would think. But Dudamel can always collect his toys and go home, as he did in Paris.
Would that his talent equalled his ego.
Based on all the speculation, I too assume this was ultimately Borda’s doing. From my insider information, she would never let go, and perhaps never wanted to in the first place. From everything I know, she is as awful to work with as everyone would guess.
Because of her botched musician termination or the untenable financial/labor structure, Gary was in a tough spot, with “mother” constantly looking over his shoulder and being the gatekeeper.
I wonder why nobody has figured out how to replace Borda anywhere, and why her protégés or successors have short tenures (see Simon, Chad, and Gail). Maybe her toxic work culture and ruling by fear isn’t the magic bullet, and perhaps she was just in the right place at the right time in LA.
Plus, NYP musicians should be grateful their orchestra even exists at this point (it’s certainly not because they’re any good anymore). They seem to be clinging to a prior era of greatness, and no MD or CEO is good enough. It’s a place where qualified people get beat up then limp away to die.
Regardless of any specifics nullifying, I feel for Mr. Ginstling and hope he’s able to find a soft landing pad.
Maybe when you pull back the curtains Borda is finally exposed and the Great and Powerful Oz is just a mean person.
Borda is smart, saavy and runs a tight ship. I know her well and have never, ever had a problem with her in any way. That said, not sure why she left when she did.
Not surprising at all. The NYPO has been a third-rate musical organization for the past thirty-five years. This is just the next step in their inevitable decline.
Orchestra managers are not talent, they are administrators. Chad has pissed off the staff in Boston and is not on Nelsons hit parade. I’d suggest the NY Times stop trying to make these people who run the back office into more than they are. The public hears what goes on the stage, run by the Music Director.