Is Chad Smith now running for President?
OrchestrasAnother day, another dose of media gush for Boston Symphony president Chad Smith, placed in the supine print media by his indefatigable publicist Amanda Ameer (pictured).
Having groomed two hacks at the New York Times with the Chad game-plan, Ameer is now spreading wings to the Tanglewood set. And not a moment too soon.
Yesterday’s presidential resignation at the NY Philharmonic makes Smith the favourite to succeed in Manhattan. But why stop there when there’s a man in the White House who hardly remembers who’s who? Smith, that’s a name to remember.
Your coverage of this is getting ridiculous. The new CEO of Tanglewood being interviewed about his vision in the local newspaper there is not shocking news. It’s not even a publicity triumph. Tanglewood is an important part of the regional economy and is of great interest to many folks in the Berkshires. Of course they’d run a story about the new person in charge in his first season there.
Not a Norman fan but he is spot on regarding this. That NY Times article was garbage with not one mention of the musicians. Nobody goes to hear the BSO or Tanglewood to hear Chad. The audience shouldn’t care or even want to know who he is. He should stay behind the scenes where he belongs. We’ll see how long he lasts but if he’s smart he won’t step a mile closer to the shitstorm at the NYP right now.
“Nobody goes to hear the BSO or Tanglewood to hear Chad. The audience shouldn’t care or even want to know who he is. He should stay behind the scenes where he belongs.”
This could be said of soooo many executive directors and board presidents. When I started out back in the day I didn’t have any idea who the those people were, the conductor was the boss and face of the organization. For the last 25 years I’ve had to sit on stage and watch the audience suffer awkwardly as speech after speech about things the audience doesn’t care about gets forced on them.
I disagree..as a lifelong Bostonian and BSO supporter, the orchestra has been artistically adrift my whole life. At this point I’m ONLY going to see how his time here develops. While the BSO might not have the current SFS or NYP problems, its programming has been beyond stale for decades now while its coffers grow and grow. There’s a real disconnect. The conductors have all been fine but there’s no real BSO-culture anymore…it needs a shakeup and a visionary and Chad Smith is probably the only person who can accomplish it as he understand the challenges.
The orchestra is top notch…but that means nothing if it’s a tree falling in the woods. I’m truly hoping he succeeds.
The BSO could hardly be compared to a tree falling in the woods, if they do something of artistic merit people will take note.
The NYTimes has been off the rails in terms of its classical coverage for a while now.
They never showed much enthusiasm for Gail Samuel though.
Chad Smith…true visionary! Ha
I just checked her client list. Now that explains quite a bit why classical music coverage at the Times is the way it is.
I believe presidential elections have had trouble with Chads before …
So there’s a new bête noire – bit of a relief from the CBSO though.
Chad is pulling a Trump and putting out press releases to lure newspapers and magazines to cover him. Nelsons should ask for his resignation via the board. He’s not an influencer, he’s there to do what Nelsons wants him to do. I suspect his time in Boston will be short.
All hail Chad the Impaler! Long may he reign! The musicians can eate cake.