Breaking: Concertmaster is out in new LA Phil crisis
NewsPlayers learned earlier this week that the orchestra’s Canadian concertmaster, Martin Chalifour, is leaving at the end of this season. A chamber music concert has been hastily organised in his honour on November 23.
Chalifour, 63, joined the LA Phil under Esa-Pekka Salonen and has occupied the first chair for thirty years.
Gustavo Dudamel said: ‘He sets the example for the orchestra each day with his skill, taste, knowledge, consistency, and deep love of the music. I am so grateful to have one more season with Martin by my side, and wish him all the happiness in the world as he enters this next chapter.’
His abrupt departure precipitates a concertmaster crisis.
Of the LA Phil’s four CM’s, Nathan Cole has departed for Boston, his wife Akiko Tarumoto is expected to join him there. Chalifour is out. That leaves just Bing Wang, who is John Williams’s personal favourite.
The LA Phil needs to promote or hire three concertmasters in no time flat. That will take speed, dexterity and diplomacy.
This won’t happen until the next conductor comes in
So the next MD should me someone from Boston then. Let’s see – Andris Nelsons, Keith Lockhart, Anna Rakitina, Earl Lee. Not bad!
The concert you mentioned was not “hastily organised” but has been on the schedule for a while. You say it’s a crisis, but I bet some people are muttering “finally” under their breath. His predecessor, Sidney Weiss, a much better concertmaster IMO, left the orchestra due to conflict with Salonen. I hope this departure is more amiable. Anyway, it’s not a given that Cole and Tarumoto (and their children) will definitely move to Boston. Isn’t fellow Latvian Vineta Sareika free now? Who knows, maybe Nelsons is also having second thoughts. But LA Phil is not going to let an outgoing music director hire any new concertmasters “in no time flat”.
*amicable, of course.
Agree that the concert has been on the schedule for some time. As a subscriber, I noticed it a while ago.
Yes, this is not a “surprise” departure (despite the breathless misinformation about the LAPhil this blog vomits upon its readers), this program was part of the original 24-25 schedule. This misinformed writer in Europe (lol) should consider fact checking before excitedly pressing “publish” (lol).
Maybe not everything is a crisis.
Indeed, everything is not a crisis, certainly not this. It is hopefully a rare opportunity to gracefully bring in the kind of star at concertmaster LA couldn’t have landed 30 years ago, without any drama. There would be few violinists today not eager for that spot. LA can lure almost any fiddler they want. And will. Not to worry.
They should consider David Radzynski for the job, unless he’s already accepted an offer elsewhere…
Re:”Players learned earlier this week that the orchestra’s Candian concertmaster…”
In the future, please proof your copy BEFORE posting it.
Wtf is Candian. Dude is CanAdian. Like. From Canada.
What’s all the hysteria about a typo? Get a life!
Cleveland, Berlin, now LA, and, sooner than later Chicago, but maybe BSo sooner.
San Francisco?
Doubtful.
BSo sooner.
To quote Reginald Kahane:
A machine can make paper clips, but it cannot make clips paper.
Fleece fleas flee fleece, phlease.
IYKYK.
And if you don’t know, you don’t know. What an incoherent comment.
I am somewhat of a Kahanist myself. BSo maybe. Depends on what Shmuley has had for breakfast.
Looks like there are quite a few vacancies in the orchestra at present, or upcoming: three leaders, principal second, principal viola, principal oboe, English horn, associate principal clarinet… and no auditions scheduled.
The fact that you don’t know about them does not necessarily mean that they are not scheduled; it may only mean that their dates have not been announced yet.
With Kamala’s victory, I’m sure they will find a great replacement. In the words of Maestro Weistung: it is best to pet in the direction of the fur.
Crisis, Schmisis. Chalifour has been an albatross around Dudamel’s neck. Bing Wang, the associate concertmaster, can play rings around him. I seem to recall hearing that she was hired by Chicago, but I may be wrong. She can definitely step in and do a better job.
It was Teng Li (principal viola) that is headed to Chicago, which is definitely a loss for LA and great news for Chicago because she is incredible.
A bit like a Mozart symphony, then!!
You probably mean Haydn’s Farewell.
I wish him good luck. LA has a lot of talented violinists; they’ll fill the role quickly.
Oh my… I’m shocked but at same time I’m not because Dude’s leaving might be one reason for this – and other unexpected vacancies (e.g. principal second and associate principal clarinet) also. LA Phil has now lot to do filling notable holes in their roster + find new chief conductor.
Despite that there’s always good violinists all over the world but still it looks that there’s now some kind concertmaster crisis all over the world in the planet’s most notable orchestras – LA Phil, Cleveland, Berlin (well there’s still 2/3), Concertgebouw and propably soon or later SF (Baransky is 71). And that MET’s Chan’s new job…
At least in future LA Phil can start with “clean table” with new MD and CM’s which can make great opportunies. Luckily Ms. Wang is there and I’m sure that 1st violins (and orchestra) are in her good hands until new leaders has been found
The last name of the SFS Concertmaster is Barantschik.
Congratulations to Martin on a well deserved retirement!
He has had an outstanding career playing in several top tier orchestras…
Having played with him, he has the most refined sound and exquisite musicianship.
A genuinely positive person with a great love for music, unfortunately increasingly rare in the profession these days,
In three years FWM is leaving Cleveland. LA next!
Welser-Möst American period is coming to a close. He lucked out with the Cleveland, arriving to an orchestra with Szell’s roots and Dohnanyi’s sophistication. What has Worsethan-Most done with Cleveland? Very little musically; the orchestra sounds best when he’s in Europe.
Has he ever conducted LA? He would fit right in at the West Hollywood Symphony—in the audience.
What NL and possibly some others are seeing as a “crisis” might actually be an opportunity, and LA Phil now has a huge open window of it. The only real question is how it will be used.
Why is it necessary to label him as a “Canadian concertmaster” at this stage in his career? Might as well refer to Perlman and Zuckerman as noted Israeli violinists….
They would refer to themselves as Israeli Americans. There is such a thing.
They are Israeli. What’s your point? There is such a thing called dual citizenship.
Might as well – it may not be “necessary” in all these cases, but it is not very wrong either.
The word “crisis” gets more clicks
Glenn Dicterow?