The best thing Alan Gilbert has done
mainIn his final concerts in June as music director of the New York Philharmonic, Gilbert has invited musicians from 19 countries to augment his orchestra ‘in support of peace, development, and human rights’.
The countries involved Australia, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Venezuela and the United Kingdom.
As the Trump administration burns bridges, Gilbert has made an important gesture to keep human lines open.
This is typical unoriginal made for media dribble.
What his his plan when his tenure at the New York Philharmonic ends?
What, no Canada?
As the Trump administration has made it known, infrastructure is key; old bridges that have been kept up thru ignorance are coming down. THANK GOD!
Sort of like the Interstate-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis ten years ago, that killed 13 people and injured about 145? Sounds about right.
This is all nice and good but if it is “the best thing Gilbert has done” does it then mean his music making was nothing to write about?
Answer: Yes
Give the man a break..OK, he probably doesn’t interpret Bruckner as well as Bloomstedt or the late Skrowaczewski, Brahms as well as Haitink, Verdi as well as Muti, or Mahler as well as Chailly; give him 20 years. But from my vantage point he has been a great leader of an institution that, as well as it plays, has often struggled for relevance in New York. His opera stagings, use of the Armory, integration of new music, etc., have made the Philharmonic a far more interesting orchestra for me to follow. I’m sorry he’s leaving now, because the Philharmonic’s eventual 2-3 year exile while their hall is rebuilt seems a golden opportunity for creative programming for which he seems ideally suited.
I wonder how many of them will be allowed visas to enter the country? I can make some guesses about those who won’t!
…..is to resign from the Philharmonic. ; D
You can get 100 musicians from 100 countries just by walking down Fifth Avenue, and then call the ensemble, the World Peace and Development and Human Rights Orchestra…
And…?
World peace and development and human rights would then flourish right outside Trump Tower?
I tend to agree. Yet: You assume everyone in this band would be safe from an ICE raid during dress rehearsal, deporting many players even if their legal papers are in order.