Breaking: Liverpool signs new maestro
mainThe Royal LiverpoolPhilharmonic has chosen Domingo Hindoyan as its next chief conductor, succeeding Vasily Petrenko in September 2021.
Hindoyan, 40, belongs to one of music’s power couples. A Venezuelan, he is married the opera star Sonya Yoncheva and lives with her and their two children in Switzerland.
He is presently principal guest with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Liverpool appears to be his first major post.
Have seen him conducting VI Mahler with Polish Radio. Very poor performance, he got very bad reviews for that… Weird choice…
I daresay it was Hobson’s choice for Liverpool . Its possibility of survival must now be marginal
Sorry, but that’s just about the most stupid remark imaginable!
Robin
I believe Christopher Storey was not very fond of Vasily Petrenko.
So come on then, share your evidence with us………….or are you just happy to make claims you cannot back up?
Well, thanks for this explanation. His attitude to VP is unusual, but hardly to the point of this appointment.
I suggest you have a look at the Society’s 2018 accounts( 2019 have not yet been filed ) . The net assets of the Society are c. £9 million . That is after capitalising the Philharmonic Hall at a written down value of some £13 million . ( Whether it has any realisable value is uncertain ) . The pension fund deficit is some £4.4 million which accounts for the net deficit by and large. This is not a comfortable position when the major income stream has, at present, dried up, and when ( even if that stream were unaffected ) to break even the Society is dependent upon an Arts Council grant of some £2.2 million and a Liverpool City Council grant of about £ 1.2 million . I hope I am being too gloomy, but with the appalling public finance deficit which is now building up, financing of the arts from public sources will come under increasing strain
Having discussed the financial position with the management of thr RLPS quite frequently, I really do think you are being too gloomy, though it really is too comlicated to go into in detail here. All concert-giving societies are dependent on annual public sector grants of at least that order, if not greater, and we all know that if they ceased there would be a very serious problem indeed for the furutree of classical music performance, but the RLPS along with other organisations has been steadily (if slowly) decreasing its reliance on public sector finance (which in sny case has been declining for many years). The Hall may or may not be worth £13m, but it certainly has a considerable value as a performance centre and is now being used much more effectively to generate income. Moreover, the RLPS is the only calassical orchestra provider in the country to have such a capital asset, all the other orchestras being dependent on hiring venues.
Thank you for that considered reply , Robin.Let us hope I am being too gloomy, but the South Bank predicament is not an encouraging precedent. Incidentally, my best regards to you and NFR
There are financial dangers for many organisations providing classical music (drama etc.) and some, I am sure, are on a knife edge because box office income is a critically large component of their total income. Just hoping that my optimism is well placed and that you more gloomy analysis does not turn out to be true! Our best regards to you and Hilary too.
Never heard of him. Honestly. I follow Slipped Disc and classical news from here in the USA and this is first time I heard the name.
Great choice! One of the most talented and gifted young conductors. Liverpool is very lucky to have him.
Very glad to see something so positive!
He is another grad of Venezuela’s ‘El Sistema’ program. An earlier grad, Gustavo Dudamel, music director of the Los Angeles Phil, is at Salzburg soon conducting the VPO along with Muti, Thielemann, Haitink, Barenboim, etc. Another from that program is rising star is Rafael Payare, who I first heard conducting the VPO in Paris. He is now the music director of the San Diego Symphony. There are certainly more in the top levels of classical music all around the world. Imagine of other countries had the intelligence to provide this kind of ‘Socialist’ program for their deprived kids.
Let us hope he can use at least his right arm — a skill that Maestro Dudamel has more or less mastered by now.
Liverpool is not a major post. Very average orchestra compared to the many orchestras across Europe.
That is a very debatable oint indeed, possibly an opinion without experience to back it up.