London orchestra names resident conductor
NewsThe London Mozart Players have appointed Jonathan Bloxham to the odd title of Conductor in Residence and Artistic Advisor.
Bloxham was formerly assistant conductor to Mirga at the CBSO.
Do they think he’s too young to be chief conductor?
He looks slightly older than some others in roughly equivalent positions.
info below suggests he might be at least 32…older than many Finns with bigger jobs!
‘For the past 14 years Jonathan has been Artistic Director of the Northern Chords Festival based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Passionate about unearthing little-known composers and championing new work, Jonathan has commissioned several premieres by young composers such as Vlad Maistorovici, Jack Sheen and Freya Waley Cohen.’
He’s 34. Walter, Karajan, Rattle, Nelsons, Dudamel, Mahler, Solti, Richter and Richard Strauss (to name just a handful) all held equivalent posts in much bigger organisations when much younger.
The irony here is inescapable – Opera North appoint a diversity academic on the same day LMP appoint (or nearly do) a white, middle class (and not very good) white male conductor.
If our institutions simply avoided making appointments like this perhaps the current pressure to prioritise diversity wouldn’t be quite so pressing…
Oh dear, so many men still think a furry face inspires confidence.
What’s that saying? “If he’s good enough he’s old enough!” Clearly the LMP think he’s good enough, so end of discussion?
He is conducting NWD on tour in Milan tonight, with Anna Tifu
as soloist in the Korngold Violin Concerto in D major, followed by
Dvorak, Symphony #9. First concert of the new season, in its fortieth year. The program is
“American Vibrations.”