Two principals are quitting LA Phil
OrchestrasThe Los Angeles Philharmonic is becoming ever more unsettled.
Insiders tell us the LA Phil offered the music director’s post to a well-known figure, who turned it down. They are also no closer to appointing a permanent CEO. The vacuum is creating new pressures.
We understand that principal viola Teng Li is considering an offer from the Chicago Symphony and principal oboe Marc Lachat is holding onto his other jobs as hautbois solo at Sinfonieorchester Basel and Zürcher Kammerorchester.
Not a happy pack of campers in LA.
« Insiders tell us the LA Phil offered the music director’s post to a well-known figure, who turned it down », oh come on don’t be so mysterious Norman. Was it Mäkelä ?
Making an offer to a potential Music Director while the CEO position is open … the well-known figure was wise to demur.
One could also say the opposite. No CEO would take a job without knowing who the MD is or, at least being assured that he/she would have voting privileges as a member of the MD search committee.
Jaap van Zweden?
Why would LA Phil offer the post to Mäkelä when he has never conducted in LA?
I was kidding. I’d assume it was Mirga, who has experience with the orchestra and has also said she doesn’t want an MD post.
The dude who played Lennie?
Any conductor offered the LA Phil directorship would be well known.
And the principal viola was offered the same job in the CSO? Hardly a surprise that he would take it – some SD naysayers aside, the CSO is still the CSO.
And a principal oboe would rather stay in Switzerland rather than LA? I could see that. LA isn’t for everyone.
I used to live in LA, now I live in Europe. I definitely get it… Los Angeles is a dirty rotten place.
The principal Viola is a she…
The CSO also plays in a city where one can live comfortably downtown for ~$2-3k per month. With a salary of $200k, maybe higher, who wouldn’t want the job? You’ll absolutely be hard-pressed to find good living in LA for that price, and Mrs. Li’s salary is likely lower there.
Teng auditioned and won Chicago almost a year ago (go Teng!!!) and still hasn’t announced the new job formally. If she was so ready to jump ship, wouldn’t we have heard the news already? Also, any European wind player is going to have an interesting time in the states. Principals work much more in the US and artistically it is a completely different sound world. Maybe LA is having problems but these are three separate things, all of them interesting, happening all at once don’t necessarily point to anything at all.
CSO players are certain she’s coming, as a matter of fact, she’s playing with the orchestra next week under Makela and apparently plans on going house hunting while there. Also she’s already been tenured by CSO…
You seem to be certain about a lot things that after months of open speculations (mostly coming from yourselves) are still yet to materialize.
One can’t be so sure that it’s a playing time thing, or an artistic thing, or whatever. Zurich and Basel are completely different from Los Angeles and he may have realized that he just preferred Europe.
I don’t think the headline reflects the facts.
Neither player has (so far) left the orchestra.
Marc Lachat is not listed in the oboe section of the Sinfonieorchester Basel website. He plays with the Zürcher Kammerorchester.
But at least both are Swiss cities!
You will find that M Lachat lists himself as hautbois solo at both Basel and Zürcher Kammerorchester
Where will I find it? Not on the LA Phil website, not on the Sinfonieorchester Basel website.
Where does he do that?
Tilmann Zahn is principal oboe at the Sinfonieorchester Basel
https://www.sinfonieorchesterbasel.ch/en/the-orchestra/members/oboe.html
I see nowhere that Lachat “lists himself” as *currently* being oboe solo in Basel.
His Facebook page
No, it doesn’t. That’s a past job. If you look more closely, you will see that it says September 2022 – present for the LA Phil and February 2020 – present for Zürich. There are no dates there to suggest that he is holding himself out as the *current * solo oboe in Basel.
Marc is definitely back in Switzerland
So, two principals are not, as far as anyone knows, quitting the LA Phil?
I heard that they are for sure and other members of the orchestra are auditioning for positions elsewhere….
I’ve heard that they are moving the L.A. Phil to the South of France because the cheese is better there.
Teng Li is a great violist. I’ve really enjoyed her solos. Beautiful! I hope the LA Phil doesn’t lose her.
If Chicago is indeed getting Makela, and who else can LA get of equal hype (and LA is all about hype), then it’s bye bye LA, hello Chicago…
(No more biblical level floods, fires, earthquakes, and the most biblical armageddon of all, traffic)
It would be very odd of LA made an offer to an “unknown figure”, no?
It depends on one’s definition of “unknown”.
Unknown as in noone’s ever heard of them. Like offering the position to Melvin L. Koslovsky, formerly of the Hot Springs N. Atlantic Symphony.
Actually, the post says “well-known”, the opposite of which is not “unknown” at all, but something much closer to “little-known” – and it would not be that “odd” for LA Phil to be interested in not-too-famous conductors, since three of that orchestra’s most recent five music directors (including the last two) were at the very beginnings of their conducting careers when they were announced as LA Phil’s next artistic leaders. These three by the way have been the longest-lasting (and arguably among most successful) as the orchestra’s principal conductors in its history.
I can’t believe Elim Chan turned down the L.A. job.
Teng Li is always fun to watch due to her hyper-kinetic playing. She will be missed. The oboe too, the new wind players never seem to last very long for some reason.
Maybe that’s the downside of Dudamel being intent on hiring European wind players in a US orch.The US players aren’t leaving much.
If the offer stands, both options are way better than LA. Best wishes to them.
I’ll fess up, they made me the offer, but I’m unknown so I think I asked for too much money. They started at minimum wage plus my own dressing room but I asked if they could at least pump it up to 200k. LA ain’t a cheap city. I had to let them go.
You could live in South Central or Compton, not so expensive there and the scenery is lovely.
For purposes of sales and marketing, the board of the LAP would be well advised to not hire a new music director based on the socio-political dictates of a Hollywood, Silicon Valley or BlackRock. Look at how doing just the opposite of that is working out for the movie and TV industry, things like the Academy Awards, media/publishing, etc.
Another great steaming pile of journalism from the National Enquirer of arts blogs. That’s two out of 106 – hardly a reason to label the LAP as a group of “unhappy campers”.
Must have offered it to Mirga…
Are your insiders from the CSO, Norman? Blatant untruths like “LA Phil offered the music director’s post to a well-known figure” is an overt attempt to make LA’s MD search more difficult. Whoever lied about this is hoping every potential candidate will think they are a second choice at best.
Exactly. Every time I wade into the murky waters of SD, I wonder what Norman’s motives are. He would much rather spew unvetted and salacious rumors that damage our profession rather than report something positive. It’s like going to an opera and habitually rooting for the villain. Revenge for a teacher or audition committee telling him he didn’t have what it takes?
LA Phil has more money (Hollywood Bowl) and better marketing than any other US orchestra. What they don’t have is an elite string section like Philadelphia, Cleveland, or Boston. It will take decades to turn over and that’s if they hire consistently well as openings do come up. Most of us don’t get a choice where to work in this field as it’s so competitive but it isn’t the least bit surprising to me to see players leave LA for Big 5 orchestra jobs. Those are still the crème de la crème of US orchestras. If I were Klaus, or another elite maestro, I’d also certainly hold out for Cleveland or Chicago – Way more tradition and history to mold even further.
Cleveland is far superior to Chicago. Chicago is excellent but Cleveland is simply extraordinary.
Lol in your dreams. I love the Cleveland orchestra it’s my home. Both orchestras are incredible but to say far superior that’s a stretch.
I’m not sure that Marc Lachat has tenure yet and we don’t know for sure whether he’ll get it (e.g. David Cooper). Of course he’ll keep his old jobs for the time being, just in case.
Whatever the situation, Teng Li is a phenomenal player and a charismatic leader. Her soli in Mahler 9 in Chicago last year with Hrusa stole the show outright.
Yes, she was great, but David Cooper was also a show-stealer in that performance!
Where is Carrie Dennis? The ex LA-phil viola chief. Amazing player. Maybe she was ousted because commentary on how other players played and how they should play? It is brutal
https://allisyar.com/2017/09/05/comings-and-goings-at-the-la-phil-summer-2017-edition-details-on-ghez-dennis-hooten-and-others/#:~:text=She%20had%20been%20on%20sabbatical,reside%20in%20the%20Pacific%20Northwest.
You are way off base here, but I guess anything goes here.
Unsettled is far too strong a description. It’s part of the natural ebb and flow of an orchestra. Both players are moving mostly for personal (based on where they want to live), not musical reasons, especially Teng. She wants to be closer to her family, which Chicago very much is. Totally understandable. The LA Phil viola section and orchestra (and audiences) here love her, both as a player and as a person. Teng loves it here. But family is a very strong draw. She will be sorely missed, especially with the difficulties the Phil has had over the years in finding a strong, stable principal violist. The sound that Marc creates has drawn mixed reviews from orchestra members: sometimes the most beautiful thing you’ve ever heard, while sometimes almost seeming a bit out of tune. Still, he was a respected colleague. Best wishes to him as well. As for a new music director and CEO, those high profile positions will be difficult to fill to everyone’s satisfaction. But it is an organization with a wealth of experience, money to spend, and great musicians. Gustavo’s personality will be impossible to replace, but we will find a music director of the highest musical quality. I expect this for the next CEO as well. It’s important to get both positions right, so patience is a virtue.
Personality? Lately I watched some videos from his rehearsals (posting those is a disservice to him) and he handles a professional orchestra the way a high school band would be handled. Unnecessary amount of talking (in very broken English even after so many years…), usage of childish metaphors, “anecdotes” with no point, maniacal laugh a la Tom Hulce in Amadeus… just let them play, please, they will do it, even at those absurdly fast tempos…
Agree 100%
Big deal. Conductors, musicians, athletes, they come, they go. Somehow the cities keep on going, the world keeps on turning. Orchestras aren’t football or basketball teams where an objective score is actually kept. It’s figure skating where hype and corrupt judges decide who’s on top.
The second European oboist to leave LA– maybe they should hire an American next time!
The problem is, none of the american oboists are good enough for the open principal oboe positions in the us at the moment
I doubt that.
Exactly, CM. The European principal flutist Dudamel brought in also didn’t stay. It’s a US orch. Try hiring US wind players for a change.
I recall when their new principal cello Robert DeMaine first came on board, his cello got stolen from the front porch and was later found inside a dumpster.
I am surprised he has lasted this long in crime-ridden El-Lay.
Your “recall” is incorrect: something like that happened not to Robert deMaine at all (who became LA Phil’s principal cellist twelve years ago – so not so “new”) but to his predecessor Peter Stumpf. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Stumpf_(cellist) for other important details of the story.
Your facts are off as usual. That was predecessor Peter Stumpf.
The cello belongs to the LAPO. It is the “General Kyd” Stradivarius, and it was stolen from the front porch of Peter Stumpf, who played Principal ‘Cello in the LAPO at the time of the theft.
So we can assume you’d be comfortable leaving a multi-million dollar Strad cello on your porch overnight. Riiiiiiiiiiiight. Major orchestras reside mostly in major cities, and they all have crime.
Stumpf, not DeMaine.
The LA Phil desperately needs to fill it’s CEO position first. Highly regarded and in-demand MD candidates are best served by steering clear until they know who’s running the organization in order to properly evaluate the opportunity in a musical, artistic, managerial and personal considerations context. Otherwise, there is far too much uncertainty and risk that things might turn out terribly. I have always assumed that whomever gets an offer will have a established prior working relationship with the orchestra, would be unencumbered with other major orchestra obligations and marketable as an extraordinary emerging star capable of continuing the established tradition of leading the LA Phil in bold and exciting new directions. I always viewed Mirga as the favorite, being a candidate who checked all of those boxes, but her ongoing absence from recently-released upcoming Disney Hall and Hollywood Bowl season performances had pretty much confirmed that that was not going to happen (which I assume was her decision, not the orchestra’s). For so many reasons, Salonen has become an obvious choice who’s hiring would effectively address and mitigate many of the uncertainties currently confronting the organization. But given his ongoing experiences with SFS leadership and the uncertainty associated with the vacant LA Phil CEO position, that’s not going to happen either.
Mr. Lebrecht is obviously looking for a scandalous story here and to say that things are going downhill in LA. But it’s not true. I know both those players personally, and they are leaving for personal reasons, not because they don’t like the job or because they are afraid of our future now that Gustavo is leaving. Between CSO, LAPhil, or NY Phil, for example, it’s only a matter of preference where you want to be. We have multiple players that moved to LAPhil from both CSO and NYPhil, and many more auditioned. Teng wants to be in Chicago, and Marc wants to return to his previous job in Basel because of personal circumstances.
And the information that a conductor was asked to be our music director and turned us down is simply false. We know for sure that the music director search is still in its early stages, and most of the conductors that are being considered are coming in the next two seasons. Don’t forget we still have almost three years with Gustavo. I hope you can focus more on facts than on juicy gossips
Perhaps Joana Mallwitz (scheduled to conduct Schubert’s 9th Symphony “The Great” three times in March 2025) will be auditioning for the music director position. The “replacement” for the Mirga “dream?”
SD would cease to be fun if it’s all truth and nothing but the truth.
Why does someone think they can commute hundreds, thousands of miles on any predictable basis, just because they can’t commit, or are too greedy to let someone else get the work?