Does a conductor have agency?
OrchestrasThe Chicago Symphony’s choice of a Finn stickmaster with orchestras in three other countries is a glaring symptom of musical confusion on all sides. Which well-run orchestra would agree to share its leader four ways? And which conductor of sound mind would want to be in simultaneous charge of strong-minded groups of world-class musicians speaking four different languages? Quite apart from anything else, Klaus Mäkelä will be required from today to remember the names and faces of five hundred players.
It is a hapless situation. The only possible motivations are power, pride and pecuniary ambition, none of which yet appear to be driving characteristics of a bachelor Finn in his 20s. His Chicago pay will be around $1.5 million, Amsterdam well below that.
So how did this fistful of jobs come together? It’s a matter of agency. Mäkelä is managed by the British agent Jasper Parrott, who recently gave up executive control of his company but shows no sign yet of taking a back seat. Parrott, 79, has been Mäkelä’s personal manager since April 2016. In those eight years Parrott has apparently neglected to teach him how to say, No.
Major conductors have agency in their career decisions. Berlin’s Kirill Petrenko does not let his diary get overloaded by Michael Lewin in Vienna, nor does Gustavo Dudamel take excess baggage from his London manager Mark Newbanks. Esa-Pekka Salonen would have instructed Newbanks to disentangle him from the SanFran Symphony, not the other weay round. Simon Rattle acts independently of Askonas Holt.
Mäkelä is young, naive and trusting. He seems to think he can keep four orchestras happy over the next three years. He needs to grow up fast and seize agency, before it consumes him.
photo: Decca
Doesn’t his Chicago term start in 2027? So by then he would have finished in Oslo/Paris?
Oh no wait, but if we’re rational about it then there’s no endless fiacussions.
Well, musical seasons are planned long in advance (approx 3 years). So I guess there’s a scenario where:
2024-25: conduct in Paris+Oslo+Amsterdam (where he is “artistic partner”), plan Paris-Oslo-Amsterdam 2027-28
2025-26: Conduct Paris-Oslo-Amsterdam, plan Chicago-Amsterdam 2028-29 (Paris and Oslo manage on their own)
2026-27: idem
2027-28: Conduct Amsterdam-Chicago, reduced commitments elsewhere
So it’s possible, at the cost of a split personality and in effect handling (different) administrative commitments at 4 institutions at once. The OSM stopped hiring musicians once Nagano announced he was leaving, leading to a very incomplete roster (and Payare hiring 20+ musicians in 2 years, with more to come) for several years. If these orchestras do the same, that’s four orchestras partially or fully freezing hiring while their MDs shake down, and he might be managing dwindling musician pools at Paris and Oslo before taking on rebuilding orchestras in Amsterdam (or is he already running auditions there as Artistic partner?) and Chicago. Either that, or these orchestra’s administrations will fend for themselves to various degrees for 3-4 years.
Not to mention that Amsterdam and Paris just announced a strategic partnership revolving entirely around sharing a music director (https://slippedisc.com/2022/12/paris-and-amsterdam-agree-to-split-chief-conductor/).
The symptoms of a dying art form, an incestual feeding upon itself in an ever-decreasing sphere of activity. I was struck by Norman’s earlier comment that described Mäkelä as “presentable” among other things. What does that actually mean? A stodgy, bourgeois look that speaks to the anachronistic patrician rituals of symphonic music, rituals that have been so long outdated that they are an embarrassment? The look of classism, privilege, staid, a bit stodgy, a slight air of gentile patrician condescension. I haven’t seen such a fine example since Karajan. Behind it all whiff of darker impulses, the sense of the artist-prophet leading us to a world proles cannot know, something that confirms the identity of a public that sees itself as the Herrenvolk, the select rulers of society sitting in the expensive seats. Happily, we no longer live by these values. Orchestras have become a classic study of what happens to art forms as they die.
It may die at the hyped-up center, but may flower at the margins of attention. Comparable with the Big Labels and Big Agencies who struggle, while small labels and ’boutique’ agencies flourish – small = better.
Many of the regional orchestras in Germany, that are often quite good, eschew the employment of classical music stars and instead focus of quality programs, full seasons, interesting programming, affordable tickets, and the inclusion of programs for young people. These institutions show that stardom is not at all necessary for healthy, creative, socially responsible orchestras.
That is exactly what I meant.
This is the ONLY way forwards. The only way to preserve the art form as an art form.
I envy Germany. The Chicago Symphony has an increasingly harder time filling the seats, and its patronage is largely dying off. Additionally we don’t have anywhere near the level of government subsidy for the arts that you (still) have. I’m not particularly excited about this appointment, but someone with youth and “star” appeal was needed right now.
Mr. Osborne…So what, exactly, do you mean by a “socially responsible” orchestra? Does that mean the major orchestras somehow are not? And are you saying that the big orchestras don’t care about interesting, quality programs? If these smaller groups do these things, it doesn’t follow that major orchestras can’t and don’t also. And having bigger stars shouldn’t stop them from doing that either.
Socially responsible: affordable tickets for decent seats for the middle class; the elimination of the atmosphere of cultural plutocracy; a substantial yearly series for young people; budgets held in check in order not to hog limited funds for the arts, among many other things. Orchestras in Europe do this, but due to a lack of funding and the orientation of the arts toward the wealthy in the USA, it is difficult. Read more about this here: http://www.osborne-conant.org/arts_funding.htm
please, why this depressive outlook? are we getting old ourselves perhaps? First people were always complaining about all these old conductors, now we’re looking at a young hire, and again it’s a sympton of a dying culture. Old men complaining is a sign of dying.
Indeed, both the old and young manifest the problems surrounding orchestras. It’s not generational.
I’m complaining all the time and I’m only 32. Complaining shows that you are alive and kicking! (especially the lattter)
Sally
Well, kicking anyway.
There is an old french saying: “If you’re not criticizing, you’re not thinking.” (Complaining counts too, I think.)
It’s interesting how deeply Norm cares for the Chicago Symphony. Maybe he studied in Chicago?
You must be a blast at parties!
In the greater Los Angeles area there are at least 4 or 5 regional high school honor orchestras where you can hear 12 to 18 year old kids playing classical music like it was written yesterday, like there is no tomorrow, and like their lives depended on it. Playing it like the timeless, eternal treasure it is. That music isn’t going anywhere. It surely isn’t dying. They prove you completely wrong. A thousand years from now, intelligent people will still love classical music. They will still be playing the Well-Tempered Clavier. Long after whatever the hell you prefer is dust. They prove it with every concert. No amount of your mountain of anti-intellectual, nihilist, eighth-grader political correctness, mind-numbing garbage will alter that.
The above Sidelius is referring to the William Osborne posts.
And less than 0.1% will find decent jobs as classical musicians in the USA. And even those will find shrinking, geriatric publics.
See Sidelius response (out-of-sequence) below.
“power, pride and pecuniary ambition”
We must now ask upon which values Jorma Panula’s long-standing elite school is based and whether abuse of power, male dominance, and greed are part of the game.
This is a sad reality of the music world today. Now being run from the back seat by greedy agents who care far more about the bottom line than about music. Let’s face it – four major world class orchestras are going to be led by a young and same conductor. How is it possible that each of them would keep their individuality in terms of sound, style of playing and choice of repertoire? And even worse – this means that Makela’s agent will have a tight grip on the choice of soloists and counductors for these ensembles. And the repertoire is going to be limited too, I guess. Where are the times when people would go on pilgrimage to hear Ozawa in Boston, Bernstein in New York, Karajan in Berlin, Celibidache in Munich, Ansermet in Geneva, or even Rattle in Birmingham? These were well-seasoned conductors who would build relationships with their orchestras and audiences for years! Even a relatively young Rattle would stay with CBSO from the beginning of his careers till well into his 40s. Now we are living in a “copy and paste” world of classical music. No wonder audiences lose interest.
And whatever one says about his talent – does Makela have a single orchestra under his belt where he could prove (like Rattle did in Birmingham) that he is capable of improving significantly a standard of the ensemble? Or is he just another one of those “young darlings” of the music world, who are benefitting from the extremely high standards of modern orchestras who can play well whatever monkey is put in front of them (even if he is very talented himself)?
From the time when Rattle and Salonen made their successful debuts there seems to be this deadly race between agents to introduce us to yet another “youngest ever to…”. What does it have to do with music??? When I close my eyes to enjoy music I do not blooming care about the age of the performer!!!
Horrible times ahead…
Most agents are not like this, and most conductors would not let their agents act like this.
Do you seriously believe that a conductor Makela’s age would get where he is without doing exactly what Jasper Parrott tells him? We are living in an age where the way to these top places is on a conveyor belt prepared by agents and not through years of artistic strife. Makela, unlike conductors like Rattle, never had a chance to make his hands dirty on lesser orchestras and prove his ability as someone who can take musicians on a journey of artistic development. And when someone his age is put in such a top position there is no more space for trial and error approach which is the essence of any artistic development. Is he going to try new repertoire with them? Take risks? I have serious doubts…
True – I happen to know that by experience.
The big agencies are more like a supermarket, but the medium-sized or small ones can give much more attention to their artists and their wellbeing, which is a win-win situation.
But that makes the CSO appointment all the more surprising.
So much for diversity!
Mark,
You’re genuinely hilarious. You lament the “good old days” of Karajan in the same breath that you criticize the greed and power hungriness of “today’s” music business. If that really is what the business is today, no one deserves more credit for turning it into that than Karajan. He is the one who drove up fees and at one point was considered “Music Director of Europe”, having titled positions in Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg and a strong presence in Bayreuth. Yet now people have conniptions over Mäkelä leading all of two orchestras at a time. Its truly a pandemic of amnesia around here.
Agreed, even if his other contracts end in 2027, he still will be doing a good portion of the repertoire for the first time. No conductor should accept to do a “standard” musical work for the first time with Chicago unless it’s a premiere. But the problem is not only that. He is a good conductor no doubt but being a music director of such an organization takes much more life experience. The moment you have to sit with a musician who can be your grandfather and who has played with all the great maestros of the past and tell them that their time has come and that their playing is not up to the desired level, that’s when you start carrying the burden of the job. The countless hours of fundraising, the never ending questions…I give him maybe 3-4 years in Chicago after which he will realize that he was not ready to be a Music Director of a major American orchestra as this responsibilities incorporate so much more than music. In any case, will be interesting to see what mark he can leave with this orchestra and if he is successful it is something to celebrate.
I also think this has a fair chance of crashing and burning before 2027 gets here.
“Major conductors have agency in their career decisions” – true, but he isn’t yet a “major conductor” or anything like one – he’s an inexperienced emerging talent who is now occupying several unaccountably major roles. You’re dead right: it does not augur well.
It might work well in Chicago; “Big Five” US orchestras don’t seem to need much more from MDs these days than a donor-pleasing public profile and a solid technique in a fairly limited and predictable repertoire. But great European orchestras need a mature, supremely skilled artistic leader capable of giving serious long-term direction and it’s the Concertgebouw, in particular, that I’m worried for.
Wait, why do European orchestras need something different than American ones? Don’t American orchestras change personnel (because of retirement, career advancement) just the same way European ones do? Isn’t that the MD’s job – build /and train/ an orchestra? How is this not necessary in the US? Just because a historic American orchestra has developed a “historic” sound and tradition, doesn’t mean that it will stay that way without artistic effort and leadership.
Perhaps Mark Swed was on to something.
Norman asks: “Which well-run orchestra would agree to share its leader four ways?”
Counterpoint that has been discussed here and raised by Norman many times: Do orchestras need “music directors”?
In recent years, a number of orchestras have had multi-year gaps between music directors, including Chicago and Concertgebouw, sometimes having a “principal” conductor during the period, but they have little to no administrative duties — they’re just a figure head to create the appearance that there’s a conductor in charge. Will anyone claim that the quality of the playing at Chicago, Boston, RCO, Met Opera, etc. declined during these gap years? Heck, these orchestras are so highly skilled that I’d argue it’s the job of the MD to not come in and screw things up. That’s been the success of FWM at the Cleveland Orchestra — he’s led the orchestra from behind, being careful not to disturb their unique style of playing.
Yes, I will. My local orchestra has declined through years of a part time MD that never understood or respected the character or traditions of the orchestra. In that time we’ve seen how tenure and other personnel decisions have profoundly altered the sound of the group.
He’s got more orchestras than you can shake a stick at…….
Andy do you have more of these or are you finnish?
Etiquette is orchestra conductors only speak to principal string players by name… never pick on individual players….
How come you don’t know this Norman?
Agents and marketing wins. Music loses. Business as usual?
This model is totally unfit for orchestras. It manifests the ultimate disconnect between entertainment figure (aka conductor) and the essence of meaning of an orchestra, why it exists.
Mäkelä could still ask Neeme Järvi for some advice on how to improve his repertoire.
Yeah. Neeme was so brilliant at filling seats in halls in his career. We should all take advice from him. – eyeroll –
The more a musician earns, the greater the figure that the agency’s percentage will bring-in.
OK, as long as less prominent artists are subsidised…
Whatever one thinks of Makela, and whoever manages him, it is unrealistic to think he’d turn down Chicago simply because many don’t believe he’s qualified. Who among us would honestly turn down $1.5 million a year to work with an excellent orchestra? Sink or swim, this decision is on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Board. They are the ones who chose to extend the offer to Makela rather than Hrusa, etc.
Your comment is the most sensible one yet!
There is NO downside for Makela, ZERO to take the job NOW.
It’s not like he can say, no thank you, but please offer me the same job 20 years from now when I am good and ready. Chicago might no longer be interested even 1 year from now.
All the naysayers here are just expressing THEIR inability to do what Chicago and Makela think Makela CAN do.
Well, lucky for the naysayers here, no orchestra is offering THEM $1.5M for a job they can’t do.
My wife and I heard a wonderful 2020 CSO performance of Dvorak’s 6th Symphony with Hrusa conducting. At the time I wondered if he would be a candidate in Chicago, but now that the post has been filled, maybe he’ll end up in Cleveland? They seem to do pretty well with Czech conductors, lol!
I think that Jakub Hrůša is a far more interesting conductor than Klaus Mäkelä. Hrůša’s commercial releases on the Supraphon, PentaTone, Accentus, Tudor, BIS, Deutsche Grammophon and Decca record labels are also far more interesting and compelling in almost all cases than what Mäkelä has so far put out on Decca.
And Hrůša is admirably committed to the Bamberg Symphony, even at this stage in his career; initially chief conductor 2016-2017, now through 2028-2029.
I hear we may still be seeing plenty of Jakub. It seems the orchestra overwhelmingly liked Klaus the best of all the viable candidates. Not actually sure that Jakub was interested or available? I was at that Dvorak 6… was so blown away I attended again in the terrace to watch the conductor. I never imagined I’d be blown away by a Dvorak 6. Have seen Jakub so many times since and there is always magic.
Of course he can turn it down. The reason he couldn’t is that by now it’s clear to all he is a little money-grubbing rat.
Calm down, David, he is also younger, healthier, and more attractive than you will ever be.
I’ve been thinking… well, you may see me as a philistine, but careers built over years of labour had some benefits and space for growth. Conductors’ careers are much longer than these of singers. In 20s, one is an assistant at a regional orchestra, later one becomes their chief conductor. The careers evolves, in 40s and 50s the level and quality of orchestras/theatres one works in gradually increases (plus guest appearances elsewhere), and well in 60s, one may be able to gain the right to become a director at a collective of CSO caliber. It is career development (and I even don’t mention things like expanding repertoire, finding own distinctive qualities and artistic persuasion, building trust with musicians and educating audiences). If we have a youngster who’s conducted major world collectives, how will the agencies move his CV forward and sell ‘Wunderkind’ stories? Especially if his next partner will bring him to a situation similar to that of Yuja Wang…
Mr Hurwitz’ take on this appointment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh3lWkEsFH8
“Ken-Doll Mäkelä Goes to Chicago”
Is this supposed to be a serious site for classical music? As far as I could gather from scrolling through the transcript, his main points are (a) he thinks Mäkelä is terrible and (b) Kubelik, appointed at 36 years old, turned out badly for Chicago 70 years ago (1950-1953).
According to Grove, quoted in Wikipedia, the Board wanted rid of Kubelik because he “introduced too many contemporary works (about 70) to the orchestra; there were also objections to his demanding exhaustive rehearsals and engaging several black artists.” Tut tut.
David Hurwitz’s YouTube channel (The Ultimate Classical Music Guide by Dave Hurwitz), as well as his much older (but still going) website Classics Today .com, are fun and “serious” sites for classical music fans and aficionados. No more and no less. Get a grip on the repartee.
He wishes Mäkelä well, but has serious doubts that Mäkelä’s appointment to the Chicago Symphony will end triumphantly. He even says “time will tell.” And indeed it will be the deciding factor.
I think Hurwitz is indisputably correct that the public relations “machines” of major orchestras have far more employees than they did 50-70 years ago, and in that sense potentially far more influence.
Hurwitz is only interested in recorded music. He appears never to go to live concerts.
What do you think of somebody who says to you “I really wish you well, but you are totally unqualified for the position, you are basically no good at your job, and I predict you will fail completely in a very short time”?
A few selected quotes:
“to claim that the 28-year-old conductor is qualified for this job is a complete and total joke it’s a farce, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it’s a duck”
“there’s always the possibility that he’s a musical genius but I can tell you based on his recordings he’s no genius, so far they’ve sucked … I haven’t seen him live, I heard he’s better … I assume you know when he’s in front of an audience he can do things that are not going to pop out in the more controlled circumstances of the recording studio.”
“I’m not optimistic that he’s going to be truly special and gosh I hope I’m wrong I hope that he turns out to be an absolutely inspired choice but it wouldn’t surprise me if in a few years by the time he gets there he’s completely jaded and burned out and looking for other things to do”
“I do know that the recordings he’s made so far have been dreadful”
It’s the age-old way of dissing somebody: Of course I wish him well, but …
Well…. Mr Hurwitz is an excentric.
We all saw what this thinking did to Yannick, burnout is inevitable.
So, what is the CSO doing for the next 4 years?
Guest conductors and hope to maintain artistic direction?
No different than the last 4 years…
Maybe because he’s young and has a small repertory, he wanted to ‘apprentice’ with as many orchestras as possible to hone his craft, like in the old days when young Karajan apprenticed with a provincial orchestra in Aachen.
Have watched Makela on Youtube. Not impressed, and I don’t the Oslo Phil was either.
If Mäkelä can’t say no to his agents, then he is indecisive and weak, which he likely is. No indecisive and weak man should become the MD of any orchestra. What a farce we’ve come to this.
You people know he is leaving Oslo and Paris when he starts in Amsterdam and Chicago right? Quit making something out of nothing it doesn’t do any good.
Holy crap! I’m getting exceedingly tired of explaining to lazy readers that Mäkelä WON’T have four jobs. He won’t be “shared four ways”. The Paris and Oslo contracts run out when Amsterdam and Chicago start.
Major conductors leading two ensembles is nothing new and has been done since at least the 60s. Solti was MD in Chicago and Covent Garden and briefly took on Paris. Karajan was at the BPO, the Vienna State Opera and also for a time at the Orchestre de Paris as well. Jansons had the RCO and the BRSO in parallel until his last few years. Barenboim was in Chicago and at the Berlin State Opera. Nobody was having convulsions when FWM took on the Vienna State Opera beside his position in Cleveland. Jean Martinon in the 50s held the music directorship at both the Israel Philharmonic and the Orchestre Lamoureux at the same time for a couple of seasons. I could go on and on.
Yet suddenly everyone is like “Mäkelä will have too many jobs! The world is going to end!” Is everyone having amnesia around here or just unable to use Google before writing nonsense? ChatGPT could write more intelligent articles and comments.
MK:
It is difficult to take you seriously when you write ‘suddenly everyone is like’ when I must assume you mean ‘everyone thinks’. Perhaps you should employ ChatGPT. Yes, I’m quite sure you should.
ChatGPT Hal says “sorry Paul, I’m afraid I just can’t do that.”
The Chicago and the Concertgebouw are considered by many to be the very top orchestras in the world. He will not have four orchestras simultaneously. He will have two beginning in the Fall of 2027. If he feels overtaxed, I’m sure he can perform duplicate concerts for both audiences. They won’t mind. Additionally, both orchestras have top assistant conductors and staff to assist him. What a ridiculous article!
Isn’t Nezet-Seguin currently music director for the Met, the Philadelphia and the Montreal Orchestra? That’s quite a workload too.
Yertyl “The Turtle” Nazgul-Snegin’s L’Orchestre Metropolitaine de Montreal is NOT the same as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra / L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, and unless i am not mistaken, it is not a multi-concert per week marathon like the other jobs mentioned are.
The MET and Philly are a one-hour train ride apart, and Montreal a one-hour flight from either. No oceans to fly over.
OM is basically his labor of love – working with his friends from the Conservatoire. Sort of like how Kent Nagano kept working with the Berkeley Symphony long after he hit the big time. I wish more A-list conductors would take a few weeks out of the schedule each year to do that, stay grounded.
There’s something about this story that gave me a feeling of déjà vu and called to mind the misadventures of Franz Welser-Möst in London a few decades ago. To refresh my memory, I turned to the writings of one Norman Lebrecht from 20 years ago (http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/040212-NL-welsermost.html)…
“At the milksop age of 29, the bespectacled Austrian opened his tenure at the London Philharmonic in 1990 with a seven-work concert, overlong for his rehearsal time. It was downhill from there on. He sacked a chorus director and front-desk violinist. The players dubbed him Frankly Worse Than Most. A good manager might have saved him but the LPO kept firing its managers, leaving the young maestro defenceless. In 1996 he quit London for Zurich Opera. One critic wrote: ‘he came from nowhere, he’s going nowhere.’
“The case was curious because Franz had talent. I saw him in Japan take over a Klaus Tennstedt concert unrehearsed, ripping off as fiery a Beethoven Fifth as I shall ever expect to hear; it was the first time he had ever conducted the score. Even those players who loathed his disdainful, glinty-eyed strangeness had to admit that there was something about the boy. In the end, the persistently rotten reviews did him in.
“Fast forward to 2004. Franz Welser-Möst, now 43, heads America’s most refined orchestra. After two exhilarating seasons in Cleveland, his contract has been extended until 2012. Back home, he will conduct the next Ring cycle at the Vienna Opera, where he is regarded as the heir apparent. His disastrous start has been reversed, though not forgotten. This week, Franz Welser-Möst is conducting a London orchestra for the first time since his departure; there is something personal about these concerts, something to prove.”
So how about we just lean back, relax as we watch and hear this young Finn take on the symphonic world at his own pace, on his own terms like it’s an ultra-marathon, and perhaps in 20 or 30 years, after a few bruises, he’ll emerge a seasoned master.
He’s not very good (at least not yet)- maybe he’ll be a half decent conductor in 20 years time. Someone/some agency is pushing him like mad. The fact that he’s now about to head 2 of the world’s top orchestras- says more about the mess of the current Classical music business rather than his talents or lack of them. There are plenty of good conductors around who cannot get a gig.
An unbelievable appointment! Fortunately, I have all the Chicago Symphony Orchestra recordings that I desire, so I will not be be buying any future recordings conducted by this largely untried apprentice who cannot possibly know his way around the huge symphonic repertoire. Mäkelä will probably end up suffering the same treatment that many wunderkind musicians have in the past and end up forgotten about.
If you don’t mind being someone’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th… wife, it’s easy to infer what’s going on between you two. If the public wakes up, (this) classical music will be over.
What?
Maestro Mäkelä has been quoted as saying he will step down from his current two orchestras in 2027, when his contracts with Concertgebuow and Chicago go into full effect. If Yannick Neszet-Seguin can head the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Met, I see no reason Mäkelä shouldn’t be able to handle these two. Apparently the members of both orchestras agree with me.
To be honest is not shining in either job positions + committments with his canadia orchestra..he was way more interesting and exciting wben he was younger and in charge of Rotterdam Philarmonic
too young may be a second kubelik(and he was 35).Great deal earn 1,4 M $ and also learn from the chicago musicians
Makela will only have one other orchestra when he comes to Chicago. That is not uncommon these days.
Why does every new conductor need to be underage? This Bernsteinesque strategy of having young
Conductors who can galvanize the youth of today overlooks the key job requirement which is musicianship. Why else would the CSO choose Klaus? I attended the CSO’s Bach program led by Mr. Chen last night. The CSO can function just fine on its own. I flew from NYC to see Yuja. The unprofessional conduct of Y & K cost me $3,000