Winners and losers at the NY Phil
OrchestrasWIN: Matias Tarnopolsky played hardball in compensation negotiations when the NY Phil came after him in the summer. That’s why it has taken four months to make the appointment. He got what he wanted, or near offer.
LOSE: Philly saw a good CEO walk away on one month’s notice. Those optics are not good.
WIN: Deborah Borda gets to resume her retirement from orchestra management.
LOSE: Some of her V-Ps at the NY Phil are brushing up their resumes.
WIN: The lawyers. They always do.
LOSE: Carnegie Hall. Tarnopolsky was second in line to succeed Clive Gillinson, eventually.
BIG, BIG WIN: Gustavo Dudamel got the man he wanted. He now calls the shots at the NY Phil. The last three music directors at the NY Phil lost most of their authority to the president and the board. The last two were powerless. Dude has got himself all the old maestro prerogatives and more. He’ll do it his way.
The grass isn’t always greener. Tarnopolsky will look back with regrets.
Why?
Americas oldest symphony orchestra has always been a political machine from its’ earliest days. No one goes there without knowing it is sturm und drang. Some swim and some sink.
What evidence is there that Matias Tarnopolsky is actually a good CEO? Philly attendance was so low that they had to reduce the number of subscription performances, and they still struggle to break 80 percent capacity on any given night. They’ve embarrassingly had to cancel recent, domestic tours, like the one to the LA area which Atlanta swooped in to fill.
My bet is that more talented people passed on the job. It certainly seems like one where you’re being set up to fail:
-The board has created a dynamic where Dudamel has authority over the CEO yet will take none of the responsibility for the administration of the orchestra.
-Borda will continue to be a shadow CEO who Dudamel and the Board ask to opine on all of Tarnopolsky’s decisions.
-The orchestra’s workplace culture issues are far from resolved. Tarnopolsky didn’t create the mess, but will take ownership of it.
The evidence likely rests in his fundraising acumen. That’s what it all comes down to in the U.S., not ticket revenue. Many orchestras play to half-empty halls these days but can still stay in the black.
A great orchestra needs a great hall. NY has had neither a great orchestra nor a great hall, no matter who’s in charge (Damrosch, Bernstein, Barbirolli, et al.) Dudamel is unlikely to alter that age-old perception. That’s probably why he’s keeping home base in L.A., just in case.
Harsh truth…
Agree about the hall. At some point, somebody is going to publicly acknowledge how awful the new acoustics are. Not to mention the legroom issues and the shopping mall aesthetics. I’m surprised Dudamel chose to move into it. Maybe he has some secret plan to salvage the renovation.
Just play the music and relax.
” played hardball in compensation”
1) you got to, ’cause everybody knows that the NY job has an extremely short shelf life, you gotta make your money quick in the short term, no hope of accretion in a long ternure
2) you got, ’cause you’re doing 2 CEO’s jobs, on top of the endemic classcial music audience and income problem, there are defending 2 law suits and publicly addressing the law firm’s reports on the deeply ingrained toxic masculinity culture at the orchestra
3) the NY Phil has no choice, it knows it’s a shithouse of issues, and there are few CEOs out there both capable AND willing to give up a good position in the Big Five or equivalent to go to NY just to be unemployed in 2 years (albeit with a big payout)
Dudamel is the poster child for the do it yourselfer!