Symphony finds Replacement
When maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti finally ambles off-stage and out of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall for good at the end of 2008 he will be replaced by another European. This time the exceedingly distinguished Russian-born conductor and pianist, Vladimir Ashkenazy.
The job is being redefined and the title "Chief Conductor" is to be replaced by "Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor." The new boy will be 70 when he takes up the post(s) and the baton, which is relatively spring chickenish for a conductor.
Ashkenazy is said to be popular with the orchestra's musicians and has appeared often over the years with the SS (an unfortunate contraction, let it be said, what was wrong with the previous SSO?).
One musician, who - understandably - doesn't want to be named, says the band is looking forward to "some rigorous music-making, for a change and a more interesting repertoire." Ashkenazy's last outing in Sydney was for Rachmaninov's The Bells, last year, and before that, the 2004 Sibelius festival.
Immediate plans for the new Ashkenazy-SS relationship includes recording, international touring and more "composer festivals".
How much time he'll actually spend in front of the orchestra will depend on his other commitments - to Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra and the European Youth Orchestra both of which he serves as musical director, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony in the USA; Deutsches Symphonie Orchester (Berlin) and the Royal Philharmonic (London).
Ashkenazy is already booked for the SS’s Rachmaninov piano concerto concerts in November.
