What Musicians Want

The post-holiday period tends to be a very slow time of year for the music biz, and there's not much out there in terms of arts news in early January. But for those who take an interest in the inner workings of orchestras, former Chicago Symphony CEO (and now president of the League of American Orchestras,) Henry Fogel, has written a blog post about conductors and musicians that's well worth reading, especially in light of the recent conductor-inspired dust-ups in New York and Boston.

As someone who sat on the management side of the orchestral table for many years, Henry's heard a great deal of noise from both musicians and board members about conductors and the way they get hired, so he's in a unique position to see things from both sides. (Musicians tend to be highly suspicious of management types, since they tend to be the bearers of bad fiscal news, but Henry has usually been viewed by orchestral players as one of the truly good guys in the industry.)

In his post, Henry dispels the myth that orchestras just want a conductor who will go easy on them (it's often the opposite,) makes the case for why musicians deserve a role in hiring their own boss, and explains why the dictatorial style employed by some famed conductors in past eras simply won't work today. He also gently takes apart some of the more fanciful misconceptions board members tend to have about the musicians they support.

My favorite two sentences from Henry's post are these: "You will rarely get unanimity from an orchestra about a music director or a guest conductor. But the truth is that you will almost always get an obvious consensus." He's absolutely right, and that general consensus usually dictates whether a given conductor/orchestra partnership will be successful.