[Dixielandjazz] Musicians Revolt in Baltimore

[Steve barbone]

All is not well at the Baltimore Symphony and the possible choice of MS.
Marin Alsop as conductor.  Not too different from the rest of the musical
world except that the musicians union is gaining strength with many large
symphony orchestras in the USA. :-) VBG

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


Baltimore Musicians Dissent on Conductor

By DANIEL J. WAKIN Published: July 19, 2005 NY TIMES

Board members and management had made their decision: the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra would appoint Marin Alsop as its new music director, the first
woman to lead an American orchestra of its size.

Then a powerful group of musicians revolted.

Despite promises that their voice would be heard, the musicians charged,
their objections to her appointment had been ignored. They denounced the
search process on Sunday and said that if the orchestra's full board were to
vote at its meeting today to offer her a contract, "all confidence" in the
orchestra's leadership would be lost.

"The process has been trampled on and not respected the legitimate artistic
views of the musicians," Jane Marvine, the orchestra's English horn player
and chairwoman of the players' committee, said yesterday. The committee is
the musicians' elected representative body.

But James Glicker, the orchestra's president, said the meeting would go
forward, and so would the recommendation of a search committee to hire Ms.
Alsop. He disputed the charge that the musicians had been ignored, saying
they had sat in on countless hours of search committee meetings and they
could make their views known at Tuesday's meeting.

"To be able to speak your piece and to be voted against isn't to be
ignored," he said. "Respecting someone's opinion doesn't mean giving them
veto power."

The players' dissatisfaction was reported by The Baltimore Sun on Saturday
and by The Washington Post yesterday.

The turmoil at the Baltimore Symphony is part of a long history of orchestra
players' seeking a greater say in the choice of the man or woman who stands
before them day after day, leading rehearsals, conducting concerts and
strongly affecting their musical and even personal lives.

A watershed moment occurred in the early 1970's, when the Cleveland
Orchestra appointed Lorin Maazel music director despite an informal vote by
the musicians overwhelmingly rejecting him. Bitterness lingered for years,
although whether it affected the quality of performances as perceived by the
audience was debatable.

As unions have grown stronger, the musicians have won more and more say - or
at least lip service to the principle.

The Baltimore players are being extremely tight-lipped about their
objections, saying they do not want to speak critically of anyone. It is
also true that if Ms. Alsop, who is now the principal conductor of the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, gets the job, they will have to
live with her and with any negative comments.

Ms. Alsop declined to answer questions but released a statement saying,
"We've had a wonderful time performing these past few years, and I look
forward to making music with the exceptional musicians of the Baltimore
Symphony Orchestra."

She said she hoped to increase recording and touring with the orchestra. "I
look forward to becoming a part of the Baltimore community," she said.

Mr. Glicker said Ms. Alsop was the right choice. "She's a great
communicator, a great leader, a great programmer, and she's got star
quality," he added.

But several players said a current of feeling runs among the musicians that
Ms. Alsop's musical profile is not strong enough. "There are some people who
feel that way, and some who don't," said Edward Palanker, the bass
clarinetist. Mr. Palanker stressed that he was keeping an open mind. "I'm
looking for someone who we feel will raise the musical standard of the
orchestra. Perhaps she's the one who can. I don't really know."

Mr. Palanker said he believed that Ms. Alsop's guest appearances had not
increased ticket sales. "I don't think she's the attraction that management
thinks she is," he said.

On Sunday the Baltimore players' committee, a representative body elected by
the orchestra, issued a statement calling for the decision to be delayed
until Thanksgiving, so the orchestra could experience other candidates.
Most, except for Hans Graf, are lesser known, like Juanjo Mena and Bjarte
Engeset.

The committee said that the players' artistic advisory committee - a
seven-member team that served on the search committee along with board and
staff members - had surveyed the entire orchestra and that 90 percent had
said it was too early to end the search.

In a telephone interview Monday, Robert Barney, the principal bassist and
the leader of the advisory committee, said that the seven musicians were at
odds with the nonmusicians on the 21-member committee over a "particular
candidate" - whom he would not name - from the beginning of the search,
which began in December.

At the last search committee meeting, on Wednesday, he said, "It was clear
that we would not reach consensus, which was the goal from the beginning,
and that a recommendation was going to be taken to the board."

Mr. Barney, who was a co-chairman of the search committee, and Ms. Marvine
declined to say whether the players objected specifically to Ms. Alsop. When
pressed, Ms. Marvine acknowledged, "If they loved Marin Alsop and the board
and management loved Marin Alsop, I don't think we'd be asking them to
extend the process."

The advisory committee's decision holds weight. It, too, was elected by the
orchestra and includes some of its most prominent members.

Ms. Alsop has won praise as a dynamic conductor with clear ideas about the
future of orchestras and as an articulate and witty speaker on music. She
has long been considered a candidate for a major appointment, and rumors
abounded that she was headed for Baltimore. She has also led the Colorado
Symphony Orchestra and been a guest conductor of major orchestras. She is
conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood next month and the
New York Philharmonic in October.