Maestros in the media
England’s Guardian, home to the finest classical music coverage on the planet and one of my favored media outlets, has been busily checking out maestros on the London scene. Ed Vullaimy annoints Valery Gergiev ‘the greatest conductor of his generation’, and offers this interview with the man himself:
Tom Service of the same publication follows up with a piece about Bernard Haitink, a venerable conductor of another generation who, according to musicians with whom he works, ‘doesn’t say much during rehearsals, but makes them play with more concentration, intensity and freedom.’ [Aside from that quote, my favorite tidbit from this profile is that Haitink has an iPhone.]
The Daily Beast’s Rachel Syme hears from Alan Gilbert about his efforts to help the New York Philharmonic become ‘more youthful, more accessible, and more involved with the city.’ [Embedded in this article is a photo feature on the ‘young rock stars’ of conducting today. Unsurprisingly, all are repped by major talent agencies - looks like I need to get myself a publicist with connections!]
Anastasia Tsioulcas reports on female conductors for Variety, noting that despite recent high-profile opportunities for maestras ‘the number of young women studying to become conductors still lags far behind female instrumentalists, singers or even composers.’
Finally, in the best piece of the lot LA Times music critic Mark Swed offers some much-needed perspective on Gustavo Dudamel and the outlook for his future, positing that he ‘is not going to walk on water and he is not going to single-handedly save an art form that has no need of life support.’
