I read the article on this posted on the my auditions homepage. i would be interested in knowing opinions about this.

I would think that as a musician, I would want a say in who the conductor would be.

Anyone care to chime in?

Cheryl

I think that there is a disjointment here. On the one hand, musicians interact with the conductor daily, his personality, his rehearsal time, and his musicianship skills.

On the other hand, conductor's are judged by their public and by critics who, I believe, hold the fate of many conductor's in their hands. If a critic thinks that a conductor's interpretive skills are less then stellar, then that may in turn, affect ticket prices even if the musicians love him/her. The orchestra association and/or board gets involved when they see a dip in revenue.

So, what is the right course of action? Do we rely on musicians who judge conductor's at their professional level or the local community, who incidentally are responsible for supporting the orchestra.

Case in point, Uri Barnea's contract over at the Billings Symphony was not extended after 20 years with the orchestra. The local community is in an uproar. Barnea wants to stay and their have been several protests. BUT, I haven't read a peep out of the BSO musicians. None of them have come forward to support Barnea and the burden of responsibility has fallen on the orchestra board. I can't imagine that they made that decision without first consulting with the musicians. However, if true, then it is the board who is protecting the musicians. I would imagine if the community thought this, the musicians might think they would lose their local support. But, the point is the musicians in Billings are not being challenged enough and the revenue is flat. The orchestra wants a new vision, new blood, new direction but sometimes people don't want change and want to remain in their comfort zone.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

Blair - Tuba

I cannot imagine any orchestra management making a decision on a music director without at least consulting the musicians. After all, they have to deal with him/her every day and most likely have the most to contribute.

In response to Blair's posting on Uri Barnea, I wanted to chime in here.

The Symphony Board cannot tell the people of Billings why they've made their decision about Uri Barnea's contract. It's not arrogance, amateurism, secrecy or unwillingness - it's the law! It's illegal for the board to share Uri's personnel file with the musicians as well. If any of that file became public knowledge (as many "we're for Uri" supporters have angrily demanded), here's what would happen: Uri's attorney would sue the Billings Symphony for all it's worth, then each board member would be named in a civil suit for violating Uri's privacy.

Forrester "Mac" McNeil