Yeah, I know. It’s been almost a full week since either of us posted anything new, and I’m sorry about that, but seriously, you guys? There is nothing going on right now. Nada. If August is a slow news month in Washington, D.C., June is just deadly quiet in the orchestra biz. Everyone’s wrapped up their seasons, next season’s already been rolled out, almost no news is being made (other than Philly, of course) and basically, I don’t have a blessed thing to write about.
So. Until I think of something, please enjoy a few minutes of Sarah conducting a pretty wild new War Requiem by Solbong Kim in Seoul. If memory serves, this happened back in 2007 or 2008, and the performances took place after a seriously chaotic rehearsal schedule. (I’m sure she’ll correct me if I’m wrong about the details…)
Holy Toledo, Batman. I had expunged this from my memory. In fact, this Dies Irae movement had not been orchestrated until 2 days before the dress (chorus/vocals had been finished long before, and that’s the only form in which I knew this piece when I arrived in Seoul!). When we conductors complain about the last-minute, on-the-spot nature of new music, we’re not kidding…
Is it me, or are you conducting especially on the beat in this piece?
Well, I actually always conduct on the beat. Whether the ensemble plays exactly on my beat or with a split second delay depends on the group and the repertoire and the circumstance – in this case a world premier with no rehearsal and an orchestra that played with little or no delay!
Off-topic, but just wondering what is the status of the concertmaster selection. I had understood that two finalists were to do try-outs in performance in the past season.
WBS, all I can tell you is that the concertmaster search is ongoing. We did have two candidates play trials this past season, and I’m told there will be several more candidates playing with us in the coming year. Basically, filling a concertmaster chair is completely unlike the process for filling any other chair in the orchestra – an open-call audition is only the beginning, and it’s not unusual to take several years to make a final decision.