conductor search

There's a press conference going on right now at the Hult Center to announce the selection of Danail Rachev as the new music director for the Eugene Symphony, beginning in the fall of 2008. Here's the story that will appear in the paper tomorrow:

Magnificent, Incredible — and Ours
Symphony reveals new music director
By Suzi Steffen

First there were 300; then there were three; now there’s one. And that one’s a humdinger.

The Eugene Symphony announced in a press conference on Nov. 19 that its new music director will be Danail Rachev. Rachev, 38, has been assistant conductor in Dallas and Philadelphia and was one of three finalists who gave free public concerts with the Eugene Symphony in September.

Roger Saydack, chair of the search committee, said, “I think he’s going to be magnificent.”

Saydack has chaired four music director search committees, and he has also seen hundreds of aspiring conductors in his work with the League of American Symphony Orchestras. “This level of talent that Danail has is very rare,” he said.

Rachev said in a phone interview from Philadelphia that he was “impressed with the way the Eugene Symphony musicians are dedicated to playing great music, to playing an exciting performance.” He added, “The time of the absolute dominators of a performance is past, and the most important thing for me is that it’s a collaboration between a conductor and an orchestra.”

“The musicians are ecstatic,” said Lydia Van Dreel, a horn player who served on the search committee. Their preference seemed clear at the concert Rachev conducted Sept. 12 at the Hult Center, when the orchestra clapped, clattered bowstrings and stamped their feet for the candidate, giving him a solo bow. Concertmaster Kathryn Lucktenberg said Rachev was a consummate muscian’s musician, whose intensity and love for the music inspired the orchestra to do better work.

Saydack witnessed the players’ enthusiasm days before the concert. “During the second rehearsal, I had musicians coming to me at break saying, ‘Get out the contract; close the airport; don’t let him leave town! This is our guy.’”

When current Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero announced last fall that he was leaving to become the music director for the Nashville Symphony, the search process began. The committee received more than 300 applications and winnowed them to three finalists, in an intensive process that one committee member estimates took more than 200 hours per person. Van Dreel said, “We talked to lots of musicians that had worked with [Rachev], and across the board, the reaction from them was that he’s an incredible musician.”

Symphony Executive Director Paul Winberg agreed. “I’m thrilled. He’s one of the most intriguing musicians I have met.” He added, “For the next phase in the musical development of the orchestra, Danail will have the capacity to do something interesting and profound.”

**
A longer version of this story and a short Q&A with the candidate will be up at blogs.eugeneweekly.com on Friday, Nov. 22.

Last night, I attended dress rehearsal for the Eugene Symphony's first free concert to show the public the three candidates in its conductor search. (Photo courtesy Santa Barbara Symphony.)

OK, its MUSIC DIRECTOR search. But the concerts are about musicianship, so I found it interesting to watch the first candidate, Nir Kabaretti, conducting a rehearsal. I believe this was the third rehearsal for the concert; the music director usually gets ... let me see ... three and a dress, so this was one fewer than usual. Also, as Kabaretti told me during our Q&A this week (more from the Q&A coming soon, after various EW-related dog crises are settled), he feels quite strongly about getting Mozart "right." Or, rather, Mozart in a Viennese style.

So the casually dressed orchestra, led by concertmaster Katherine Lucktenberg in a tie-dye T-shirt and sandals, began with the Mozart piece Kabaretti picked — Impresario overture. Kabaretti, in dressy casual clothes, seemed completely at ease on the podium and with the musicians. He stopped them often to make sure certain bits sounded the way he wanted them to, pushing the strings especially to modulate their sound and "be more elegant." He often sang the lines to them to explain what he was looking for, and that seemed to help. Lucktenberg appeared to respect him but not be afraid to challenge him or instruct her violins in bowing or emphasis. I was surprised to see so much talking among the musicians during rehearsal, but maybe I don't go to enough rehearsals.

I loved the Mozart, and I could hear the improvements as the orchestra responded to Kabaretti's direction. Though I didn't sit on stage with the major donors and board (some others sat in the audience), I could see Kabaretti's baton work from the side, and he seemed to be right on, very clear beat without being martial, clear indications to the musicians when they should come in (enough ahead of time to give them warning), controlling the sound with his left arm and his body movement. Smooth and in control.

That remained the case through the so-often played (and used in many movie soundtracks) first movement of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. Unfortunately for me, a music theory prof once told us that we would never forget the symphony if we just remembered to sing "This is the symphony that Schubert wrote but never finished" to one of the dominant themes of the first movement. Well, thanks, Dr. Brown, I never did forget and never will, and that made me giggle during rehearsal.

Anyway, it's tough for a conductor to draw a fresh sound out of an orchestra with chestnuts like this (even if they're the most gorgeous chestnuts, they're still played all of the time, and the musicians and conductor grow tired of them). This is one of two pieces that each candidate must conduct, so it will be interesting to see the contrasts. Kabaretti has worked in many countries and learned many languages, and again, he's smooth as butter up there. He dances on the podium, but lightly, and he seems in control, calm and determined that the orchestra understand his directions and work hard. He didn't seem to stint on praise, but only if he thought it was deserved.

I'm excited about the concert tonight. I couldn't hang out for the entire rehearsal, so I didn't get to hear the Tchaikovsky or Rimsky-Korsakov that's on the program, but I can't wait!

I look forward to seeing the next two candidates! And OMG, the Symphony this month — three candidates, the opening concert on the 18th AND YO-YO MA! Wow.

Here's a video with a bit of Kabaretti speaking and conducting (I assure you that he is more attractive than this interview lighting shows).