Rethinking The Music Director Search Process
Since the unofficial theme for posts this week seems to be innovation (or lack thereof in some cases), it seems fitting to round things out by pointing over to a recent post from Ron Spigelman over at Sticks and Drones that proposes some interesting ideas about how to re-think the process of searching for a new music director…
Although certainly not a universal constant, more often than not once a music director announces he/she will be leaving a post, they pretty much check-out when not on the podium. This isn’t to say that the change in attitude is motivated by ill will; in fact, most conductors leave one music director post because he/she was offered a post at an orchestra with a longer season and greater responsibilities. As such, the natural tasks involved with the new position begin to pull the conductor away from the previous group.
Spigelman comes up with some thought provoking options and you should set aside some time to give them a read (although he credits me for some of this, he’s the one who is really developing the idea in specifics).
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Adaptistration is authored by orchestra consultant Drew McManus and since its launch in 2003, the blog has become standard reading for arts administrators and arts administration programs throughout the world.
I have been thinking recently that the search process for Pops directors needs more thought. Every symphony is set up, primarily through its musician hiring process, to succeed at classical music. However, we are not set up to play pops at a fundamental level. We charge just as much for the tickets and I wonder if this is an area we are failing in. I believe in most markets around the country we would be better served to invest in refining that side of our product.It seems that only in the largest markets with the richest orchestras can a music director make an outward difference through the core repertoire.
All good thoughts Rob, I hope you post something similar over at Ron’s blog.