Copious Notes

The Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra will announce its choice for its new music director at Friday night’s concert, bringing to a close a two-year search for the successor to George Zack.

George Zack, whose successor will be named Friday. Photo by Matt Goins.

“This is the way we always wanted to make the announcement, and it looks like we’re on track to do it,” said Larry C. Deener, President of the Lexington Philharmonic Society, Inc.

Zack announced his retirement in December 2006, setting in motion a two-season search that saw 10 candidates conduct the Philharmonic between October 2007 and last month. Two candidates withdrew from the race after visiting — February auditioner Alastair Willis and March candidate Mei-Ann Chen.

That leaves eight candidates in contention for the spot:

• Kayoko Dan, assistant conductor of the Phoenix Symphony
• Alexander Platt, music director of the Waukesha Symphony in Wisconsin, resident conductor of the Chicago Opera Theatre and several other posts
• Darryl One, music director of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in Texas
• Daniel Meyer, music director of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina, resident conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and several other posts
• Alfred Savia, music director of the Evansville Symphony Orchestra in Indiana
• Scott Terrell, resident conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina
• Jeffrey Pollock, last post was assistant conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in Texas
• Morihiko Nakahara, music director of the South Carolina Philharmonic

Deener said the announcement will come just before intermission of Friday’s concert, which will feature the Lexington Singers and Lexington Philharmonic performing works by Gabriel Faure and Ludwig Van Beethoven. Lexington Singers music director Jefferson Johnson and University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra director John Nardolillo will co-conduct the concert.

At the concert, Deener said plans are to have brochures available with the programs for next season’s Masterclassics series, which will be the new conductor’s first season with the Philharmonic.

Mei-Ann Chen, a popular contender to succeed George Zack as music director of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, has withdrawn from the race.

Mei-Ann Chen.

Philharmonic executive director Peter Kucirko said that Chen sent an e-mail to him and the search committee Tuesday saying she was taking her name out of consideration. She is the second candidate to withdraw from the race. Alastair Willis, who conducted the orchestra in February, bowed out the week after his audition.

“Mei-Ann has withdrawn from the search on the advice of her manager, that she not take on the responsibility of this position in light of her rapidly growing career,” Kucirko said.

Kucirko added that Chen said, “the LPO has much potential and Lexington is a memorable and beautiful place to live.”

Chen is currently the assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and is a contender for music director posts in other cities such as Memphis, where she will conduct next season.

She conducted the Philharmonic on March 27 and zoomed to the tops of many observers’ lists. In his review of the concert, Herald-Leader contributing music critic Loren Tice said she should be the Philharmonic’s pick, and in a poll on this blog, more than half the voters said she should be the orchestra’s next conductor.

The Philharmonic’s search committee has eight candidates left to choose from who conducted from October 2007 through January this year. The committee met to begin considering candidates on Tuesday night. It was aware of Chen’s withdrawl when it met.

Whoever the committee selects, it will be the Philharmonic’s first new music director since George Zack took the baton in 1972. He conducted his last concert with the orchestra Sept. 12 and will officially retire when his successor takes over the job.

The orchestra has one concert left on its current season: An April 17 performance with the Lexington Singers which will be co-conducted by Singers director Jefferson Johnson and University of Kentucky Symphony music director John Nardolillo. The announcement of the new music director is expected at or before that performance.

Here’s our slide show of the candidates in the Lexington Philharmonic’s music director search. Mouse over the bottom to get controls. Click on the little comment cloud to the left to activate captions. If you click on a photo, it will take you to a larger version of it at Picasa, and you can click the link at the bottom left for a larger version of the whole show.

When we started the Lexington Philharmonic’s search for a new conductor, Barack Obama was still best known as a Senator from Illinois, AIG was pretty much known only to financial folk and golf fans, and CentrePointe sounded like a term out of Rand McNally.

OK, the length of the search for the Phil’s new music director has not been as dramatic as those comparisons that tell you the last time something happened dinosaurs were roaming the Earth. But, it has been a long journey for the orchestra, its search committee and the Philharmonic’s audience.

Now, with Mei-Ann Chen’s concert complete, all of the candidates have crossed the Singletary Center for the Arts concert hall stage, and it is up to the committee to choose from the nine hopefuls — 10 came to town, but February candidate Alastair Wills took his name out of the running after his appearance.

It’s been a dramatic couple of years for an orchestra that had the same person, George Zack, on the podium for well over three decades.

In the last two seasons, I know I have learned things about conducting and so has the audience.

Conducting is an entrepreneurial pursuit: Starting with Kayoko Dan, back in October 2007, I began hearing story after story about how aspiring conductors had to pull together pick-up orchestras to help them sharpen their skills. Alexander Platt, Mr. November 2007, organized performances of Benjamin Britten operas at Cambridge. Chen made friends with composition students at the New England Conservatory and organized performances of their works. If you play an instrument, you usually have that instrument to practice with. If you play large groups of people, that’s another thing altogether.

Mentors mean a lot: Scott Terrell, who we saw last October, went on about how influential David Zinman has been in his career. Chen did not have enough words for Robert Spano of the Atlanta Symphony, where she is assistant conductor. Almost every candidate we talked to had some sort of mentor who helped him or her develop and helped them get their feet in the first few doors.

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The most recent candidate to audition for music director of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra has withdrawn his name from consideration.

Alastair Willis takes a bow after conducting the Lexington Philharmonic Feb. 13. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Alastair Willis, a Seattle-based conductor who was raised in Russia and England, conducted the Philharmonic on Feb. 13. He was the ninth, and penultimate, candidate to succeed George Zack as music director of the Philharmonic.

Earlier this week, through his agent, Willis sent the Philharmonic’s executive director, Peter Kucirko, a short e-mail bowing out of the race.

“Thank you for inviting me and auditioning me in Lexington last week,” Willis wrote. “I am grateful for the time and effort you invested in me, however upon much reflection I sincerely feel this position is not right for me at this time and therefore would like to withdraw my candidacy.”

Search committee chairman John Carpenter said Willis’ audition week went well and, “God must have different plans for his career.”

After terms as an associate and resident conductor with the orchestras in Cincinnati and Seattle, Willis embarked on a freelance conducting career that includes a regular gig with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble.
Kucirko said it is not uncommon for candidates to withdraw from music director searches. Carpenter said that considering this search has been going on for two years, he is surprised only one candidate has dropped out.

“We’ll pick from nine,” Carpenter said of where the search stands. “We’re in a strong position going into the final candidate, and after that, I believe we will be able to make a great choice.”

The final candidate is Mei-Ann Chen, who will conduct the Philharmonic at 8 p.m. March 27. She is currently assistant conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Alastair Willis talks to the Lexington Philharmonic audience about Beethoven and the weather before Friday night's concert. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Alastair Willis looked at the group assembled in the Presidents Room of the Singletary Center for the Arts, and for a moment, he looked like he might have no idea what to say to the people.

Then, pre-concert chat moderator Joe Tackett asked him to tell the audience about himself.

“I always got the report cards that said, ‘He could be good, if he practiced,’” Willis, the ninth candidate to succeed George Zack as music director of the Lexington Philharmonic, said to knowing laughter.

And he was off, delivering one of the most relaxed, entertaining, and simultaneously insightful pre-show gab session of the conductor search. He told the crowd about his days in the Bristol University Music Society (you do the acronym), his big sister Sarah who plays French Horn in the Berlin Philharmonic, and even parried with Tacket over the infamous bass concerto question longer than any other candidate — he could program all six bass concertos Tackett deems worthwhile in one season . . . could.

But the Seattle man — via Cincinnati, via Houston, via England, via Russia, etc. — wasn’t all droll humor, as he thoughtfully considered questions like the roll of the orchestra in a community: “There’s not one set answer for what the role of an orchestra in a community is, because the community determines that.”

Onstage in the Singletary Center concert hall, Willis opened the concert telling the audience Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, which was on the program, contained, “all the weather conditions you have recently had here.” Introducing Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round, he noted that Golijov has been called the “Beethoven of this generation,” and reminded the crowd that Beethoven was once a contemporary composer.

Discussing his current career as a full-time guest conductor, he told the pre-show audience that the No. 1 goal of a guest conductor is, “to get invited back, because you’ve got to put food in your refrigerator, right?”

Come to think of it, being invited back was sort of his goal here, too.

Your thoughts?: Click here to tell the Philharmonic what you thought of Willis.

Review news: Due to deadline constraints, Loren Tice’s review of last night’s show could not be ready for Saturday’s paper. But it is already up on LexGo.

More music: If you liked last night’s concert, or feel like you missed something and want to make up for it, there are two real good opportunities this weekend:

• Gil Shaham and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra perform at 7:30 tonight.
• To get more of the Latin flavor of the first half of last night’s show, you may want to catch the La Catrina String Quartet at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Singletary Center recital hall.

Alastair Willis conducts the Lexington Philharmonic in a rehearsal Tuesday night at the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Click the play button to hear our chat with Alastair Willis:

Copious Notes podcasts are available on iTunes.

Alastair Willis’ résumé reads like a world tour. He started playing piano when he was a boy in Russia, took up trumpet and then conducting while he was living in England, continued his conducting studies in Houston, toured Japan and other foreign lands with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and held posts with orchestras in Cincinnati and Seattle, where he lives now.

This week, Willis, 37, who speaks with a British accent, has set his sights on Lexington, where he is the ninth candidate to succeed George Zack as music director of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.

“Every conductor needs an orchestra, and every orchestra needs a conductor,” Willis says when asked what attracted him to Lexington. “My research of this area and this orchestra has showed wonderful support for the arts and wonderful potential for future growth here, and I don’t know any conductor who’s currently not got a music director position who wouldn’t be interested in that.”

After one rehearsal, on Monday night, Willis had a good impression of the Phil, saying, “The orchestra seems open to what I have to offer.”

On Tuesday, he threw the players a bit of a curve ball, rehearsing Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round, the opening number of Friday’s concert. It requires the violins and violas to stand as opposing orchestras, with the basses and cellos seated in the middle. After some initial confusion, he pulled a fairly flowing rehearsal out of the players.

Willis had no hesitation about coming in and shaking things up a bit.

“Why have we always played in the form we always play in?” Willis asks, referring to the Phil’s traditional seating arrangement. “Because it works. Because it’s how orchestras historically sound best, for most of the repertoire. No one’s ever going to change that, but I love to find the variety.”

Willis has experienced a lot of variety in the past few years. He was in Cincinnati in the late 1990s for a year as assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestras and director of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra.

He says he loved the experience working under symphony conductor Jesús López- Cobos and pops conductor Erich Kunzel, but Cincy didn’t offer what he thought he really needed: “podium time.”

So Willis moved to Seattle, where as assistant and then resident conductor he was able to direct more than 100 performances in three years.

In 2003, he went the free-lance route, guest-conducting around the world and hanging out, when he could, with leading orchestras. He has a particular in with the Berlin Philharmonic, where his sister, Sarah Willis, plays fourth horn.

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Alastair Willis conducts the Lexington Philharmonic in its first rehearsal of Osvaldo Golijov's "Last Round," which requires violinists and violists to stand as opposing orchestras. LexGo photo by Rich Copley.

When Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra fans are settled into their seats Friday night, they’ll find that the musicians aren’t.

The violins and violas, at least, will be standing, poised to dance and maybe throw down a few punches — musically, that is — playing Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The piece calls for the musicians that can to stand, and guest conductor Alastair Willis is too happy to follow that order.

“I’m all for that,” Willis said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “Why have we always played in the form we always play in? Because it works. Because it’s how orchestras historically sound best, for most of the repertoire. No one’s ever going to change that, but I love to find the variety.”

Willis explained the variety presented in Last Round, which will open Friday’s concert.

“You’ve got two string orchestras set apart from each other,” Willis says. “There should be a gap down the middle, and straight in front of me are the basses, holding everyone together. It’s a wonderful visual. There’s a stereo effect of one idea bouncing across the stage from one orchestra to the other, and you have the concept of two tango dancers who are perhaps involved with each other, arms flailing, legs thrashing.”

Willis has had a chance to consult with Golijov through their work with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where Willis has conducted and Golijov is composer in residence.

“His music just speaks to new audiences,” Willis says of Golijov. “It’s an incredible fusion of classical ideas with non-classical ideas — modern jazz, modern folk music — in the most original way.”

Also on the concert is Alberto Ginastera’s Harp Concerto and Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral) which will be played in traditional orchestra seating.

Note: I’ll be Twittering the Grammy Awards tonight, using the hashtag #grammys, if you want to join in the chat.

Discovering new music is often a matter of trust, particularly if you are interested in exploring something like contemporary classical music.

Osvaldo Golijov. Photo by John Sann | Deutsche Grammophon.

Yes, you can just dive in and start listening to any piece composed in the past 50 years - classical music is a field in which that would be considered “new.” But exploration is often more interesting if you find artists whose tastes you appreciate and you keep up with what they’re doing.

That’s how I discovered Osvaldo Golijov.

The Lexington Philharmonic audience will get its first chance to hear Golijov on Friday, when guest conductor Alastair Willis conducts the orchestra in a performance of Golijov’s Last Round, a piece that helped introduce the composer to many listeners in 1996.

“He looks to be a voice to be reckoned with,” London’s Independent wrote of the world premiere of Last Round, commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

The group was created by conductor Simon Rattle, an artist whose contemporary tastes I started following many years ago when he was making ear-grabbing recordings with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

But that is not where I found Golijov.

It was Kronos Quartet’s and Dawn Upshaw’s work with the composer that initially intrigued me, and when I heard it, I had to hear more.

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