Tag: Conductor

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Famed Conductor, Citing Mind Tumor, Withdraws From Concert events

Famed Conductor, Citing Brain Tumor, Withdraws From Concerts

The renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas announced on Friday that he would withdraw from performances for the next several months as he recovers from surgery to treat a brain tumor.

Thomas, 76, the former music director of the San Francisco Symphony, said in a statement that he would take a hiatus through October as he undergoes treatment. He said doctors recently discovered the tumor and advised he have surgery immediately. He described the surgery, which took place at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center, as successful.

“I deeply regret missing projects that I was greatly anticipating,” Thomas said in the statement. “I look forward to seeing everyone again in November.”

Thomas, an eminent figure in the music industry known by the nickname M.T.T., stepped down as the San Francisco Symphony’s music director last year. He had held the post since 1995 and was widely credited with transforming the ensemble into one of the best in the nation and championing works by modern American composers.

Thomas said in the statement that he was canceling his participation in a starry concert with the National Symphony Orchestra in September to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Center, as well as appearances with the New World Symphony, a training orchestra for young artists in Miami that he helped found; the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, where he was to lead his “Agnegram” alongside works by Beethoven and Copland; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

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Gustavo Dudamel, Celebrity Conductor, Is to Lead Paris Opera

Gustavo Dudamel, Superstar Conductor, Is to Lead Paris Opera

Neef pointed out that Yannick Nézet-Séguin, 46, music director of the Met since 2018, did not start with an enormous repertoire there either. “The question isn’t about the crowd,” Neef said. “And these things are a bit deceiving: if you look at the list of operas that Gustavo has conducted, then from Mozart to John Adams. He conducts opera as long as he conducts symphonic music. “

When asked which works he was looking forward to the most, Dudamel replied: “Everything.” In Paris this autumn he is to conduct Puccini’s “Turandot” and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro”. In addition to the mainstream repertoire, he hoped to work with living composers from Europe and North and South America, including Adams, Thomas Adès and Gabriela Ortiz.

He added that he would like to direct the Paris Opera Ballet, the company’s in-house dance company. Dudamel said his mentor, José Antonio Abreu, the founder of El Sistema, often took him to ballet to learn about conducting.

“It was part of my training,” he said. “Also for my way of seeing the music.”

His appointment will include significant travel between Paris and Los Angeles, but his engagement with the Philharmonic is one that Dudamel said he has no intention of limiting. “I will share my time between the two families,” he said. What he will be limiting is guest conducting, a process he started a few years ago to shift his focus to longer-term projects.

“We’ll organize it the way he works in LA,” said Neef. “Long periods that stick together instead of traveling a lot.”

Neef added that Dudamel would provide a charismatic and visible link between the company’s main productions and its educational endeavors. In Los Angeles, Dudamel has contributed to the solid educational offering of the Philharmonic, particularly the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, a program inspired by El Sistema and founded in 2007.