A documentary showing the notoriously fractured Philadelphia Orchestra from the inside ought to be one of the most exciting and controversial entries in the city’s film festival. But the documentary you want to get made isn’t always the one that gets made, and Music From The Inside Out, which purports to be such an insider’s look at one of the country’s great orchestras, is in fact nothing more than a big wet sloppy public relations kiss. “This is the Philadelphia Orchestra’s polished but not slick valentine to itself. Not that what’s on screen is false – it’s just a very narrow view of the personalities concerned. And for close observers of the orchestra, that specificity is painful to watch, because you want reality to be entirely this way.”
Tag: 04.20.05
Conlon On Detroit’s Radar Screen
American conductor James Conlon, who made his reputation in Europe and has recently become a big name in the U.S. as well, may be near the top of the Detroit Symphony’s music director wish list to succeed the outgoing Neeme Jarvi. Unfortunately, Conlon is so busy that he won’t have time to conduct in Detroit until June 2006, and he is also about to start two new jobs in America (as director of the Los Angeles Opera and of the Chicago Symphony’s summer festival at Ravinia.) Still, the DSO has invited Conlon to conduct its 2005-06 season finale.
Muti Not On Chicago’s Shortlist
The Chicago Symphony says that it has not offered Riccardo Muti the position of music director, despite cryptic statements from the conductor published in the Italian press this week. Muti said he was “considering an offer” from the CSO, but would not elaborate. The orchestra says that it has invited Muti to guest conduct for the first time in a quarter-century, but that is all.
Or Is He?
“Deborah Card, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, confirmed that she and others from the CSO met with Muti last weekend in New York while he was conducting the New York Philharmonic… Card declined to say whether she had extended a firm offer to Muti to become CSO music director when Barenboim steps down at the end of the 2005-06 season.”