Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Principal Oboe Musical Chairs, LA Phil Edition


Walt Disney Concert Hall
March, 2017
Photo by Lisa Hirsch


The excellent Mr. CKDH, who blogs at All is Yar, covers vacancies in the LA Philharmonic in great detail. He's been reporting on the orchestra and its members for long enough that he's been able to interview principal players and retirees. (See, for example, his two-part interview with Michele Zukovsky, legendary principal clarinetist for 54 years, on the occasion of her retirement. Part 1 Part 2)

For out-of-towners, this might not be of interest, unless you're a nerd, which I am. Also, as a former flutist, I followed the LA Phil's multi-year principal flute issues with some fascination.

There's a big exception this year, however. The LA Phil has an opening for principal oboe, where they choose someone who served for a few months before deciding that the job wasn't for him. And the other week, Eugene Isotov, San Francisco Symphony's fabulous principal oboist, was in LA playing a trial week.

He is a great player and I'm sure that he is under serious consideration for the job. Me, I hope that he stays here! If you're interested in SFS, in the audition process, or the LA Phil, definitely take a look at the principal oboe post at All is Yar.

2 comments:

CK Dexter Haven said...

Thank you, ma'am!

Still not clear to me what the Izotov's motivation is for potentially changing orchestras yet again, but one thing I didn't include in the article and is worth mentioning here: Izotov was recently named Interim Oboe Faculty at Colburn Conservatory. Prior SFS principals have been full-time faculty there and he may get the interim tag pulled regardless of whether or not he gets the LA Phil job. That said, one job is obviously related to the other.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Mercifully, we get to keep him. E-P is commuting to LA for his job at Colburn, so maybe they will drive down together in E-P's Prius? (Yes, there's a Prius parked in the Salonen space behind Davies when he is conducting!)