More on Smith -> BSO

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

Friends elsewhere raised some questions about Chad Smith's impending departure from the LA Phil.

One mentioned the "short tenure" of folks at the LA Phi, which isn't actually the case:

• Deborah Borda, 17 years
• Chad Smith, 21 years
• Gail Samuel, more than 30 years

He also mentioned the turnover at the top, but again, the odd item there is the very short tenure of Simon Woods, who succeeded Borda when she returned to the NY Philharmonic.

Borda's recent tenure in NY led to the renovation of their concert hall, hiring her designated successor Gary Ginstling, and hiring Gustavo Dudamel to succeed Jaap van Zweden as music director. It's an amazing conclusion to an already-outstanding career.

When Borda left LA, both Smith and Samuel were considered to be strong, capable candidates to succeed her. The Board's decision to hire Woods....was a mistake and he was gone in 18 months.

Smith succeeded Woods, and Samuel's departure from LA for the top job at the BSO makes sense because she was not going to get the LA job and presumably she wanted a shot at being CEO of a major orchesestra.

Smith's departure has to be read in context: he is from the northeast and went to school in the Boston area, receiving degrees from Tufts (history) and the New England Conservatory (voice). The BSO has the largest endowment of any U.S. orchestra (nearly a half-billion dollars). Tanglewood is important as a concert venue and for its role in training conductors and composers. The LA job is a plum, and the BSO gig is even bigger.

Another friend asked about the BSO going the LA for its CEO for the second time. What LA has had, for many years, is a strong group of administrators, given Borda, Smith, and Samuel. The same friend was wondering whether there might have been culture clash between how LA works and how the BSO works, and that is a very good question. We will probably never know the answer, because the folks with that kind of information aren't very like to talk publicly about it. The most informative article that I've seen about Samuel at the BSO came from the Berkshire Eagle and is well worth reading. Whatever mistakes and missteps Samuel made, Smith is unlikely to repeat.