Generational Change

Davies Symphony Hall

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

The huge wave of retirements from San Francisco Symphony, both in the recent past and with known and possible upcoming retirements, reminds me that what we are seeing now is generational change at the orchestra. Most of the many departures over the last few years were of people who'd been in the orchestra for 25 or more years, with some of them having 40+ years in the orchestra. Principal horn Robert Ward is retiring at the end of the year; he joined the orchestra in 1980. A reader of this blog and I both noticed that SFS is holding auditions this fall for associate principal cello, a position that Peter Wyrick has held since 1999. What we're seeing now is the departures of musicians who were hired by Herbert Blomstedt and MTT, with just a few going back as far as Edo de Waart. It's also important to recall that up until 1980, when Davies opened, the same group of musicians acted as the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Musicians who were in the organization at the time decided which orchestra to play in, as I understand it.

There haven't been announcements from the Symphony about Ward and Wyrick yet; watch for something around the beginning of the season, which opens on September 22.

And keep in mind that something similar is going on across the street, where the Opera Orchestra has a number of openings. Additionally, when the next run of Der Ring des Nibelungen plays at the War Memorial Opera House, who do you think will be singing in it? Nina Stemme has retired the role of Brünnhilde, if I'm remember the program notes from her Cal Performances recital correctly. She and Iréne Theorin both turned 60 this year. I do not think that either Mark Delevan (age 64) or Greer Grimsley (age 67) will be back for Wotan a few years down the road.

Looking around a bit, there's intriguing casting in Europe for a couple of performances of Die Walküre conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, aka the music director of the Metropolitan Opera. Tamara Wilson as Brünnhilde, Solomon Howard as Hunding, Elza van den Heever as Sieglinde, Brian Mulligan as Wotan, Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Siegmund. I'm not sure I buy the latter, and this seems a little far out for Mulligan, but certainly this could be a way for the singers and conductor to try out these roles.

Other singers who might turn up in a Met or SFO Ring, in addition to those in YN-S's upcoming performances, include Christine Goerke, Amber Wagner, Marjorie Owens, Lise Davidsen (I mean....Davidsen is sure to be in the next Met Ring, it's just a question of which role she will be singing), former Adler Fellow Sarah Cambidge, Andreas Schager, Clay Hilley, Issachah Savage, and more.