Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Musical Music Director Chairs

The latest news:

  • Lorenzo Viotti will be the next music director of the Tokyo Symphony, commencing in the 2026-27 season. He succeeds Jonathan Nott, who steps down in March, 2026.
  • Edward Gardner leaves the Bergen Philharmonic at the end of 2023-24.
  • Robin Ticciati leaves the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in 2025.
  • Santtu-Matias Rouvali leaves the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 2025
  • Lorenzo Viotti leaves next year)
  • Daniel Harding leaves the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2025 (Daniel Harding leaves next year)
  • Daniele Rustioni leaves the Ulster Orchestra at the end of this season
  • Jessica Rivero Altarriba is the new Assistant Conductor of the Utah Symphony, which doesn't have a music director at the moment.

Open positions:

  • Ulster Orchestra, when Daniele Rustioni leaves
  • Utah Symphony
  • Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, when Daniel Harding leaves
  • Oslo Philharmonic, when Klaus Makela moves on in 2027
  • Orchestre de Paris, when Klaus Makela moves on in 2027
  • Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, when Santu-Matias Rouvali leaves in 2025
  • Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra because of the departure of Lorenzo Viotti in 2025
  • Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, because of the departure of Lorenzo Viotti in 2025
  • Dutch National Opera, because of the departure of Lorenzo Viotti in 2025
  • English National Opera
  • Bergen Philharmonic
  • LA. Opera, at the end of 2025-26
  • San Francisco Symphony, at the end of 2024-25
  • Phoenix Symphony
  • Cleveland Orchestra, as of June, 2027.
  • Lahti Symphony, when Dalia Stasevka leaves.
  • Antwerp Symphony, with the departure of Elim Chan.
  • Paris Opera is currently without a music director.
  • Nashville Symphony, when Giancarlo Guerrero leaves.
  • Deutsche Oper Berlin, when Donald Runnicles leaves.
  • Rottedam Philharmonic, when Lahav Shani leaves.
  • Los Angeles Philharmonic, as of 2026-27, when Gustavo Dudamel leaves for NY.
  • Seattle Symphony, following Thomas Dausgaard's abrupt departure in January, 2022.
  • Teatro Regio Turin: Open now with departure of Gianandrea Noseda. The Teatro Regio has not named a new music director.
  • Marin Symphony, at the end of 2022-23.
  • Vienna Staatsoper, when Philippe Jordan leaves at the end of 2025.
  • Pacific Symphony, when Carl St. Clair retires.


Conductors looking for jobs (that is, as of the near future, or now, they do not have a posting). The big mystery, to me, is why an orchestra hasn't snapped up Susanna Mälkki. Slightly lesser mystery: Henrik Nanasi, whose superb Cosi fan tutte is still lingering in my ears.

  • Marc Albrech
  • Markus Stenz
  • Esa-Pekka Salonen, if he wants such a position again
  • James Conlon, if he wants such a position again.
  • Dalia Stasevska (though her contract at Lahti has been extended by a year)
  • Elim Chan
  • Kirill Karabits
  • Tito Muñoz 
  • Andrey Boreyko
  • Osmo Vänskä
  • Susanna Mälkki, who left the Helsinki Philharmonic at the end of 2022-23.
  • MGT (apparently does not want a full-time job, as of early 2022)
  • Miguel Harth-Bedoya (seems settled in at Baylor)
  • Sian Edwards
  • Ingo Metzmacher
  • Jac van Steen
  • Ilan Volkov
  • Aleksandr Markovic
  • Lothar Koenigs
  • Henrik Nanasi
  • Philippe Jordan, eventually
  • Franz Welser-Möst, if he wants such a job

And closed:

  • Edward Gardner starts as music director of Norwegian National Opera this season,
  • Sarasota Orchestra: Giancarlo Guerrero just got named music director, as of 2025.
  • Hong Kong Philharmonic: Tarmo Peltokoski becomes music director in 2026.
  • Tokyo Symphony, with the appointment of Lorenzo Viotti.
  • Oakland Symphony, where Kedrick Armstrong succeeds the late Michael Morgan.
  • Minnesota Opera: closed with the appointment of Christopher Franklin.
  • The Chicago Symphony Orchestra gets to share Klaus Mäkelä with the Concertgebouw.
  • The Hallé Orchestra's next conductor will be Kahchun Wong.
  • Marin Alsop becomes principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, I believe succeeding Nathalie Stutzmann.
  • Simon Rattle becomes principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.
  • John Storgards will becomes chief conductor of the Turku Philharmonic.
  • Update and correction: San Francisco Chamber Orchestra was unable to hire Cosette Justo Valdés. Instead, Jory Fankuchen, a violinist in the orchestra, has been named Principal Conductor and will lead this season's programs.
  • Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: Cristinia Mačelaru becomes music director in 2025
  • Indianapolis Symphony hires Jun Markel, effective September 1, 2024.
  • Andris Nelsons renewed his contract with the Boston Symphony. He's now on an evergreen rolling contract, which will continue as long as he and the orchestra are happy with each other. MTT had one of these at SFS.
  • Shanghai Symphony, with the appointment of Long Yu.
  • Virginia Symphony, with the appointment of Eric Jacobsen.
  • Warsaw Philharmonic, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
  • Bern Symphony, with the appointment of Krzysztof Urbański.
  • Berlin State Opera, with the appointment of Christian Thielemann.
  • Dresden Philharmonic, with the appointment of Donald Runnicles.
  • New York Philharmonic, with the appointment of Gustavo Dudamel. Note that Jaap van Zweden leaves in 2024 and there will be a two-season gap before Dudamel arrives.
  • Helsinki Philharmonic: Jukka-Pekka Saraste to succeed Susanna Mälkki.
  • Staatskapelle Dresden, with the appointment of Daniele Gatti.
  • Seoul Philharmonic appoints Jaap van Zweden.
  • Royal Opera appoints Jakub Hrůša to succeed Antonio Pappano

3 comments:

Geo. said...

A few updates for your list:
* Antwerp Symphony Orchestra: Elim Chan has already stepped down as its chief conductor.
* Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: Cristian Macelaru becomes music director in 2025.
* Hong Kong Philharmonic: Tarmo Peltokoski becomes music director in 2026.
* Sarasota Orchestra: Giancarlo Guerrero just got named music director, as of 2025.

On your general conductor list:
* Edward Gardner starts as music director of Norwegian National Opera this season, and continues as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. So he's not looking for a job, AFAICT, as he has two.
* Jonathan Nott is music director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, at least through 2026. So as well, he doesn't seem to be looking for a job, unless 2026 implies some sort of closure, of which I'm not aware.
* Daniele Rustioni continues as music director of the Opera National de Lyon. Haven't seen any sign of any sort of endgame there.
* Robin Ticciati continues as music director of Glyndebourne Opera. Likewise, I'm not aware of any tea leaves that his time there may be up, although Glyndebourne music directors tend to serve a decade, +/- 1 or 2 years. Ticciati has been Glyndebourne MD since 2014, FWIW.

On Susanna M., agree that she would be an excellent choice for any orchestra or opera company who would want her. But therein lies the question: does an orchestra or opera company really want her as their musical boss now, for a long-term working relationship? Perhaps stating the obvious: ability and talent aren't enough.

Lisa Hirsch said...

There was an update post that I never published that probably had some of this news in it - I wrote about Mačelaru and Cincinnati, I know. And I have that update item about Guerrero leaving Nashville. I like him a lot; he has been excellent here and is a catch for Sarasota.

I've made all of your updates, thank you, especially where I was in error.

Re Mälkki, I just don't understand why doesn't have a full-time job right now, but....do you read All is Yar? The blogger, known as Mr. CKDH, is well-connected and gets any number of interesting interviews and also comments from pro musicians. There is someone who ah has a think against Alex Ross and does not like Mälkki at all. See this post and especially the comment thread: Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Summer 2024 edition, pt. 1):.

Geo. said...

It's been a long while since I've read anything from CKDH's blog, so I'd obviously missed his post about the LA Phil situation. But it seems to me that the "slippedisc-ish" / gossipmonger comments from CKDH and especially 'Harper' address your question of why Susanna M. hasn't landed anything since she left the Helsinki Philharmonic. 'Harper' especially seems to consider E-PS to be some sort of evil puppet-master who brainwashes orchestras in helping out his 'proteges', as if orchestra musicians can't make up their own minds about conductors. Whatever one may thing of Klaus M., I get the sense that the Oslo Phil and the Orchestre de Paris made up their own minds about Klaus M. without E-PS telling them what to do.