Conductor and blogger extraordinaire William Eddins writes an excellent post about taking part in a music director search – as a prospective candidate – by the Charlotte Symphony. Always candid, Eddins gives a unique viewpoint (and one rarely, if ever, heard in public) of the music director audition process from the point of view of the conductor in the hot seat.
Here’s a sample:
Some years ago I stopped really participating in Music Director searches. If I am honest I would call myself a maverick, someone who doesn’t fit the mold of a “classic” Music Director by a very long stretch. Part of this is me and who I am. Part of this is the fact that much of Classical music, especially the orchestral world, is stuck somewhere deep in the 19th Century. So being on the MD search gerbil wheel became more and more depressing for me. So I stopped participating. Of course the next thing that happened was that I was offered the job in Edmonton. This reminds me that once I gave up on dating is when I found the gal who became my wife. It all goes to show you that sometimes you have to stop desperately wanting things before the universe will actually give them to you, which is the Taoist’s opposing theory to Trickle Down Economics if I’ve ever heard it.