At the start of most rehearsals, our personnel manager, Martha Warrington, stands up and gives us a heads up on information that we need to know. There were some new permanent members of the orchestra welcomed: Brian Johnson, double bass, and Ruby Chen, violin (Ruby had a one-year contract with us last season, but is now on the permanent track), as well as a slew of one-year appointments in the violin sections.
After the housekeeping was done, our President Elaine Calder stepped up to the podium, and she announced that our music director, Carlos Kalmar, would had reached agreement on a two-year contract extension that would carry his tenure with the Oregon Symphony through June, 2015.
It’s good news for the orchestra. We get the stability of knowing that we have a full four more seasons with Carlos, and there is time to properly plan what happens next in terms of succession. In addition, it gives the orchestra time to embark on a series of several recordings to be made under Kalmar’s direction, following up on the live recording of the Carnegie Hall debut concert that will be released later this year. The exposure and recognition that recordings can provide us at this state of our artistic development is incalculable, but the impact of a sustained campaign of recording on fundraising and the orchestra’s ability to attract top talent is sure to be significant.
3 replies on “carlos kalmar extends contract until 2015”
Carlos staying two more years? Consider that Mr. Stabler.
Congrats Brian & Ruby!
Great news! Carlos has certainly done what he was hired to do, which was to bring the orchestra to a higher level. As a subscriber and supporter of the orchestra, I could not be more pleased about the artistic growth of the symphony.
very good news for oso & pdx.
four more for the gipper!!!!