It is never a sure thing who an orchestra is really considering when they are looking for a new music director. Some conductors don’t want to be seen as ‘auditioning’ for the gig, and orchestras are often competing for the same scarce resource: a good conductor. So it pays to be cagey about just who you have an interest in.
Joel Luks at Culture Map Houston weighs in with who he thinks is on the Houston Symphony’s radar as they say goodbye to their outgoing music director Hans Graf. Some familiar faces from Oregon Symphony guest conductor lineups are amongst those on the list Luks provides. [In all fairness, it’s not at all evident if this is just Luks’ own musings, or if he has off the record scuttlebut to back up this list.] Here’s his final paragraph from the post:
Who will take over Graf’s baton? A series of guest conductors will play throughout the symphony season and odds are one will become the new maestro. Though our top choices so far are Hannu Lintu and Christoph Koenig, on the short list are John Storgårds, Pablo Heras-Casado, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Juanjo Mena, Thomas Dausgaard, Gilbert Varga and Carlos Kalmar.