Author: Matthew Westphal

“Right now the feeling of the symphony board is frustration and anger and sadness. The ASO board no longer seems to have any power. WAC [Woodruff Arts Center] is calling all the shots. … They have gradually taken over all authority for running the symphony.”

Douglas Hertz on musicians’ criticisms: “It makes you wonder, you know, are we supporting a bunch of crazy people.” On music director Robert Spano: “Maybe Robert’s feeling a little bit guilty because he’s getting paid and the musicians aren’t. But he could be a big help in solving this.” On the Atlanta community: “The sad part of it is … there are not enough people that care. If the public cared maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“With a mature organization like the San Francisco Opera, a CEO should stay 10 years,” he said. “The energy and creativity kind of gets squeezed out, and then the way opens up for new energy and new vision. This will be a positive thing for the company, and will put the onus on the company to get somebody great to succeed me.”

The orchestra’s musicians say, and parent organization Woodruff Arts Center does not deny, that both the departed ASO president and Woodruff leaders argued “that the number of full-time tenured musicians of the ASO should be permanently reduced, and resulting vacancies could be filled with alumni from the ASO’s Talent Development Program (TDP), who would perform in an ‘internship’ capacity.”

The Italian maestro begins in his new position in 2016, succeeding Mariss Jansons, who is stepping down next March. “[Gatti] takes over at an orchestra that critics regard as one of the world’s finest, but whose finances have been shaken by a decline in government support.”

After years of enormous deficits, labor strife, alleged mismanagement, and threats of closure – culminating in Riccardo Muti’s surprise resignation from the company last month – the opera house’s board decided to replace the resident orchestra and chorus with “outsourced” artists. Said the general manager, “The only other alternative was shutting the theater down altogether.” (in English)

Susanna Mälkki: “I was very aware that the tradition of the profession is extremely masculine. I knew that if I wanted to do this, I have to be particularly good at it. … Maybe one day we will have reached a point where we won’t have to discuss the gender issue at all.”