{"id":6909,"date":"2015-07-17T16:33:58","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T15:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=6909"},"modified":"2016-06-16T21:02:05","modified_gmt":"2016-06-16T20:02:05","slug":"breaking-music-industry-shock-as-leading-orchestra-appoints-conductor-based-on-skill-at-conducting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2015\/07\/17\/breaking-music-industry-shock-as-leading-orchestra-appoints-conductor-based-on-skill-at-conducting\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Music Industry Shock as Leading Orchestra Appoints Conductor Based on Skill at Conducting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The music industry reacted with wide-eyed amazement this month as the world\u2019s leading orchestra announced they were appointing someone to the prestigious position of Principal Conductor based on his ability to conduct. Across Europe, North America and the Far East, orchestral managers, agents, musicians and music lovers expressed genuine shock at the news that a conductor, Kirill Petrenko, had been hired solely on merit, for possibly the first time in recent memory, to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic, considered by many to be the world\u2019s greatest orchestra.<\/p>\n

News of Petrenko\u2019s appointment sent journalists scrambling to uncover suspected affiliations with the Illuminati, the Masons or Goldman Sachs, but initial inquries left journalists baffled. \u201cI don\u2019t get it,\u201d said New York Herald senior critic Havergal Thomson. \u201cAll anyone seems to know about this guy is that he\u2019s really good at conducting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kirill<\/a>

Kirill Petrenko: Reputed to be very good at conducting<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that good conductors never get jobs\u201d said New York-based mega agent Donald Wontford. \u201cIt\u2019s just that I can\u2019t think of another instance of a conductor getting a really important job because<\/em><\/strong> they were good. Being good has historically been further down the list of desirable qualities in a conductor, just below “legible handwriting” and above “never been convicted of a violent crime”.\u201d<\/p>\n

Historically, experts report, conductors have been hired on the basis of fundraising acumen or access to secret private sponsorship. In later years, conductors were often appointed because of their ability to negotiate recording contracts, but as the recording industry has become less profitable, there has been with a shift towards basing hiring decisions on \u201cmedia imprint\u201d or “potential.” Orchestras are also reported to seek conductors who are perceived as “metrosexual gods.”<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, this seems like a wildly na\u00efve decision on the part of the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic,\u201d said Simon Standin, long-time general manager of the Southwest Sinfonia. \u201cIt calls into question the entire viability of player-run orchestras, as the musicians seem to lack the business acumen needed to understand the importance of a conductor\u2019s number of Twitter followers, achievements as an oboe soloist, or connections to Austrian royalty.\u201d<\/p>\n