CSO still waits for new music director as Slatkin likely to head for Detroit
With so many American orchestras searching in recent years for new music directors, it's hard to keep track without a scorecard.
The latest apparent appointment-in-waiting is in Detroit, where Leonard Slatkin seems likely to take over the Detroit Symphony in the 2009-10 season when his schedule opens up. He is resigning in June after 12 years as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Slatkin cautions that he has yet to receive a formal offer from the DSO, although talks are ongoing.
A year ago, it appeared Slatkin was subtly campaigning to be Daniel Barenboim's successor at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but even then, it seemed a long shot.
While the CSO has worked with him as a guest conductor for three decades, it's been a cordial relationship, not one with the "love at first sight" feeling that came over the players two years ago when Bernard Haitink made his first guest-conducting visit here in many years. That led to Haitink's current position as principal conductor, a real feather in the CSO's musical cap while its search continues.
The 63-year-old Slatkin, meanwhile, may be just what Detroit needs. Peter Oundjian, the orchestra's artistic adviser and principal guest conductor, is scheduled to step down as artistic adviser following the 2008-09 season. That would clear the way for Slatkin, who that season will join Oundjian for four weeks apiece guest-conducting the orchestra.
DSO president and executive director Anne Parsons told the Detroit News last week that nothing is set in stone.
"This is still a process," she said. "No matter what happens, we now have a relationship with Leonard that we didn't have before."
Whether Oundjian has inside information isn't certain, but he seems solidly in Slatkin's corner.
"This will put the DSO in very good hands artistically," Oundjian told the Detroit News. "Leonard and I have a lot in common as musicians. I know that we will work together quite well."
Oundjian added that even though Slatkin can't take over until the 2009-10 season because of prior commitments, he will hold the title from the time he signs his contract.
The Detroit Symphony certainly could use a man like Slatkin right now. The orchestra's musicians recently threatened a strike if stalled contract talks were not stepped up, but Slatkin was quoted last week that "the same thing happened when I went to St. Louis (in 1979)."
History shows Slatkin made the St. Louis Symphony a powerhouse ensemble in his 17 years there, and he's copied that success in the nation's capital.
With the New York Philharmonic earlier this summer signing native son Alan Gilbert to succeed Lorin Maazel in two years, and with the 26-year-old Venzuelan phenom Gustavo Dudamel set to follow Esa-Pekka Salonan at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, also in 2009-10, that keeps the Chicago Symphony's search in the forefront. Slatkin, Gilbert and Dudamel have all conducted here recently, and now they're out of the picture.
When the gifted Italian conductor Riccardo Muti opens the CSO season the weekend of Sept. 13-15 before leading the orchestra on a European tour in late September-early October, the musicians will have a chance to see if he's the right fit.
Of the reported leading candidates, Muti has the highest profile, previously leading a major American orchestra (Philadelphia) and having a long run as artistic director of the legendary La Scala (Milan) opera house.
In the past, the CSO has turned to Europe for its music directors, and Muti certainly has the qualifications. It's all about synergy: Can they make music together like they have for Haitink and conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez? By the end of the 2007-08 season, we'll likely have the answer.