“Vladimir Kulenovic, the first candidate for the position of music director of the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted a pair of concerts Saturday night Sept. 7 and Sunday afternoon Sept. 8,” writes Dorothy Andries in Monday’s (9/9) Lake Forester (Lake Forest, Illinois). “The concerts kicked off the audition process taking place over the ensemble’s entire five-concert season.” Kulenovic, a Juilliard graduate and Solti Foundation winner, is one of six conductors who participated in the Bruno Walter National Conducting Preview of the League of American Orchestras in March at the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida. “On Sunday afternoon it was without a doubt [Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite] that put the conductor’s abilities in high relief.… His precision gave way to passion in this multi-layered music, with its delicate opening, tempestuous flourishes and its powerful central theme, which shimmered as the calm amidst the firestorm…. After intermission, Henry Fogel, coordinator of the symphony’s nearly year-long search for a music director, and Steve Robinson, WFMT’s top executive, spoke to the audience. Fogel, past president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, former director of the League of American Orchestras and now dean of the Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, praised the meticulous way members of the committee conducted the search, which attracted 150 applicants…. Kulenovic has set a high bar.”
Posted September 11, 2013
