“Riccardo Chailly plans to step down as music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in June, several years ahead of schedule,” writes Michael Cooper in Thursday’s (9/3) New York Times. “Chailly’s decision to leave the orchestra, which he has led to great acclaim for a decade, came as his other commitments have expanded. Mr. Chailly, 62, became the principal conductor at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan this year, and last month was named music director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, a summer engagement. But his obligations at La Scala are expected to grow in 2017, when he is scheduled to assume the title of music director. Two years ago the Gewandhaus Orchestra announced that Mr. Chailly’s contract there had been extended until 2020. But on Thursday the ensemble said that the mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, had acceded to Mr. Chailly’s wish to leave the orchestra early.” Articles in Tuesday’s (9/2) and Friday’s (9/4) New York Times note that French conductor Alain Altinoglu will become music director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in January, and that composer Wolfgang Rihm will succeed Pierre Boulez in 2016 as artistic director of the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland; composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher will be principal conductor of the Lucerne Academy’s orchestra.
Posted September 4, 2015
