“Five candidates from around the globe will vie to become the South Bend Symphony Orchestra’s new music director when current Maestro Tsung Yeh retires after this current season,” writes Amanda Gray in Friday’s (2/5) South Bend Tribune (Indiana). “Nearly 170 people applied to fill Yeh’s vacancy, Joyce Stifel, co-chair of the 17-member Music Director Search Committee, said.” The five candidates are Alastair Willis, music director at the Illinois Symphony Orchestra; Stilian Kirov, music director of the Bakersfield (Calif.) Symphony Orchestra and Symphony in C, Collingswood, N.J.; José-Luis Novo, music director of the Annapolis (Md.) Symphony Orchestra and Binghamton (N.Y.) Philharmonic; Vladimir Kulenovic, music director of the Lake Forest (Ill.) Symphony; and Keitaro Harada, associate conductor at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. “Each candidate will spend six days in South Bend [in 2016-17], leading the orchestra, meeting with community leaders and learning about the area.” At the orchestra’s February 4 press conference, Yeh said “audience members should look for three things as the candidates conduct concerts: their artistic and musical qualities, their abilities to connect with the community, and their visions for the future of the orchestra. This is a time to conclude one page of my life, but also turn the page.”
Posted February 9, 2016
