“Michael Stern will remain the Kansas City Symphony’s music director at least through the 2019-20 season,” writes Robert Trussell in Wednesday’s (9/30) Kansas City Star. The new four-year contract “will extend Stern’s time with the orchestra to 15 years…. Under Stern’s leadership, the orchestra has pursued dual goals of artistic growth and an enhanced role in the community. Last year, when the orchestra performed the national anthem at Kauffman Stadium before the sixth game of the World Series, it was the first time the symphony had done so. Following that were performances this year before the home openers for both the Royals and the Chiefs…. Frank Byrne, the symphony’s executive director, said Stern had hired 35 members of the current orchestra…. Byrne said, ‘Our board, our staff, our musicians are all impressively unified in terms of achieving the long-term objectives of the organizations. We have extraordinarily positive relations between all those constituents.’ … Stern said he may be the public face of the symphony, but any success has been a group effort.”
Posted October 1, 2015
