“The longtime directors of two important classical music festivals have extended their contracts,
the organizations announced Wednesday,” writes Allan Kozinn in Tuesday’s (7/29) New York Times. “Louis Langrée, the music director of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center since 2002, has renewed his contract through 2017, which will bring his tenure to the 15-year mark. Mr. Langrée is widely credited with raising the orchestra’s performance level and pushing the festival’s programming in new directions, often well beyond Mozart and into the 21st century.” Langrée is also music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. “Michael Haefliger, the executive and artistic director of the Lucerne Festival since 1999, announced that he would remain in his position through 2020, the 21st year of his tenure. Mr. Haefliger faces two considerable challenges. In 2003, he raised the festival’s profile significantly when he established the Lucerne Festival Academy, with Pierre Boulez as its director, and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, directed by Claudio Abbado. But Mr. Abbado died in January, and no successor has been named. And Mr. Boulez, 89, has recently canceled several performances because of illness, including planned concerts with his Lucerne musicians last September.”
Posted July 31, 2014
Pictured: Louis Langrée leads the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and pianist Richard Goode at Avery Fisher Hall, July 29, 2014. Photo by Hiroko Masuike / The New York Times
