In Tuesday’s (11/20) Ottawa Citizen (Canada), Peter Robb and Jennifer Ditchburn write, “The National Arts Centre is actively showcasing conductors with an eye to replacing the current music director of the orchestra when he formally leaves the post in 2015. The clock is certainly ticking on finding a replacement for Pinchas Zukerman, says Christopher Deacon, the managing director of the orchestra. So while plans are afoot for a major tour of China in 2013, guest conductors are being actively booked to allow the centre to gauge the talent pool. The goal, Deacon says, is to find the person best qualified to lead the orchestra over the next several important years. … If the post is to be filled with an eye to a smooth transition, the person should ideally be chosen by the summer of 2014. That would allow time to clean up booked engagements and bring the lucky winner on scene by the summer of 2015, in time for the start of the fall season in that year. … Meanwhile, the NAC is also dreaming big for 2017, artistically and architecturally. As first reported by the Citizen, NACO plans to tour China and later the United Kingdom. And in 2017, the centre will blow it out with shows for [its 50th] birthday year, and there might even be a transformation of the building.”
Posted November 21, 2012
