On Monday (9/28) at MusicalAmerica.com (subscription required), Nicholas Beard writes that in Canada, “Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony music director Edwin Outwater has announced he will be leaving the orchestra at the end of the 2016-17 season…. Outwater arrived in 2007, when the orchestra was struggling with bankruptcy. He is credited with leading its recovery; since his arrival, Kitchener-Waterloo, named for Ontario’s twin cities, has seen a dramatic increase in subscriptions and overall attendance by nearly 40 percent and a rise in donations by over 60 percent…. Among composers whose works the orchestra has explored under him are Mason Bates, Gabriela Lena Frank, Nicole Lizeé, and Nico Muhly…. Board Chair Catherine Coop stated, ‘The KWS was fortunate to be able to keep Edwin for so many years.’ Outwater is leaving to pursue artistic challenges, saying he feels a responsibility to ‘grow and evolve [but] I know my connection to this orchestra will last far into the future.’ Outwater will take the title of music director laureate, succeeding Raffi Armenian, who becomes the orchestra’s first music director emeritus. KWS Executive Director Andrew Bennett indicated that the search for the conductor’s successor would ‘start right away.’ ”
Posted September 28, 2015
