“The Memphis Symphony Orchestra announced Thursday that it has appointed Robert Moody to be principal conductor starting with the 2016-17 season,” writes Mark Richens in The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) on Friday (10/2). “Moody, who auditioned for the position of music director in 2010 after the departure of David Loebel, will take over the podium from Mei-Ann Chen, who announced in February that she would be moving on after this season. Moody, 42, signed a two-year contract for the position. Memphis Symphony board chairwoman Gayle Rose said the board decided to hire Moody, a frequent guest conductor with the MSO in recent years, as ‘principal conductor’ to provide artistic stability while the orchestra continues to emerge from recent financial difficulties. Hiring a ‘music director’—the title Chen and her predecessors held—would have required an extensive two-year-search process…. A native of Greenville, S.C., Moody has served as music director of the Winston-Salem Symphony in North Carolina since 2005, artistic director of Arizona Musicfest since 2007, and music director of the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra since 2008.”
October 2, 2015
