Voice Check: 10 Tips for Healthy SingingAMERICAN THEATRE MAGAZINE

Voice therapists, trainers and performers give expert advice on how to protect and maintain your singing voice

Theatre lore is packed with horror stories about performers cracking or missing notes on stage or—even worse—losing their voices completely. Luciano Pavarotti had, near the start of his career, a disastrous concert in the Italian city of Ferrara around the time that a nodule first developed on his vocal chords; as a result, he gave up singing for a while. In 1997, Julie Andrews's voice was seriously damaged after she underwent surgery for polyps that developed on her vocal chords while she was performing in Victor/Victoria on Broadway. And Nathan Lane frequently missed performances of the Broadway production of The Producers owing to a polyp on his left vocal chord.

Without a doubt, the care of the voice is as essential to the business of being a professional actor or singer as remembering one's lines. But hectic schedules, smoky bars, flu season and countless other challenges constantly conspire to derail attempts to sing in public with confidence, comfort and ease. Here, a wide range of singing experts—voice therapists Joan Lader, Joanna Cazden and John Haskell; voice trainers Judith Farris, Kate DeVore, Joan Melton, Janet Rodgers and Scott Kaiser; performers Susan Graham and Kristin Chenoweth, as well as choral director Ian Robertson—impart their top tips for maintaining a healthy and successful singing career.

1. Technique is King

Maintaining great technique is without question the basis for a healthy voice. Good technique prevents injury and enables performers to sing at the top of their game every time. "With proper training, the singer/actor learns to release excess tensions in the body and throat muscles," says Rodgers. "This means that the vocal mechanism is sitting in a muscular environment that will allow it to function at its best. Proper vocal technique means that the singer/actor has learned to use 'diaphragmatic breath support' in singing. This moves the effort of support to the abdominal muscles and away from the muscles that are closest to the throat. Proper vocal technique means that the singer/actor has trained the vocal folds to respond to pitch changes and that the singer/actor can maximize the gifts that nature has provided."

"Improper technique can lead to vocal injuries, which can be annoying and limiting at best and career-ending at worst," says DeVore. "Most common vocal injuries (nodules, polyps, bruising, swelling) are caused at least in part by the vocal cords slamming together too hard when we speak, sing, shout, scream, wail, keen, sob and so forth. There are ways to do all of those things healthily, which ensures that a performer will have a flexible voice to last through his or her career."

Like many experts, Farris believes that proper technique begins with the breath. "The only physical part of singing should be breathing," she says. "That should be naturally obtained and constantly maintained. It is much like a violinist practicing bowing. I know a good violinist is always attentive to balancing the bow on the strings. In singing, if one's breath is balanced, it is nearly impossible to have any kind of strain on the vocal apparatus, and the easiest and most beautiful sound is achieved. Thus obtaining a correct vocal technique is the key to the prevention of vocal problems. The vocal cords themselves are muscles. Athletes and dancers know that any muscle that is used correctly gets stronger with use, not weaker or injured."

However, good technique cannot be gained through a "one-size-fits-all" approach, says
Cazden, who explains that "many vocal techniques work but for a different reason than the teacher proclaims. The field of voice is still emerging from centuries of speculation, guesswork and secretive folklore. A singer needs to trust his or her own experience, use what works and not get distracted by flowery explanations."

Adds Melton: "Each performer is unique, so the to-do list that answers all the issues does not exist. However, to quote Mary Hammond, head of musical theatre at the Royal Academy of Music in London, 'Technique frees the imagination.' The better, more solid and more unconscious the technique, the freer the performer is to grow, explore and mature."

2. It's All about Prevention

Prescription medications might get a singer under duress through a performance, but they are not the way to solve vocal issues in the long-term. "Many singers resort to doctors who fill them with cortisone shots to get through a performance or audition," says Farris. "But if the cause of the problem is not corrected, the issues continue and these so-called 'remedies' can cause additional problems of their own. At that point, the singer should have vocal rest and then seek out a good teacher to help correct the issue. Prevention, however, is key."

Cazden concurs: "The absolute biggest problem that singers have is not visiting a doctor soon enough. Financial pressures and a mistrust of mainstream medicine lead people to 'muscle through' or 'get by' for months longer than they should. This adds layers of bad technique onto the original injury, and delays recovery. Unless you have terrific insurance, set up a medical savings account and stash whatever you can every month so that when you need a voice doctor you can afford a good one. Plan ahead, and before you need help, locate a laryngologist with videostrobe exam equipment and experience working with singers. Exams without videostrobe are only accurate about one-third of the time. You might need to travel to get to a good clinic, but in the long run, the right diagnosis will save you time, money and anguish."

Warning signs can help performers identify and take care of potential problems early: "Missing warning signs of a vocal injury can be a problem," says DeVore. "Common warning signs include hoarseness in the absence of an illness (or hoarseness that hangs around after cold symptoms have cleared up); decrease in speaking or singing range; change in voice quality (breathiness, gruffness, a veiled sound); increased physical effort to speak or sing; physical discomfort or pain when voicing; something just not feeling right with the voice."

3. Calisthenics Count

Warming up the voice is absolutely essential to a singer's ability to prevent injuries. Just like going for a run without first stretching, the voice can easily strain if pushed too hard and without first being primed. "Develop a warm-up routine that slowly 'wakes' the voice and brings it into alignment with breath control and natural support," says Robertson.

4. Happy Talk

"A common mistake performers make is forgetting to have good technique not only when singing but when speaking," says Chenoweth. "That is a tough one for me, because the speaking voice I am most comfortable in isn't the best for my voice in general."

Haskell adds: "Most singers are talkers by nature. Their biggest mistake is talking too much before and after a performance. Talking in noisy environments can be a particular problem when a singer is on the road as producers often expect artists to meet patrons to talk about their work after they've performed. This is often part of a performer's contract, so it's hard to hold back."

5. Enlist the A-Team

Singers need to find the right teachers throughout their careers. Chenoweth, for instance, still takes voice lessons with teachers in New York as well as with Florence Birdwell, the performer's mentor and professor at Oklahoma City University, where she went to school. Haskell says that vocalists should "follow their instincts about what feels right and what doesn't with regards to voice training. Some voice teachers push students too much to point of discomfort or even pain. The muscles and coordination of the vocal mechanism can be achieved in a gradual way." According to Lader, the best teachers have a good grasp of how the body works from a mechanical standpoint: "A singer needs to find a teacher who is knowledgeable in anatomy and physiology, who has good eyes and ears and can direct the student in a healthy manner to achieve whatever it is the student has set out to accomplish."

Cazden adds: "Singers often make the mistake of staying too long with a teacher who is not taking their voice in a good direction. If the process or relationship doesn't feel right, you shouldn't feel obligated to continue with that person. Take sample lessons with a few other teachers for perspective. If you think something is medically wrong with your voice, but your teacher claims to be able to fix it, get a second opinion."

Singers, however, often need more than one expert to help guide their careers. Haskell believes that performers should surround themselves with a group of trusted professionals across a range of disciplines in order to develop performance skills, prevent injury and troubleshoot problems as they arise. "In addition to the voice teacher who concentrates on helping a performer to develop great technique," Haskell says, "a singer might also benefit from the services of a vocal coach, an acting coach, a voice therapist, a physical therapist, as well as an ear, nose and throat physician. There has to be communication between the different parties so that everyone is on the same page regarding the singer's issues and progress."

6. The Power of Cross-training

Performers, who are often asked to sing in many different styles, frequently have to be as adept at singing numbers from the musical theatre repertoire as they are at performing opera arias, folk songs and jazz standards. Training to sing healthfully across multiple styles is even important to singers who specialize in just one genre.

"Cross-training across all styles is the key to being able to perform them in artistically coherent and safe way," says Lader. "If you sing opera you should also practice singing pop songs. This is important, because it prevents injury and strengthens, balances and coordinates the many parts of the laryngeal musculature. Plus, singing in a different style from what one is accustomed to can help to raise a red flag if there is something wrong with the vocal chords that needs special attention."

7. Salvation through Hydration

Drinking water is crucial to maintaining a healthy voice, because it prevents the delicate vocal chords from drying out. "Drinking about two liters of water a day is helpful for most people, but they need to compensate with extra water for things that dry them out (like caffeine, alcohol, smoke and certain medications)," says DeVore.

Proper hydration also means finding creative ways to counterbalance arid environments (caused by air-conditioning and hot climates) that can dry out the vocal chords. Steam inhalation, for example, moistens the vocal cords and thins out mucus. Graham proposes additional techniques for performers who travel regularly: "When I'm flying, I put a damp cloth on my face, because airplane air is so dry. I also keep a humidifier in my room."

Kaiser adds: "Drinking water to keep the folds of the vocal chords lubricated is important, but there are other things that performers should reduce such as the consumption of dairy products and cold and allergy medications, because they coat the vocal chords and dry out the voice."

8. Food Glorious Food

Acid reflux and other problems of the digestive system can cause serious issues for singers. "The acid that comes up through the stomach can literally eat away at the delicate tissue at the back of the larynx and affect the posterior part of the vocal chords," says Haskell. "If a singer gets a reflux diagnosis from an ear, nose and throat specialist, he or she has to start observing a reflux regimen. This may mean eliminating caffeine, carbonated drinks, citrus fruits, spicy foods and chocolate. Also, the evening meal should not be eaten too late or too close to bedtime, which can present a problem for performers who don't want to eat much before they go on stage."

9. Rest Up

The voice is a fragile instrument. Singers should be in touch with how they're feeling on any given day enough to know when to pull back or even take some time off. "If you're tired, ill or hungover, sing less," says Cazden. "If you feel great, don't be stupid and sing so much that you wreck your instrument."

Rodgers believes that rest is important even while an actor or singer is working. "During rehearsal breaks, avoid chitchat," she says. "Really rest the voice for those 10-minute breaks."

DeVore says that performing full-throttle with an illness rather than resting is one of the worst things a performer can do for his or her voice: "Succumbing to pressure (either internal or external) to 'push through' an illness is, unfortunately, a common mistake performers make. 'The show must go on' is so ingrained in a performer's psyche—and this belief is reinforced by the entire production team—that they forget that 'the show' doesn't have to include performing at every rehearsal at full tilt. Pushing through an illness is a textbook cause of vocal injuries, and many problems can be avoided if people take the time to rest and heal."

Getting good amounts of sleep is absolutely crucial to vocal health. "The most important thing for me—which I struggle with—is getting enough sleep: I need at least eight hours, but nine is best," says Chenoweth. "My friends and family understand that sometimes I can only converse via e-mail or watch a movie with them, because the voice is a muscle that must be rested!"

10. One for the Road?

The pressures of a life on the stage can lead to some unhealthy choices for performers. "The most common mistake you see in actors, particularly young ones, is that they don't know how to pace themselves," says Kaiser. "They'll rehearse till midnight, drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes and expect voices to respond. It doesn't take much to strain a voice—even talking over loud music in a dance club can cause damage."

That's why many performers avoid drinking, smoking and noisy environments. "I don't drink very much alcohol when singing, because it dries out the voice," confesses Chenoweth. "I do not smoke or use drugs. I sort of live like a nun."
Journalist and singer Chloe Veltman is the Bay Area culture correspondent for the New York Times and the host/producer of "VoiceBox", a new public radio series about the art of singing.

Biographies of the Experts:

John Haskell has maintained a private practice in speech-language pathology in New York City for more than 25 years. He has held faculty positions at Pace University, Rutgers University and William Paterson College of New Jersey and is co-founder and co-director of the New York City Voice Study Group.

Kate DeVore is a theatre voice, speech and dialect trainer, speech pathologist and personal development coach based in Chicago. She is the co-author of The Voice Book: Caring for, Protecting and Improving Your Voice with Starr Cookman.

Scott Kaiser is director of company devel-opment and head of voice and text at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he has spent 20 years as an actor, director and voice coach.

Judith Farris is a soloist, contralto and voice trainer who maintains a studio in New York. She is presently artist-in-residence in the theatre and music departments at Southeast Missouri State University.

Janet Rodgers, the editor of The Complete Voice and Speech Workout, is a past president of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association and an associate professor of theatre at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Joan Lader is a voice teacher and therapist. Her patients and students include some of the world's leading performers, such as Patti LuPone, Madonna and Roberta Flack.

Joanna Cazden, the author of How to Take Care of Your Voice, is a speech pathologist, singer, voice coach and teacher.

Joan Melton is a voice teacher based in New York City. She is the author of Singing in Musical Theatre: The Training of Singers and Actors andfounded the voice/movement program for the Department of Theatre and Dance at California State University—Fullerton.

Susan Graham is a Grammy Award—winning mezzo-soprano who performs leading roles in some of the world's greatest opera houses, including the Metropolitan opera, the Royal Opera House and La Scala.

Kristin Chenoweth is a Tony and Emmy Award—winning singer and musical theatre, film and television actress. Some of her best-known Broadway roles include Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Glinda in Wicked.

Ian Robertson is the chorus director of San Francisco Opera and the artistic director of the San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Festival Chorale.

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Culture Clash of the TitansANGELENO MAGAZINE

The rapid expansion of LACMA and the fall and rise of MOCA provide a drama-filled backdrop for the increasingly knotty relationship between hotshot director Michael Govan and uber-philanthropist Eli Broad.

The L.A. art world, it seems, is beginning to resemble one of Damien Hirst’s head-reeling spin paintings: The Broad Contemporary Art Museum debuts at LACMA. A financially hollow MOCA comes back from the brink. LACMA director Michael Govan ascends to stardom (with a few hiccups along the way). Art star-in-the-making Mark Bradford scoops the MacArthur genius grant. Wallis Annenberg launches Century City’s Space for Photography. Board members play musical chairs. And everyone, as always, is wondering what Eli Broad—a life trustee of both LACMA and MOCA—will do next. The guessing game du jour is predicting just where in L.A. Broad will build his own art museum (à la Armand Hammer) for spotlighting his blue-chip collection of Neshats, Warhols and Koonses.

Perhaps never before has L.A.’s art world enjoyed so much incredible growth as well as international attention. Just last month, the jet-setting Art Basel crowd descended on downtown for a star-studded gala thrown by MOCA for its 30th anniversary. The evening, which raised more than $4 million, was capped by the auction of a Damien Hirst-customized pink piano, on which Lady Gaga had just performed, for $450,000.

Yet as much as L.A.’s rise has provided a canvas for creativity, it has also unleashed a parallel amount of ambition. Power plays have been as much in the public eye as pointillism, pop art and steam punk.

At the center of it all is the complicated relationship between Broad and Govan. “There are two art titans in L.A. right now: Michael Govan and Eli Broad,” says ACE Gallery director Douglas Chrismas. “They are like our version of Nicholas Serota [the director of London’s Tate museum] and Charles Saatchi.”

Broad, 76, the co-founder of KB Home, is used to being L.A.’s unquestioned art oligarch. With an estimated net worth of around $5.2 billion, Broad—a voracious art collector whose air of Midwestern practicality is paired with a reputation for getting what he wants—has done more than any other individual to grow L.A.’s cultural scene, from serving as MOCA’s founding chairman to being instrumental in the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Together with his wife Edythe, he has donated $60 million and numerous artworks to LACMA as well as raised $40 million for the museum to date. And, with his pledge last December of $30 million to MOCA, he has brought the museum back to fiscal health and even luster.

But Broad—who Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight has described as someone who “exchanges project involvement for near total control”—may have met his match in Michael Govan, age 46, the man whom the philanthropist for all intents and purposes hired to run LACMA in 2006. “We needed someone with energy and charisma who could bring younger people to the board,” Broad tells Angeleno of his decision to recruit Govan. “Michael had all of those attributes.” A passionate go-getter who offsets a driving sense of purpose with debonair looks and an affable chuckle, Govan has more than lived up to his reputation since arriving in L.A., both in terms of undertaking large-scale projects and building LACMA’s board. The former director of New York’s Dia Art Foundation (known for its innovative focus on contemporary art), Govan is intent on making the encyclopedic LACMA a major player in the contemporary field as well; he just hired the high-powered modern art curator Franklin Sirmans away from Texas’ respected Menill Collection.

Nowhere has the muscle of Broad and Govan been more on display than in the back and forth over LACMA’s newest buildings, both designed by architect Renzo Piano: the 72,000-square-foot Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), opened in 2008, and the forthcoming Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, situated directly behind BCAM. Broad donated a prodigious $50 million to build BCAM and personally lobbied Piano to design it. The building is nothing if not a statement of Broad’s power—after all, it takes a particular kind of audacity to name an exhibition hall that exists within the campus of a larger art institution a “museum.”

Famously, however, in January 2008, just before the building’s debut, Broad announced that, despite expectations, he wouldn’t be giving the bulk of his collection to LACMA after all and would offer up a majority of the works as a sort of international lending library. While Govan spun the news as a positive act, enabling the works to remain in the public domain, there was almost as much ink spilled over Broad’s latest maneuver as there was over the opening of BCAM itself.

Much of the drama has played out behind the scenes, however, such as over the completion of the Resnick Pavilion, due to open in fall 2010. According to a LACMA board member who wishes to remain anonymous, Broad was making arguments to the board that constructing the pavilion would strain the museum’s finances.

The prospect of a delay couldn’t have made Govan happy. Getting the Resnick up and running quickly was crucial to the director’s plans. The exhibiton hall promises to give him a 45,000-square-foot exhibition hall, open to easy reconfiguration, that can accommodate the sort of momentous contemporary art shows that generate serious buzz.

On top of that, the LACMA board member who spoke to Angeleno believes that Broad was also motivated by a more personal concern: that constructing the new building would steal some of the spotlight from the philanthropist’s own edifice.

Broad’s chief communications officer, Karen Denne, disputes that account and insists that Broad’s concern about the Resnick building being completed was only about timing. “Mr. Broad is fiscally prudent, and he was concerned that it was not the right time to move forward with a new building, given the amount of debt LACMA had and the state of the economy,” says Denne. Either way, the board wasn’t swayed.

Denne, underlining Broad’s commitment to the museum, adds that, “Mr. Broad was the largest donor and fundraiser in the history of LACMA.” But Lynda and Stewart Resnick—the mega-moguls behind such brands as FIJI Water and POM Wonderful—might just well break that record. Before BCAM opened, the couple had pledged $25 million to open a new visitors’ center on the campus. Ultimately, Broad solicited and persuaded British Petroleum to fund the visitors’ area.

To make the exhibition hall possible, the Resnicks raised their ante. At a splashy September 2008 press conference, Govan announced that the Resnicks had stepped up with a $45 million gift to erect the Resnick behind the Broad. Before 2010 is out, Govan will have a space on par with MOCA’s Geffen facility, where the museum has mounted such swarmed shows as Ecstasy and Murakami. Says Chrismas: “Michael needed a place you could drive a tractor through.”

Who gets the credit for pulling in the Resnicks’ largesse is a matter of dispute. “In fact, Mr. Broad solicited the Resnicks for their gift,” says Denne. But Resnick spokesman Rob Six as well as a LACMA spokeswoman insist that isn’t the case.

At the Resnick, Govan won’t have any restrictions when it comes to programming shows, which hasn’t been true at BCAM. Indeed, the Govan and Broad are, to this day, at odds over whether LACMA is honoring its contractual obligations over the display of art there. “When we opened BCAM, Michael met his obligations by contract,” says Broad. “Since then, we’ve been saddened that he hasn’t lived up to these obligations. The reason we funded BCAM was to show contemporary art, and have two-thirds of the building to show our collection. LACMA could do what they wished with the remaining third. That hasn’t been the case recently.”

But LACMA spokeswoman Alliston Agsten denies this claim: “There is no language whatsoever in the contract that refers to any amount of square footage, not to mention two-thirds of the space, that is to be devoted to the presentation of the Broad collection.”

For a time, LACMA’s director and Broad seemed to be in harmony. Govan inherited a $156 million museum redesign plan (which included BCAM) from his predecessor Andrea Rich and presided over its opening, a major symbol of Broad and Govan’s achievements as partners. According to KCRW art critic Edward Goldman, who spoke to Angeleno in 2008, Govan’s aesthetic sensibility made a big impression on Broad. “I think they collaborate very well, and I also think that it is because of Michael that the entire project has become more sophisticated.”

With all these ups and downs, it’s no wonder one of the L.A. art world’s favorite obsessions of late has been trying to decipher the dynamics of the Broad-Govan relationship. “A lot of controversy centers around whether Michael is happy with Eli and Eli is happy with Michael,” says collector Stefan Simchowitz, the stepson of former MOCA board member Jennifer Simchowitz.

Few would dispute that a genuine desire to improve L.A.’s cultural offerings and a belief in the power of art are the biggest motives behind the actions of the city’s two art barons. And Los Angeles’ museums often work together as much as they vie for visitors and resources. In 2011, for example, LACMA, MOCA and 23 other area arts institutions will join in mounting a citywide arts initiative, Pacific Standard Time, funded in large part by the Getty Foundation, which will take a sweeping look at the history of art in California since WWII. “The fact that our museums have great directors and are doing important exhibitions is what’s attracting the world’s attention,” says Elsa Longhauser, director of the Santa Monica Museum. “The brouhaha is not what brings people here.”

But underneath these laudable intentions may lie a craving for control. Being a potent force in the art world is first and foremost about influencing the caliber of the art that goes before the public. L.A. is still a young city and its museum landscape is still crystallizing. So the opportunities to impact the art world’s development here are enormous.

Across town, at around the same time LACMA was moving ahead with its grand building plans, MOCA was going through its own tumult. Over the three decades of its existence, the museum has built one of the foremost troves of postwar modern art in the world. Its special exhibitions, such as Wack! and A Minimal Future, have garnered the institution resounding critical acclaim.

But its finances had become increasingly dire, a situation that exploded in the press in December 2008. Unlike LACMA, which currently receives 38 percent of its operating funds from L.A. county, MOCA depends much more heavily on private donations and ticket sales with an average of 80 to 90 percent of its income coming from those sources. And, over the course of a decade, MOCA’s expenses had so far outgrown its income that the museum was forced to dip into its endowment. In 1999, MOCA had $38 million in invested assets and an $11 million budget. By 2008, those investments had dipped to $5 million, and the operating budget had swelled to $22 million. As the financial debacle came to light, nine trustees exited the board over a period of six months. Director Jeremy Strick resigned after nine years at the helm. The money troubles had been brewing for years. Two years earlier, Susan Bay Nimoy, the wife of Leonard Nimoy, and former UPN network CEO Dean Valentine had both left MOCA—decamping to the Hammer Museum—owing to concerns about the museum’s financial recklessness.

MOCA needed a savior. Not surprisingly perhaps, two men stepped forward with visions for the museum’s future. Govan proposed a merger with LACMA. “The civic responsibility was to offer options,” says Govan. “We talked about partnerships. I said, ‘We don’t want to be perceived as taking you over. But we can argue for the potential benefits of working together and presenting innovative ideas.’ We are proud that we were able to offer exciting options in a difficult climate. ‘Museum failing in L.A.’ is not a good headline. It was all in our interests that MOCA had alternatives to succeed.”

Broad came up with an alternate plan. He told MOCA’s trustees that he would pledge $30 million to replenish the museum’s sagging endowment and support exhibitions, thus keeping MOCA independent if they could come up with $15 million in matching funds. “I said, ‘We have to save MOCA,’” says Broad. “I got Disney Hall funded and built. I knew I could get MOCA back on its feet. It had to be right-sized expense- and staff-wise. I could see that MOCA was clearly worth saving. MOCA’s board members became very contentious, a problem that started between five and eight years ago in response to financial trouble. There was no unity of vision.”

There were pros and cons to both pitches, and wariness among the MOCA board of each man’s intentions. Were Govan and Broad motivated purely by a desire to save the institution? How much did the prospect of exerting control over one of the world’s finest modern collections influence them? Govan’s plan would have enabled MOCA’s collection to survive, albeit under LACMA’s roof and as just one part of its wide-ranging collection. A number of trustees got behind his idea, arguing for the merits of having MOCA and LACMA geographically close together on Wilshire Boulevard. LACMA already owned a good portion of the property surrounding its campus, which theoretically would create a highly desirable hub for art in central L.A.

But Broad doesn’t see Govan’s intentions so magnanimously. “Michael would have liked to have taken over the MOCA collection but we took a different view. It wasn’t a merger. It was simply a way for LACMA to get a great collection without paying for it. LACMA should have been supportive of its sister institution and help it to survive independently rather than take it over.” And The Young and the Restless co-writer and MOCA co-chair Maria Arena Bell (whose husband William serves on the board of LACMA) also had reservations: “I felt it was really important for L.A. to have a contemporary art museum that was thriving and separate from LACMA,” says Bell.

Broad’s strategy, meanwhile, would allow the museum to remain self-governing but it came with hefty conditions, including aggressive cost-cutting and fundraising demands. “Eli required that the museum get financially stable, cut expenditure, raise funds, not borrow from its endowment, limit expenses from the endowment, maintain a strong and vibrant exhibition schedule and bolster its capital campaign,” says MOCA CEO Charles Young.

MOCA’s choice to go with the Broad plan is mutually beneficial to both sides. Broad may have breathed new life into MOCA, but MOCA may have done the same for Broad: Becoming deeply involved with the museum’s regeneration campaign not only provided the philanthropist with the perfect escape route from LACMA, it also enabled him to stay on top of L.A.’s museum hierarchy. And while there’s no evidence this was in Broad’s mind, the stakes were high for another reason: If MOCA were to migrate to the Miracle Mile, its exit would come with terrible consequences for the ongoing regeneration of downtown L.A., where one of Broad’s biggest investments, the stalled Grand Avenue Project, is still trying to get out of the gate.

While Eli Broad is used to holding all the purse strings, Michael Govan answers to a board and must work within that context, an environment in which he, by all measures, excels. LACMA’s leader has arguably transformed art philanthropy in L.A. from the polite pursuit of a small and doddering group of lifelong local benefactors to the cause absolut for the hip, globally minded, jet-set crowd. In a city whose millionaires and billionaires tend to favor political and environmental causes over cultural ones, Govan’s appearance could not be more welcome.

Since arriving on the West Coast in April 2006 from New York (where he successfully created the critically acclaimed, nearly 300,000-square-foot Dia:Beacon museum in the Hudson Valley), Govan has raised the prestige level of the LACMA board to the point where Forbes now ranks it as the third most powerful billionaire board in the country, after MoMA and the Robin Hood Foundation.

Unlike other art museums in town like MOCA (whose trustees include John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha) and the Hammer Museum (whose board includes Lari Pittman and Barbara Kruger), LACMA’s current board lineup doesn’t boast a single visual artist. But it does read like a who’s who of the business and entertainment world. Additions during Govan’s tenure include Barbra Streisand, producer Brian Grazer, songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, television anchor Willow Bay, L.A. Dodgers ex-CEO Jamie McCourt, former Warner Bros. head Terry Semel, and billionaire art collector/investor Nicolas Berggruen. “Boards have become different organisms over the last 30 years. In the old days, entrepreneurship wasn’t part of a museum’s operational charge. Now, people critique organizations for their lack of entrepreneurship. So we’ve started to attach the language of corporate growth to museums,” says Govan.

But Govan has suffered a few setbacks. A decision earlier this year to shutter LACMA’s beloved 40-year-old classic movie screening program for financial reasons led to a huge outcry, with Martin Scorsese denouncing Govan in a letter to the Los Angeles Times. Soon after, information about the museum director’s hefty salary and perks amounting to $1 million leaked to the same publication, further angering film lovers. The film series has been reinstated for at least another year. Meanwhile, Govan’s plans to erect a Jeff Koons installation featuring a chugging, 70-foot replica of a 1940s locomotive suspended from a 161-foot-tall crane, may have hit an impasse. In a recent Vanity Fair profile, LACMA board member Wallis Annenberg, who donated $2 million to conduct a feasibility study for the sculpture, said: “I personally think Los Angeles deserves a much finer icon than a train hanging from a crane.” Annenberg reportedly intends to leave the rest of the funding of the $25 million project to other trustees. Seeking to clarify the situation, LACMA’s vice president of development, Terry Morello, has this to say: “Wallis Annenberg agreed to pay $2 million to get the drawings done. She didn’t make a commitment to pay for the train.”

Meanwhile, MOCA has recovered much of its former sheen since accepting Broad’s pledge. The museum’s white knight, whom Bell affectionately describes as “a demanding giver who insists that his money is being well spent,” coaxed Charles Young, UCLA’s no-nonsense chancellor emeritus, to shepherd MOCA through a huge recapitalization campaign. Says Young: “Eli made it possible for the museum to survive—not only to come out of the doldrums it was in but also to move to greater heights. He made the museum’s future possible but he didn’t ensure it.”

Young has since cut the institution’s annual budget from more than $22 million to $15.5 million (LACMA, by contrast, has an operating budget of $53.5 million.) At the same time, the organization has been working hard to rebuild its board. Broad, among others, persuaded music exec Gil Friesen and Hard Rock co-founder Peter Morton, who had previously resigned, to return as trustees. Five new members have joined up, including Sex and the City creator Darren Star. And MOCA’s board has started an international search for a new director aided by the recruitment firm Russell Reynolds Associates. “We’re looking for somebody who is extraordinarily dynamic with great vision and who is very charismatic and good at bringing people together,” says David Johnson, co-chair of MOCA’s board. “We’re not looking for somebody super young, but someone on the younger side.” In other words, MOCA is looking for someone who can take on Michael Govan. Says ACE Gallery’s Chrismas: “What MOCA will have to do is find a director who can be as creative as Govan—and as ambitious.”

A visionary and ambitious Govan-like operator is unquestionably what MOCA needs. But could Broad’s recent experiences color the process? What happened at LACMA has almost Oedipal overtones. Broad hired Govan, only to have his spiritual heir turn on him. In not leaving his art collection to LACMA, Broad in turn abandoned Govan. Will Broad want to recruit another person who might undermine his authority?

Meanwhile, Govan seems to be looking to take on the Getty as well. As he recently told the Los Angeles Times, he is intent on turning LACMA into a major tourist attraction: “The first on anybody’s list,” said Govan. Chris Burden’s already-iconic Urban Light sculpture, situated directly on Wilshire Boulevard, is only Govan’s first step. The museum’s website vaunts that the proposed Koons train sculpture—which would be visible from virtually all corners of the city—will be L.A.’s answer to the Eiffel Tower. Another showy art project-in-the-making is the installation of Michael Heizer’s Levitated/Slot Mass, a boulder weighing more than 400 tons that will be suspended on two concrete rails.

Not to be outdone, Broad is busy creating his own L.A. museum, which he hopes will rise as early as three years from now. The project represents the biggest chess move yet for Broad, whose plans envision a space of up to 43,000 square feet funded with a breathtaking $200 million endowment. Both Santa Monica and Beverly Hills are briskly working up proposals to win the project. But Broad, keeping his cards close to his chest, has also said he is discussing building the museum in a third location, which he declines to name. (Broad is also constructing an art museum at his alma mata, Michigan State University; Govan serves on the institution’s advisory board.)

Of course, the bigger each man’s ambition, the better for Los Angeles. By any measure, the developments of the last few years are stunning. Between 2008 and 2010, LACMA will have added 100,000 square feet of exhibition space to its campus. In November, MOCA debuted its blockbuster anniversary exhibit, Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years. Sprawling across the museum’s Grand Avenue and Geffen buildings, the show, which includes 500 permanent collection works, makes an inarguable case for L.A. as one of the world’s great art capitals. And Broad asserts that, with the addition of his own museum, L.A. will have more square acreage devoted to contemporary art than any place in America.

As L.A. comes into its own as an art town, Broad and Govan will doubtlessly continue to jostle for supremacy. Yet despite some bones of contention, the two men still hold each other in high esteem. “Michael Govan is a great asset,” says Broad. “We don’t agree on everything. Our relationship is not perfect, but nor is any marriage perfect. We all live in the same community and will work everything out.” Chuckles Govan: “I don’t think I can compete with Eli Broad. He’s a restless and never-satisfied philanthropist. He loves to provoke institutions to do better, bigger, more.”

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Susan Graham experiences Dido's hard life with a lounge lizardLOS ANGELES TIMES

The mezzo-soprano and conductor Nicholas McGegan discuss the challenges of Henry Purcell's opera.

Susan Graham and Nicholas McGegan have never collaborated before. But when they get together, the Texas-raised mezzo-soprano and British conductor behave like an old married couple. On a recent afternoon in Berkeley, the home base of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, a leading period performance ensemble that McGegan has directed for many years, the duo engaged in lively banter about their first artistic partnership -- a six-concert California tour of works by the 17th century English composer Henry Purcell.

Graham is known as much for her pants roles in Baroque operas as for her championing of French and contemporary American song. Celebrating Purcell's 350th birthday, the Baroque Orchestra's "Passion of Dido" program features the versatile mezzo as the ill-fated heroine in "Dido and Aeneas" (1689). Joining Graham, McGegan, the orchestra and the Philharmonia Chorale are soloists William Berger, Cyndia Sieden, Céline Ricci, Jill Grove and Brian Thorsett.

Graham often performs in L.A, including headlining Los Angeles Opera's 2006 production of Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea." However, the singer's visit Wednesday represents her first Disney Hall appearance. We caught up with Graham and McGegan during rehearsals to discuss, among other topics, the challenges of performing Purcell, Los Angeles music audiences and the correct way to pronounce "Purcell."

You've known each other for years. What brings you together as collaborators now?

Susan Graham: I've always wanted to work with Nic. I've long been a fan of his musical aesthetic. I love this piece we're doing together now.

Nicholas McGegan: And I always want to work with the best singers.

SG: Unfortunately, you got me instead.

NM: Ha-ha. Now you get to die six times on stage over the course of two weeks.

SG: I'm excited about that, as I don't usually get to die -- or get the guy.

NM: Usually you are the guy.

SG: That's true. In "Rosenkavalier," which I did recently at the Met, I am the guy.

What's the significance of performing "Dido" on Purcell's 350th birthday?

NM: It makes me wish the composer had lived to 50 instead of dying at 34. Apparently his wife locked him out one night when he was late back from the pub. He caught a cold, and that was the end of him.

SG: Mrs. Purcell was a serious lady.

NM: Yes. Mind you, I don't think Mr. Purcell was a first-time offender. He wrote about 50 drinking songs, most of which are unprintable.

Why do people respond to "Dido" so strongly today?

NM: "Dido" moves from comedy to tragedy so fast. It achieves in just 50 minutes what it takes most other operas three of four hours to do.

SG: Purcell wrote "Dido" for students at a girls' school in London. Is it true or apocryphal that he composed the piece as an admonition to the young ladies -- as a warning to be wary of men, that they'll break your heart and leave you to die?

NM: He mainly wrote it for money. But it's true that Aeneas is an amazing lounge lizard.

How do you ensure that period performance is alive and vibrant?

NM: We don't bring our treatises on stage. We simply focus on moving people. We're entertainers. Certain academic ideas do matter. For example, if you're going to perform a minuet, it helps to know how fast people danced minuets.

NM: Right. The period instrument thing is nice. But I've also performed "Dido" on modern instruments. I've even done it with Mark Morris dancing the role of Dido in a muumuu. It was quite beautiful.

SG: Morris is multitalented.

NM: But a femme fatale he is not.

SG: As much as he'd like to be.

Please talk about the work's final famous aria -- "When I Am Laid in Earth." How do you make this aria your own, Susan?

SG: By the time this aria occurs, it sings itself. The song is so loaded with everything that has come before, yet its purity is its driving force. All I have to do is sing it true.

What are the biggest challenges in performing "Dido"?

SG: There's no place to hide. You don't have a raucous orchestra disguising your flaws. You have under an hour to tell a huge story. Capturing big emotions in a tight time frame is hard.

What do you think about the way in which Purcell sets the story to music?

SG: There's so much truth to Purcell's vocal writing. Take the part where Dido and Aeneas sing this incredible battle duet. They're playing a game of one-upmanship. He cuts her down. Then she mocks him and calls him a "deceitful crocodile."

NM: No one but Purcell would use the word "crocodile" in an opera. There really are only three composers who set the English language well -- Purcell, Britten and Sullivan.

You've both been involved in notable recordings of this work before -- Susan under the baton of Emanuelle Haïm and Nicholas with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. How do your past experiences inform your collaboration?

NM: I've got a completely blank score for this one, and I'm going to start all over again.

SG: Me too. I can't tell you how many times I've had videos thrust at me in rehearsal and been told: "Do it like her!" Invariably, she's a foot shorter than I am and I have bigger feet, so this approach doesn't work. You always go into a new project wondering what the maestro is going to expect. We're just the hired help, after all.

NM: She said with a grin.

SG: Everyone works within the circumstances of the specific production. The dynamics are always different.

NM: In this run of "Dido," Performance One will be radically different from Performance Six.

SG: Things will get trillier.

NM: And faster.

SG: The witches will become sillier.

Please tell us about the other works in the program.

NM: We're interested in showing Purcell's range as a sacred and secular composer. The concert includes the joyful sacred anthem, "O Sing Unto the Lord a New Song," Chacony in G minor, a misfit but lovely instrumental piece, the heart-wrenching sacred lament written for eight-part choir and organ "Hear My Prayer, O Lord," and music that Purcell wrote for the 1695 revival of Aphra Behn's grisly play, "Abdelazer." Today, Purcell's incidental music is better known than Behn's drama, in which nearly everyone dies apart from the person responsible for lowering the curtain at the end. Many people know the "Rondeau" because Britten used it in his "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra."

You've performed at Disney Hall before, Nicholas. But next Wednesday's concert marks your premiere at the venue, Susan. What are your thoughts about the space?

SG: I've performed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion many times. As I've pulled into the parking lot, I've had an eye on Disney Hall and thought to myself, "I want to sing there." I hear the acoustic is spectacular. For a piece like "Dido." where clarity is an asset, it will sound brilliant. I'm hoping the space will help us play with lots of colors and textures.

NM: Disney is one of the world's great concert halls. It's a big space, but because of the steep rake of the seating, the audience never feels far away. I've done chamber music at Disney, and it's felt intimate. I've also conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic there, and we made a hell of a racket. The other great thing about the hall is the backstage area. It's like a five-star hotel.

What do you think of L.A. audiences?

NM: I was recently in L.A. conducing an all-Mozart program at the Hollywood Bowl. I like Bowl audiences because they don't behave like they've been recently starched.

SG: L.A. audiences aren't afraid to be surprised. For example, they loved "The Coronation of Poppea."

Please, can you settle the confusion about how to pronounce the composer's name?

NM: For some reason, people often mispronounce Purcell's name. It's "PUR-cell." It should rhyme with "rehEARsal".

SG: It's not supposed to rhyme with "DuraCELL" or "PurELL."

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The MaestroSF WEEKLY

For S.F. Opera's new music director, conducting is a lot like making love.

Italy runs in San Francisco Opera's blood like vin santo down the throat of a tipsy padre. In 1923, it was an Italian, Gaetano Merola, who persuaded City Hall to support a full-time opera organization rather than depend upon touring troupes that had been visiting the city since the Gold Rush days. Merola then proceeded to feed audiences a diet of Verdi and Puccini sung by the greatest Italian divas of the age. The country's second-biggest opera company (after New York's Metropolitan Opera) is now returning to its roots. San Francisco Opera's 2009-2010 season includes such Italian staples as Verdi's Il Trovatore and Otello; Puccini's Il Trittico and La Fanciulla del West; and Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment. Even more significantly, the company has hired one of the world's foremost Italian opera interpreters, Nicola Luisotti, as its new music director. Hailing from a small Tuscan village, the self-effacing yet effusive 47-year-old conductor's meteoric trajectory has included assistant conductor stints at La Scala and guest appearances at London's Royal Opera House and the Met.

SF Weekly caught up with Luisotti just before the launch of his inaugural season.

What were your earliest musical experiences?

I grew up in Bargecchia, near Lucca. My father played clarinet in the village band. My mother used to sing "Ave Maria" at weddings. When I was six years old, I remember crying when my mother sang to me, I was so moved by her voice.

I was also fascinated by the organ in our village church. I used to sneak over and try to play it, which made the priest very angry. I was thumping at the keys and he thought I would destroy the instrument. He would run after me and slap me. Eventually, he realized that I was doing it because I loved music so much. I was 10 when the priest asked me if I'd like to learn to play the organ properly. I said yes. That happened on a Tuesday. On Sunday, I was playing the organ in church. I couldn't read music. I learned just by watching the priest. A year later, I started conducting the church chorus.

You spent many years working as a chorus director and rehearsal pianist in Italy before becoming a conductor. What does it take to become a conductor?

I don't believe in baby conductors aged 22 or 23. Conducting is not waving a stick. It's who you are. It's what you became and who you are becoming. You can't discover these things at 20.

The best way to become a conductor is to work as a rehearsal pianist, study, and watch other experienced conductors in action. You start to conduct when you become a man. It's not enough to be talented. You need life experience, whether you're conducting a symphony orchestra or an opera production.

What's behind San Francisco Opera's return to an Italian-opera-centric agenda?

Opera was born in Italy in the early 17th century. By focusing on the Italian repertoire, we are returning both to the origins of the art form and of this company, which was founded by Italians. To do Italian opera successfully, however, a conductor has to know much more than Italian opera. He must also know about German and French opera as well as symphonic and chamber music; he must be able to sing; he must be widely read; he has to know about painting, writing, and sculpture. In other words, he must be immersed in culture.

Ultimately, though, it doesn't matter what country the music comes from. Music is music. It is impossible to change its essential nature. It's like going to the hairdresser and getting your hair dyed blond. You will still be the same person, even if your hair is a different color.

What's it like starting your new job in this financially difficult climate?

There are many challenges. The state of California should take more responsibility for the arts. Politicians need to understand that if you want better cities, you need to build culture and bring people together to experience incredible arts events. Without art, people become brutes. We have to educate the public or the world will soon be in crisis.

Do you like working with singers?

If you conduct opera, you have to love singers. It's hard to work with them, though. They have their instruments in their throats. They are fragile. What they do is very difficult. They have to stand in front of the conductor, orchestra, audience, and critics regardless of whether they have stomach cramps or a cold.

It's very rare that I've met a happy singer. I've seen singers cry before performances. I smile at them and hug them. I tell them that I will follow them, no matter what.

How do you prepare for a classic versus a new work?

New work creates more doubts and frustrations in me. It's like a first date. You don't know if your clothes or hair are good. You don't know what the person you're meeting likes. But even classic works yield surprises. I think I know everything about something I've conducted many times before, but then I realize I don't. I still have to study.

How does San Francisco Opera's orchestra compare to other orchestras with which you've worked?

The orchestra here learns music fast. They play with passion. They expect me to be extremely well-prepared. It's like making love. When a man doesn't know what he's doing in bed, the woman gets bored quickly. When both orchestra and conductor are both well prepared, we can create beautiful musical moments together.

You and your wife will spend around five months of the year here in San Francisco. What does this city mean to you?

When I was asked if I'd like to come to San Francisco, I answered yes without hesitation. Naturally, I wanted to work with the company. But I was particularly excited about coming to this city. I couldn't accept a job in a place I don't like, even if it's with the best opera company or orchestra in the world. Life is too short to make compromises.

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Latin SpiritBBC CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE

Gustavo Dudamel has been greeted with enthusiasm by US audiences, but now, as he prepares to take the helm at the LA Philharmonic, how will a young conductor with a flair for educational work go down in sunny, shiny California?

When the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel made his U.S. debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in September 2005, the habitually fidgety Hollywood Bowl audience reacted in a surprising way. “With the opening bars of Silvestre Revueltas’ La Noche de los Mayas, the party sitting next to me put aside its just-opened giant bag of Cheetos and forgot about it until intermission,” reported the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed. “The crowd clapped and whooped. That's not just rare but a downright wonder at the Bowl on the Los Angeles Philharmonic's classical Tuesday and Thursday programmes.”

Four years later and about to begin his tenure as the L.A. Philharmonic’s music director, Dudamel continues to engender whoops. When the 28-year-old conductor made his New York Philharmonic debut in 2007, the audience gave him a five minute-long standing ovation. “We have certain baseball players whom we call naturals, who enter the game and make everything look effortless,” says composer John Adams. “Gustavo possesses this quality.” Meanwhile, critics have noted Dudamel’s dynamic approach to performing both canonical staples and contemporary works. “I’ve heard Dudamel conduct the New York Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra,” says New York Magazine’s Justin Davidson. “These ensembles are all quite different, yet in each case the concerts were explosive, visceral and communicated an ecstatic energy.”

Dudamel is undeniably a rock-star within classical music circles. Yet in a city as celebrity-saturated as is L.A., what impact can a symphony orchestra conductor hope to achieve beyond the rarified enclaves of the concert hall? Dudamel made Time Magazine’s 2009 “100 List” and has been the subject of a 60 Minutes television documentary. A well-known Hollywood hotdog stand, Pink’s, even named one of its offerings after the maestro. But according to Angeleno Magazine deputy editor and L.A. native Jade Chang, most locals still think that the Walt Disney Concert Hall (the Philharmonic’s iconic, Frank Gehry-designed homebase) exists primarily to “show the latest Pixar movie” – hardly a promising start for inspiring “Dudamania.”

Yet if anyone is capable of opening the U.S.’s mass media-controlled citizenry up to the social, educational and artistic possibilities of orchestral music today, it’s probably “The Dude.” Dudamel, for his part, is optimistic about moving to California. As he explained via email: “In a city like L.A., where they have the ‘anything is possible’ attitude, I truly believe the reach of the L.A. Phil will only grow the more time I spend there and get to the know the depth of the artistic community.”

L.A. was primed for Dudamel’s arrival long before he first appeared at the Hollywood Bowl. During Esa-Pekka Salonen’s 17-year tenure, the L.A. Philharmonic became one of the most progressive orchestras around. The Finnish composer-conductor introduced 54 commissioned works and another 120 world or American premieres. The niche “Green Umbrella” new music series grew into a popular mainstream event. Pieces by DJs and film composers regularly appeared alongside canonical works. The Philharmonic increased its outreach offering to include a high school composers programme, mentorships with local youth orchestras, public school residencies and free community concerts – important developments in a region where, according to a 2007 survey by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, nearly 40% of residents are unable to meet their basic needs and more than 20% of children live in extreme poverty.

As culturally-diverse and youth-oriented as it is sociologically- and fiscally-challenged, L.A. is in many ways an ideal match for Dudamel. The fact that the maestro kicked-off his tenure by hiring Adams as the orchestra’s creative chair demonstrates his commitment to Salonen’s new music legacy. Contemporary works featured in the upcoming season include Unsuk Chin’s Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra, Salonen’s LA Variations and the world premiere of Adams’ City Noir. Meanwhile, the Esa-Pekka Salonen Commissions Fund, a resource currently worth more than $1.5 million, will redouble the Philharmonic’s focus on new music going forwards.

Beyond emphasizing modern repertoire, Dudamel’s greatest focus will be on outreach. A product of Venezuela’s “El Sistema” system, a nationwide programme which provides free music training to children, Dudamel seems committed to making music education part of everyday life for L.A.’s youth and developing the careers of talented newcomers.

To that end, the Philharmonic established a conducting fellowship programme and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), which provides free instruments and instruction to schoolchildren, many of them living below the poverty line in L.A.’s predominantly Latino neighbourhoods. To enroll, students are required to take care of their instruments, practice for at least 20 minutes a day and attend lessons and rehearsals several times a week. “With Gustavo’s arrival we have flipped the relationship between professional and youth orchestras on its head,” says the Philharmonic’s education director, Gretchen Nielsen. “Youth orchestras are usually comprised of the crème de la crème. But here we’re saying anyone who’s interested can play an instrument and we’ll provide opportunities for creativity and development. Whether the kids decide to become professional musicians or not is beside the point.” YOLA is already impacting youngsters’ lives. “Now that we have our kids in the Philharmonic, they are developing a greater sense of responsibility and discipline,” says Gregorio Morales, whose three children play in the EXPO orchestra.

Despite these positive signs, Dudamel faces significant hurdles in reaching out to L.A.’s underserved youth. With music education almost non-existent in many California schools (according to a study by the Music for All Foundation, participation in general music courses declined statewide by nearly 90% between 1999 and 2004) there is a need for organizations like the L.A. Philharmonic to provide pedagogical support. Scaling up to meet demand is an issue; there is now a waiting list to the join YOLA.

Notwithstanding cheerleaderly assertions like, “I am quite certain that Dudamel will be welcomed by our city’s vibrant Latino community as an inspirational role model,” by Los Angeles Opera general director Placido Domingo, awareness of the orchestra and its education programmes remains questionable. Sonia Marie de León de Vega, the music director of the L.A.-based, Latino community-oriented Santa Cecilia Orchestra, has a different perspective: “I am not aware of any special initiatives the LA Phil is undertaking to reach the Latino community.” YOLA parent Bertha Banuelos concurs: “I do not think that most Latinos know who Dudamel is or what the L.A. Philharmonic is. There should be more promotion in inner-city schools and through fieldtrips.”

With Dudamel’s Venezuelan heritage and close to 50% of the L.A. population being Hispanic or Latino, communication with the Central and South American community has nevertheless become core to the Philharmonic’s outreach effort. Through the Philharmonic’s new “Americas and Americans” festival, Dudamel is programming works by Latino composers such as Carlos Chávez and importing artistic ensembles like the Schola Cantorum of Venezuela. Two of the orchestra’s conducting fellows, Diego Mathuez and Christian Vasquez, are products of El Sistema. The Philharmonic is also partnering with L.A. supervisor Gloria Molina on promoting its free “¡Bienvienido Gustavo!” musical celebration on October 3 to the Latino community and is working with a specialist communications agency to connect with ethnic media outlets.

If there’s one sector of L.A. society whose attention the Philharmonic is not actively soliciting, it’s Hollywood. The Philharmonic has close links with the local film industry, from former music director André Previn’s film score writing endeavours to its long collaboration with composer John Williams. Despite these ties, Philharmonic President Deborah Borda is keen to distance Dudamel from Tinseltown. “Because Gustavo has so much charisma, it’s tempting to think of him as a Hollywood animal,” Borda says. “It’s fair to say that Gustavo is wary of Hollywood. He’s not looking to have his picture on the front of People Magazine.”

As protective as Borda is of her new maestro, Dudamel doesn’t seem averse to bringing mass entertainment to Disney hall when doing so makes artistic sense. On a trip to L.A. with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra a while back, Dudamel asked Williams, whom he had never met before, to conduct his famous Star Wars film score with the ensemble. “Rehearsal was due to begin at 10 am. But, oddly, Gustavo didn’t seem to want me to start on time,” recalls the composer. “Then, when we went on stage to meet the orchestra for the first time, he gave a signal and the entire brass section stood up and played one of the pieces I composed for the Olympics from memory in an arrangement made specially for me. It was so moving. I couldn’t believe it. Then the rehearsal started.”

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Paying Tribute to the Grateful Dead in SymphonyLOS ANGELES TIMES

The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra will commemorate the death of Jerry Garcia by performing Dead Symphony no. 6.

When Blair Jackson first heard that the Georgia-based composer Lee Johnson had written a suite for symphony orchestra based on 10 songs by the Grateful Dead, he was unimpressed.

"There is a long and ignoble tradition of butchering rock songs by rearranging them in lame and unimaginative 'classical' settings. If you've ever heard some of the patently mediocre symphonic tributes to bands such as Pink Floyd, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, you know exactly what I'm talking about," fumed the biographer of the Grateful Dead's frontman, Jerry Garcia, in a fan-site article.

But upon hearing the Russian National Orchestra's recording of the piece on CD in 2007, Jackson's cynicism faded. Calling Johnson's Dead Symphony no. 6 "a work of great passion, depth, subtlety and imagination," the writer praised the composer for using such Dead favorites as "Mountains of the Moon," "Stella Blue" and "Sugar Magnolia" as jumping-off points for an original musical riff on the band's sound rather than slavishly arranging the famous tunes in the classical idiom.

On Sunday, classical music lovers and Deadheads will unite when conductor Marin Alsop leads the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in the fourth live performance of Dead Symphony no. 6, the cornerstone of a concert commemorating the 14th anniversary of Garcia's death. The 12-movement work, which features improvisation and in-jokes such as a reference to the Dead's favorite warm-up song, the Italian ditty "Funiculì, Funiculà," will be performed alongside Australian composer Matthew Hindson's techno music-inspired Rave-Elation (Schindowski Mix). The concert will be followed by a discussion with Johnson, longtime Dead publicist and biographer Dennis McNally (pictured) and David Gans, host of the nationally syndicated Grateful Dead Hour radio show.

Over four decades, the Dead garnered a vast global following for its unorthodox approach to music. The group wove rock, folk, blues, reggae, gospel, bluegrass, psychedelic rock, jazz and country elements together and laced its concerts -- which it freely allowed fans to record -- with spiraling improvisations. Owing to its popularity, range and experimentalism, the Dead has spawned a thriving cover industry, with tribute albums existing in myriad genres including jazz ("Dark Star," "Swingin' "), a cappella ("Might as Well . . . The Persuasions Sing Grateful Dead") and reggae ("Fire on the Mountain: Reggae Celebrates the Grateful Dead").

Until Atlanta producer Mike Adams commissioned Johnson to turn the Dead's music into a piece for classical orchestra in 1995, no composer had published a symphonic homage to the band.

"I figured if it was going to be a real symphony I had to do something creative. So I really studied," says Johnson, who knew little about the Dead when he received Adams' commission but was determined to avoid a Muzak-like approach. "I bought every CD that existed and carried them around in a shopping bag. That was my 'graduate studies' time you might say."

The Dead Symphony has been performed live three times before. The inclusion of this populist orchestral work on the Cabrillo Festival's otherwise heady roster of compositions (including music by Osvaldo Golijov, Ingram Marshall and Enrico Chapela) is significant.

With the exception of the band's hometown of San Francisco, no other city can claim as close an allegiance to the Dead as the hippie seaside city of Santa Cruz, home of the Cabrillo Festival. "The spirit of the area is in keeping with the band's philosophy and it is a newly created work in keeping with our commitment to new music," says Cabrillo music director Alsop.

Santa Cruz's connection with the Dead runs even deeper. The band's Rex Foundation helped to fund the preservation of composer Lou Harrison's archives at UC Santa Cruz. Last year, the university announced the acquisition of the Dead's own archives -- a sprawling collection of memorabilia featuring correspondence, photographs, fliers, posters, televised interviews, stage backdrops and concert props. The university, which offers well-attended Grateful Dead courses taught by music professor Fred Lieberman (who has also collaborated on two books with Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart) as well as a weekly campus radio show dedicated to the band's music, will house the collection in a purpose-built room of its new library. Also, Garcia's family vacationed in the Santa Cruz Mountains for years.

Despite the close links between the band and Santa Cruz, and positive responses from some of the group's most prominent supporters, Johnson's Symphony may prove contentious in local Deadhead circles.

"The Dead and their audiences were known for being open-minded and trying new things," says Gans. "But there is a certain kind of dogma in the Dead world. The fans are fiercely protective of the music as they understand it and can be hostile to other interpretations."

McNally trusts that concert audiences -- festival subscribers and Deadheads alike -- will leave their preconceptions behind. "People tend to forget how finely composed the songs are. There's an underlying beauty to their structure and content that makes them malleable to be recast while still maintaining their own integrity. Hearing a song like 'Mountains of the Moon' adapted for full symphony gives you a heightened impression of that fact."

For a blog entry I wrote for the Los Angeles Times about the Grateful Dead and the potential impact of Johnson's symphony on audiences, please click here.

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Pushing Opera's EnvelopeAMERICAN THEATRE

Santa Fe Opera Festival premieres an "opera noire"

In April, Twitter organized a contest inviting opera geeks to “tweet” an opera synopsis in 140 characters or less. Inspired by the concept, Terry Teachout jotted-down the following denouement on his blog: “Adultery, murder, lies, blackmail, confession, trial, hallucination, acquittal, confrontation, disaster, blood, blackout.” The Wall Street Journal theatre critic had no intention of actually entering the competition. But in the case of The Letter, a new opera composed by Paul Moravec with libretto by Teachout, Twitter might be an ideal communications platform.

Running at just 90 intermission-less minutes – concision rarely heard of in the opera world – and opening to the sound of gun-shots followed by the sight of the protagonist clutching a smoking revolver over the body of her dead lover, The Letter promises to pack the no-nonsense punch of a 140-character communiqué. Based on Somerset Maugham’s 1927 stage adaptation of one of his stories, (which in turn became a Bette Davis movie in 1940) Teachout and Moravec’s “opera noire” receives its premiere this July at Santa Fe Opera in a production directed by Jonathan Kent. The opera stars Patricia Racette and Anthony Michaels-Moore as an unhappy expatriate couple whose life in the Malayan jungle is ransacked by passion, violence and revenge.

From the outset, Moravec and Teachout wanted to create a work as fast-moving and emotionally-intense as Alban Berg’s Wozzeck or Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw. “We had talked early on about the possibility of writing a Raymond Chandler opera, and Paul also suggested that Casablanca would make a perfect libretto,” says Teachout. “I nipped those ideas in the bud, knowing that we could never get the rights to adapt Casablanca. But the idea of writing a “film noir” opera was still very much in our minds when I suggested “The Letter” to Paul.”

Yet for all the subject matter’s populist appeal, the creative team has strived to emphasize the lyrical qualities of Maugham’s pot-boiler. “I wouldn't want anyone to get the idea that The Letter is, in the oft-quoted phrase with which Joseph Kerman amusingly (and wrongly) dismissed Tosca, ‘a shabby little shocker,’” says Teachout. “Paul and I have gone to considerable trouble to heighten the emotional climate of the play, in the process turning it from a neatly turned thriller into a full-fledged piece of lyric theater. Our characters, unlike Maugham's, are concerned not just with their own desires but with the state of their souls.”

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American IdyllSYMPHONY MAGAZINE

Music Director searches conducted in open view aren't new. But orchestras are increasingly using them to connect with their communities, some taking their cues from reality TV.

Joana Carneiro didn’t appear even remotely frazzled as she strode across the U.C. Berkeley campus on a rainy mid-December morning in search of a cup of coffee. The 32-year-old Portuguese conductor should have been exhausted. It had, after all, been a grueling week. As the last of six guest conductors summoned to the Bay Area by the Berkeley Symphony with the aim of finding a successor to the internationally renowned Kent Nagano—whose departure from the position of music director following three decades of service the orchestra had announced in January 2007—Carneiro was kept busy from the moment she deplaned. Over the course of seven days, the conductor led five rehearsals and two performances, gave one pre-concert talk, attended several receptions and countless breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, underwent a formal interview, and appeared on a local radio show.

Yet far from yearning for a few hours of well-earned sleep on the flight back to her home in Lisbon, Carneiro seemed to take a week’s worth of heavy scrutiny at the hands of the Berkeley community in stride. Dressed in black slacks and a sweater with her straight, shoulder-length dark hair clipped neatly back from her face, the conductor looked as relaxed and alert over coffee on the final morning of her Bay Area sojourn as she did while conducting a program of Beethoven, Adams, and Lindberg for an audience of 2,000 the night before. “I’m not worried about being evaluated. Every time a conductor gets up on the podium it’s an evaluation; there are reviews in the media and audience feedback forms. This process is no different,” says Carneiro, who served as assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2006 to 2008 through the League of American Orchestras’ American Conducting Fellows program. “There were many interviews, meetings, lunches, and dinners, but they all felt like a conversation,” she says.

That a music director search process might be viewed as a “conversation” between many different stakeholders is a concept that orchestras have taken a long time to embrace. The active inclusion of instrumentalists in scouting out new music director talent is now common practice among many orchestras, both in this country and abroad. But despite the much-publicized efforts of institutions such as the Berlin Philharmonic to involve their musicians in music director appointments in recent years, the world’s bigger orchestras continue to observe relatively closeted hiring traditions.

The situation at hundreds of smaller U.S. institutions couldn’t be more different. Instead of leaving the business of engaging an orchestra’s central figure to a mysterious group of internal custodians, orchestras in such diverse parts of the country as Eugene, Oregon; Fairfax, Virginia; and Augusta, Georgia are increasingly looking for ways to make the hiring process as transparent and inclusive as possible. More than that: Some organizations are even going as far as to view the conductor search as show biz.

Buzz and Buy-In

Fueled by the confluence of Web 2.0 and the popularity of reality TV, a number of U.S. orchestras are emphasizing the competitive nature of the search process in an attempt to heighten audience buy-in and create media buzz. Developed in collaboration with an advertising agency, the Reno Philharmonic’s recently completed search featured an American Idol-inspired “Last Conductor Standing” strategy that gave concertgoers a vote on which of the five shortlisted guest conductors should win the music director job. By following a link to the Reno News & Review website, ticketholders could watch video footage of each finalist in action, and—above a slogan that reads, “Who will prevail? Your vote counts!”—click on another link to cast a ballot. “We wanted to make as much of the search process as we could by playing up the competitive aspect and tying it in with popular culture,” says Reno Philharmonic Executive Director Tim Young. “The engagement is terrific. People are really excited about what’s going on.”

In addition to using audience surveys, orchestras such as the Fairfax Symphony   Orchestra (which conducted a music director search during the 2008-09 season) generate interest by reaching out to constituents through YouTube videos depicting guest-conductor performances posted on the orchestras’ websites. Other orchestras are putting a competitive spin on the music director search through bold communications campaigns with dramatic wording and images. The splashy homepage of the Augusta Symphony’s website features large pictures of outgoing Music Director Donald Portnoy and the four conductor candidates accompanied by the teaser: “After Donald Portnoy’s Grand Finale, who will be maestro? Who’s your favorite? We want to know. Email Us.” The homepage of the Richmond Symphony website similarly hopes to turn heads with its attention-grabbing “Our New Musical Director Search Begins” headline. Meanwhile, the Saint Joseph Symphony in Missouri referred to its shortlisted conductors as “finalists” rather than the less competitive-sounding “candidates.”

Unsurprisingly, this interactive, high-stakes approach to communicating details about the conductor search to the general public has been garnering a great deal of media attention for orchestras. Media outlets seem to respond particularly strongly to the American Idol-like nature of some orchestras’ campaigns, even co-opting phrases from the hit reality-TV show in their copy. “It’s not quite San Antonio Symphony Idol,” wrote Deborah Martin in the San Antonio Express-News. “But patrons will have a chance to weigh in on next season’s guest conductors.” In the Charlotte Observer, reporter Steven Brown played up the competitive nature of the selection process by rechristening the local orchestra’s search for a new music director as “So You Think You Can Conduct?” and peppering his text with words like “contest,” “climax,” “vying,” and “tryout.”

Orchestra personnel are understandably excited about the level of media interest. “We’ve garnered three articles about each of the candidates—a preview feature, a concert review, and lastly a follow-up story that segues into what’s going to happen next,” says Jonathan Martin, president and executive director of the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina, which currently is in the middle of a music director search. “The exciting thing is the amount of publicity we got and the interest all the buzz sparked in our community,” says Rhonda Hunsinger, executive director of the South Carolina Philharmonic, which conducted a music director search for two years, eventually deciding on Morihiko Nakahara in April 2008. “We talked to the local radio and TV stations and convinced them that this was the top arts story of the season, and they all embraced it,” Hunsinger continues. “We got live TV and Internet coverage, not to mention newspaper articles prior to each candidate’s visit. We had several reviews following every concert. Critics attended rehearsals and wrote feature stories. While the candidates were in town, we were careful to have them interact with the media. A few days after the last concert, we selected Morihiko Nakahara as our new music director and secretly brought him into town. We planned an event around the announcement and gave the state newspaper a front-page, above-the-fold exclusive.”

Even those orchestras less driven to create a publicity campaign around the search process are striving to use it as a way to reach out and interact with audiences. The La Crosse Symphony in Wisconsin—which began its music director search in the fall of 2007 and recently selected six finalists—keeps concertgoers informed about its music director search by publishing an online newsletter every six weeks. Orchestras also routinely use Web-based and paper audience surveys to get feedback about guest conductor appearances. The Charlotte Symphony reports unprecedented levels of audience engagement as a result of soliciting concertgoers’ opinions through surveys. “The amount of return has been extraordinary,” Martin says. “We get hundreds of responses on each of the guest conductor concert weekends.” According to Berkeley Symphony Executive Director James Kleinmann, around 10 to 15 percent of Berkeley Symphony audiences complete post-concert surveys online. But the range of responses testifies to the impassioned engagement of ticket-buyers in the selection process. “During the performance of each piece, with her face as well as with her body, the conductor expressed feeling for the music as well as appreciation for the musicians, and the musicians responded,” wrote a concertgoer in response to one of Berkeley Symphony’s guest conductors. Another audience member wrote: “If I were a member of the orchestra, I would have not noticed any indications of dynamics. The scores must have indicated fortissimo but the conductor’s gestures didn’t seem to. Range of conducting gestures seemed limited.”

Pros and Cons

“Before we launched our music director search, a lot of people in the area knew there was an orchestra here, but they didn’t really know,” says South Carolina’s Hunsinger. “We got the media involved early and as a result, community awareness has risen and people are asking a lot of questions.” Kleinmann believes that the Berkeley Symphony’s search has played a major role in uniting the many disparate parts of the orchestra’s constituency. “The most exciting thing that’s come out of the search has been the emergence of community and leadership,” Kleinmann says. “In what could have been a vacuum created by Kent Nagano’s departure, I am amazed at how everyone, from funders to board members to audiences, has come together to demonstrate how the orchestra impacts their lives. This transcends the business of choosing who the next music director will be.”

Many orchestras are also quick to point out the financial advantages that have emerged from taking a more open approach to the music director search. Some groups are reporting increased or steady ticket sales—no small feat during a recession. And the bump can last after the search is over: According to Hunsinger, the South Carolina Philharmonic has almost sold out every concert so far this season since hiring Nakahara. The Richmond Symphony reports box-office sales that are similar to last season. But the orchestra’s director of marketing and communications, Bob Halbruner, notes: “If there was no economic downturn, we would expect to see a spike in ticket sales.” The excitement generated by the newly visible music director search process has also helped some orchestras with their fund-raising activities. Borrowing an idea from the Eugene Symphony, the South Carolina Philharmonic raised $60,000 by inviting donors to a private party at $1,000 a ticket in honor of each of the orchestra’s guest conductor candidates. The donors received “insider” information on the search process, including an invitation to the press conference announcing the selection of the new music director.

Such highly publicized music director hiring practices are not without their drawbacks. Some organizations are concerned about the implications of placing too great an emphasis on audience participation during the selection period. “We haven’t resolved yet to what extent the audience will have input in the process,” says Jim Gallagher, chairman of the music director search committee at La Crosse Symphony. “We’re not going to have an audience ballot. Apart from the fact that giving concertgoers votes would be a logistical nightmare, we don’t want this to end up being a popularity contest with people voting for the wrong reasons.”

All the excitement about the winner doesn’t really change the fact that the candidates were originally selected to fill a job opening and that the non-winning candidates will still be looking for a job. Some of them may have to get out there and do it again and again. So sensitivity is key when it comes to figuring out just how far to take media and audience involvement. David Fisk, executive director of the Richmond Symphony, says: “We genuinely find it useful to get audience feedback about such things as a conductor’s chemistry with the players and audience. But this isn’t the same as giving concertgoers a vote; it’s giving them a voice in the process to help inform our decision.” When we spoke this winter, San Francisco Chronicle classical music critic Joshua Kosman shared similar reservations about seeking inspiration from reality TV in the appointment of new music directors. “The audience’s enthusiasm is nice, but audiences don’t always know what’s best,” he says.

Then there’s the problem of sustaining the level of engagement in the months and years following the media hoopla. The Reno Philharmonic is hoping to leverage information gathered about its audiences during the search process to find new ways to involve concertgoers in the future. “The energy and excitement of the search process is going to be hard to continue in exactly the same way,” says Young. “But it’s up to us to look for new ways to involve the community.”

Not all regional orchestras see the hiring of a new music director as a giant publicity opportunity. The Utah Symphony, for one, eschews the idea of a public search. According to a November article in the Deseret News, William H. Nelson, the chairman of Utah’s search committee, took exception to the way in which the orchestra handled its previous music director search, just over a decade ago. “We don’t want the guest conductors to appear as if they’re auditioning,” Nelson is quoted as saying of the latest conductor hiring process. “They are of the stature that they don’t want to be perceived as wanting a job.” The Berkeley Symphony, for all its interest in reaching out to audiences, is similarly keen to play down the competitive aspect of the search. Candidates like the New York-based conductor Paul Haas may have viewed the entire week in Berkeley—“every interaction, from meetings to rehearsals,” he says—as part of an audition process, but the selection committee shunned the term, instead choosing to frame the search as a concert season featuring six guest conductors, rather than a contest aimed at securing Nagano’s successor. 

Eyeballing the Guests

Even for orchestras intent on steering clear of the American Idol model, practical realities nevertheless encourage a highly transparent and inclusive approach. Unlike their more prominent counterparts, smaller orchestras don’t have the luxury of auditioning potential music directors on the quiet. The country’s largest-budget orchestras present upwards of 200 performances annually, many of them led by guest conductors, and it’s relatively easy for these institutions to assess visiting maestros without announcing that they might be on the lookout for someone to fill the top artistic position. Maintaining face is key. “If an orchestra lets it be known that it’s interested in conductor X but conductor X doesn’t show, it can’t look good for the orchestra,” says the San Francisco Chronicle’s Kosman. “Similarly, the top conductors can’t afford to be seen looking for a job in public.” But for smaller orchestras, the logistics of bringing in a slew of guest conductors makes the search process practically impossible to disguise.  “For an orchestra of our size it’s difficult to do a covert search,” says Richmond Symphony’s Fisk. “We have a limited 38-week season, and under normal circumstances our regular music director and assistant conductor dominate the schedule. Suddenly having a season full of nothing but guest conductors makes it pretty obvious that we’re looking for a successor.”

The average music director search panel might consist of a mixture of orchestral musicians, staff, board members, and even one or two major donors and external stakeholders, allowing smaller groups to maintain a high level of interaction with their close-knit communities. “Management is interested in what we have to say,” says Berkeley Symphony viola player Darcy Rindt. “There’s a strong sense of everyone being in this process together.” The Charlotte Symphony’s Martin believes that reaching out to the orchestra’s many different constituencies will lead the search committee to make a better-informed decision. “We’re not running a popularity contest,” he says. “Weighing lots of criteria based on feedback from donors, audience members, musicians, and others can only help us get the right result.”

This desire on the part of orchestras to engage with the outside world speaks to a heightened awareness of the evolving role and responsibilities of a music director working in the U.S. today. These days, waving a baton is considered to be only part of the job; being an arts advocate in the community is also extremely important. The Berkeley Symphony, for instance, currently works with the city’s eleven public elementary schools. The orchestra required all guest conductor finalists to write essays outlining their approach to civic engagement as part of the application process. Meanwhile, in La Crosse, Wisconsin (population 50,000), the orchestra’s music director is regarded as a prominent local figure.  “In a city this small, the orchestra’s music director is the artistic leader of the community,” says Gallagher. “The search for a new leader is a big event, and we want to involve the various stakeholders in the process as much as we possibly can.”

The effort to be as inclusive as possible, coupled with the logistical challenges of parachuting in a cavalcade of guest conductors during the average orchestra’s limited season, has turned the music director search at many institutions into a highly formal, complex, and costly business. Orchestras typically spend two to three years, and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, diligently transitioning between maestros. The process involves such tasks as assembling a cross-functional search committee; drawing up a detailed job description and procedural guidelines; reaching out to suitable candidates; vetting anywhere between 100 and 300 applications; following up on references; digesting applicant essays, videos, and audio recordings; creating a shortlist; flying finalists in to spend a week or two with the orchestra; nailing down concert repertoire; organizing and publicizing meetings, events, and performances during each conductor’s stay; providing feedback systems for all stakeholders; soliciting media coverage; and announcing the final decision. The selection panels of some orchestras, such as the South Carolina Philharmonic and Reno Philharmonic, even traveled around the country visiting shortlisted candidates before inviting them back to home base. Others, such as the La Crosse Symphony, hired a consultant to help guide the orchestra through the process.

The open approach to procuring the right music director may be time-consuming, resource-heavy, and fraught with challenges—from complex scheduling logistics to losing worthy candidates to other jobs during the typically long vetting period. Yet the difficult process seems to make sense for many orchestras. “The appointment of a music director is such an important decision,” says Kosman. “It has a huge bearing on what your orchestra is going to become in years to come. The decision-makers must have the information they need to make the right choice.”

Sometimes, however, even the best intentions and most diligently run searches can go awry, as the story of one orchestra interviewed for this article shows. The orchestra in question approached the appointment of a new music director with dedication and rigor. But the selection panel, ignoring negative feedback from its core constituents, began negotiations with one finalist on the basis of his reputation. “The conductor had the right profile but the players didn’t like him,” a search committee member confides. “When the panel traveled to meet him for primary negotiations, he didn’t seem at all excited about the job.” Fortunately, the committee eventually came to its senses and hired a different conductor, one who clicked perfectly with the orchestra and helped re-energize ticket sales and fund raising.

“I don’t know if there’s a right way or wrong way to conduct a music director search,” says the Charlotte Symphony’s Martin, who, as a former general manager of The Cleveland Orchestra, has glimpsed the pros and cons of both “open” and “closed” methodologies and describes himself as a “convert” to the open way because of the opportunities it provides to build community and generate buzz. “You need a process that works for your orchestra and your city.” Ultimately, though, the success of any music director search seems to hinge on one crucial factor: the personal connection between a candidate and an orchestra. That ephemeral feeling of “rightness” cannot be quantified or ascertained from a resumé, but orchestras and audiences know it straight away when they see it. As Carneiro put it over coffee that December morning: “If it’s a good fit, it’s fantastic.”

As it happens, the fit between the Berkeley Symphony and Carneiro appears to be just right. On January 15, just four weeks after the Portuguese conductor’s appearance on the podium at U.C. Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, the Berkeley Symphony board announced Carneiro’s appointment as Nagano’s successor. “Her interaction with the musicians, and the level to which she brought them in four rehearsals, was remarkable,” says Berkeley Symphony board President Kathleen G. Henschel. “She made just the right match with all the constituents.”

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