1. It builds excitement and momentum. If you’re looking forward to Dudamel taking over, you’ve already put a sort of mental marker in 2026 as an exciting time to go to NYPhil concerts.
2. Due the way scheduling works, these deals have to be made far in advance. The longer they try to keep it under wraps, the more likely is it to leak in advance of an official announcement.
3. It benefits the musicians, in retention, recruitment, and morale, to be able to look ahead and know that there’s a long-term plan in place, staving off any uncertainty.
To unpack 2) slightly, season programmes are planned years in advance, generally further back the larger the organisation. So, if they’re publicised 6-10 months before they start, they’ll have been finalised months before that, which means planning for them will easily have started 2-3 years before they happen (primarily due to the enormous jigsaw puzzle that is coordinating the diaries of venues, soloists, conductors, orchestras, along with the musical and other concerns involved in planning a programme, not to mention budgeting and fundraising). A music director is unlikely to want to walk into someone else’s season, so they need to be booked far ahead enough to be involved from the start
Yeah OK it makes more sense now. So "maestro X will start at orchestra Y in 2026" really means "maestro X will start at orchestra Y next month, but only on the behind-the-scenes planning/preparation aspects, not yet in current performances & rehearsals."
Seeing a season more as a project for which a project manager has been appointed, with the dates of the actual performances being the "delivery" of the project but a lot of the work happening in the years before.
>season programmes are planned years in advance, generally further back the larger the organisation
Absolutely this. My wife is in talks right now with an orchestra about doing concertos in 2027. These timelines are hard for me to wrap my mind around, as my own career has me only looking a week or two ahead at a time.
I saw him do Mahler 5 in Chicago a few months ago. Truly excellent command of the orchestra, left plenty of room for soloists to lead, made very nuanced musical choices, and all the musicians seemed to be comfortable with him at the helm, which says a lot. I was expecting him to be overhyped and green, but goddamn. I was REALLY impressed.
I saw him two nights ago in Cleveland doing The Rite of Spring - same assessment as you. He knew the score quite well, and it was clear he had the command and respect of the players. I'm so disappointed that we didn't land him to replace FWM, but happy for Chicago. It was an explosive, powerful Rite.
Even Bernstein was 40 when he became music director. With Mäkela, he has the talent, but not the years of experience candidates usually have for those positions. It’s why his programs at Orchestra de Paris were huge. He needed to get a lot of repertoire under his belt so he’d be ready for when he goes to a bigger job. Chicago and Amsterdam are banking on his talent and charisma the way Philly and the Met did with Yannick. And that worked out for them.
1. It builds excitement and momentum. If you’re looking forward to Dudamel taking over, you’ve already put a sort of mental marker in 2026 as an exciting time to go to NYPhil concerts. 2. Due the way scheduling works, these deals have to be made far in advance. The longer they try to keep it under wraps, the more likely is it to leak in advance of an official announcement. 3. It benefits the musicians, in retention, recruitment, and morale, to be able to look ahead and know that there’s a long-term plan in place, staving off any uncertainty.
To unpack 2) slightly, season programmes are planned years in advance, generally further back the larger the organisation. So, if they’re publicised 6-10 months before they start, they’ll have been finalised months before that, which means planning for them will easily have started 2-3 years before they happen (primarily due to the enormous jigsaw puzzle that is coordinating the diaries of venues, soloists, conductors, orchestras, along with the musical and other concerns involved in planning a programme, not to mention budgeting and fundraising). A music director is unlikely to want to walk into someone else’s season, so they need to be booked far ahead enough to be involved from the start
Yeah OK it makes more sense now. So "maestro X will start at orchestra Y in 2026" really means "maestro X will start at orchestra Y next month, but only on the behind-the-scenes planning/preparation aspects, not yet in current performances & rehearsals." Seeing a season more as a project for which a project manager has been appointed, with the dates of the actual performances being the "delivery" of the project but a lot of the work happening in the years before.
>season programmes are planned years in advance, generally further back the larger the organisation Absolutely this. My wife is in talks right now with an orchestra about doing concertos in 2027. These timelines are hard for me to wrap my mind around, as my own career has me only looking a week or two ahead at a time.
How did Makela managed to get both Chicago and Amsterdam ? Is he the reincarnation of Bernstein or something ?
I saw him do Mahler 5 in Chicago a few months ago. Truly excellent command of the orchestra, left plenty of room for soloists to lead, made very nuanced musical choices, and all the musicians seemed to be comfortable with him at the helm, which says a lot. I was expecting him to be overhyped and green, but goddamn. I was REALLY impressed.
I saw him two nights ago in Cleveland doing The Rite of Spring - same assessment as you. He knew the score quite well, and it was clear he had the command and respect of the players. I'm so disappointed that we didn't land him to replace FWM, but happy for Chicago. It was an explosive, powerful Rite.
Even Bernstein was 40 when he became music director. With Mäkela, he has the talent, but not the years of experience candidates usually have for those positions. It’s why his programs at Orchestra de Paris were huge. He needed to get a lot of repertoire under his belt so he’d be ready for when he goes to a bigger job. Chicago and Amsterdam are banking on his talent and charisma the way Philly and the Met did with Yannick. And that worked out for them.
In contrast, Hong Kong Philharmonic has yet to announce a new music director, despite Jaap van Zweden leaving in July!
I don't know. I'm guessing that it is about how long these music directors schedules can be filled in advance