Word: conductor
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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That the American orchestras should find themselves scrambling for survival is ironic, for they are without a doubt the best in the world. The U.S. can boast at least two dozen ensembles that are better than all but a handful of European orchestras. Foreign conductors routinely rave about the quality of the American orchestral musician and applaud the high level of professional music education in the U.S. "In Europe we always have had the impression that the teaching in America is stronger and more serious," says conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch, who takes the helm in Philadelphia next season...
...Conductor and screen composer John Williams (Star Wars, Jurassic Park) is leaving the Boston Pops at the end of this year, and the orchestra is looking for a new leader -- preferably someone with star power, a marquee name. Among the people still in the running for the Pops job, according to rumor: Top 40- esque entertainers Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones and Marvin Hamlisch. There are also more conventional candidates up for the post, including conductors Erich Kunzel of the Cincinnati Pops and John Mauceri of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra...
...later told a reporter, "but there was nothing in his mannerisms that made me think he was anything but another motorman." By riding with Sabio, Keno learned firsthand how to drive the trains, what tools he needed to release a train's brakes and how to talk to a conductor...
...nervous at first. The electric-powered train was made up of eight R44 cars -- and Keno had been only on the older R38 models. Undaunted, he boarded the train, alerting the conductor with the requisite buzz and closing the doors. "I had waited four years for this moment," Keno would later tell authorities. "It was very exciting." He handled the train with the greatest care, making all the proper announcements and easing the train into the proper position at each station. Twenty-four miles later, he pulled into his final destination in Brooklyn. He was one minute ahead of schedule...
...dead stop. All he had to do was get out of the train, get onto the tracks and reset the brake. But Keno was afraid of the dark subway tunnels, the rats and exposed high-voltage lines. For a full 30 minutes he sat panicked as the conductor and Transit Authority supervisors, still not knowing his identity, coached and chided him. Finally a rail inspector arrived and repowered the train. At the terminal, Keno was sent for the mandatory drug test that motormen take in the event of a serious gaffe. However, he fled before reaching the Transit Authority offices...