Word: conductor
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Genius and passion. To end an artistic endeavor of any sort with the intent and feeling that one had in its beginning represents the greatest expression of both. The Bach Society Orchestra's final concert of the season contained just such a note of finality. Conductor Evan Christ concluded his BSO career Saturday night, replete with the show-stopping presence of world-class composer and conductor Alan Hovahness and a coterie of soloists. Christ will conduct his thesis work May 10th, but for all intents and purposes, this nearly flawless concert was his performing swan-song...
...period. Such notions are a marketing department's nightmare, but Salonen is adamant: "The orchestra must be a source of enlightenment." After 11 years of the saintly Carlo Maria Giulini and the ineffectual Andre Previn, the Philharmonic is ready for a youthquake. But even though Salonen is its youngest conductor since Zubin Mehta was appointed in 1962 at the age of 26, there is little danger that he will try to move the Music Center closer to Beverly Hills, 90210. He's not that...
...podium, Salonen projects an aura of crisp, businesslike authority. There is none of Mehta's grandstanding glamour; instead, the conductor he most resembles is his hero Pierre Boulez, guiding his players through the most intricate rhythms with unflappable aplomb. In 1985 Salonen signed an exclusive contract with CBS, now Sony Classical, and since then has issued a steady stream of albums (the best so far: Messiaen's formidable Turangalila-Symphonie and Grieg's Peer Gynt music). Already he is one of the few living maestros who can sell the standard repertoire on the strength of his name alone...
...fast-paced international career. Salonen already knows the dangers firsthand: while conducting a concert of new music a few years ago with his other orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony, he temporarily blacked out, exhausted, and had to start over. He hopes to avoid being a "jet-lag conductor" by settling professionally in Los Angeles. Next season will be his last in Stockholm. "Being music director of one orchestra is enough," he says. But an added attraction in California is the enterprising Music Center Opera company; he's talking about leading a Boris Godunov there...
...Conductor for the Next Millennium: Salonen in Los Angeles...