Word: conductor
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John Nelson, 40, of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Formerly a choral conductor, Nelson has an easy, fluent way with some of the grandest pieces in the repertory, like the Berlioz Requiem. He first came to attention when he organized an uncut performance of Berlioz's sprawling opera Les Troyens at Carnegie Hall in 1972 and then conducted the work the following year at the Met. An imaginative programmer, he has championed offbeat works like Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15, the composer's enigmatic symphonic valedictory...
Calvin Simmons, 31, of the Oakland Symphony. When Oakland selected Simmons as its music director in 1979, it found a conductor of enormous potential, whose life has been in music ever since he was a boy chorister singing in San Francisco Opera productions. Simmons is constantly exploring the reaches of the orchestral repertory, programming unusual works such as Hoist's Hymn of Jesus and Bruchner's Mass No. 3. A dynamic opera conductor, he will lead Mozart's Cost Fan Tutte in June with the Opera Theater of St. Louis...
Each of these men has the talent to direct a Big Five orchestra. But there is more to being a music director than being a top conductor. Says Thomas Morris, general manager of the Boston Symphony: "An orchestra looks for someone who will devote his attention to the job's administrative aspects, who is willing to lead the institution, who will be a member of the local community, who can deal with personnel and who will be a creative programmer." Further, says Morris, a conductor who already has a recording contract with a major label-a kind of dowry...
...five Americans understand how the system works-and that it is not likely to change soon. "I never in my wildest dreams thought an American would go to Cleveland," says Zinman. Observes Keene: "If you want to find the American conductors, you have to go beyond the ten largest orchestras. At the secondary level, Americans seem to have plenty of appointments." Slatkin-the only native-born American leading an orchestra whose annual budget ( lion) is among the dozen highest-thinks the grass-is-greener philosophy extends to other countries: "Look at England. None of the big London orchestras...
Still, the American conductor faces special problems. In Europe, an extensive network of regional opera companies in cities such as Aachen and Graz has traditionally provided training for young conductors. Many of the greatest Europeans-Herbert von Karajan and the late Karl Böhm-learned their art this way. To be sure, the U.S. has its regional and community orchestras, but historically they have not led to posts with major organizations. Further, European record companies-like Philips of Holland-are willing to give young countrymen a push. Edo de Waart, 40, now music director of the San Francisco Symphony...