Around the Music Festival

Orchestra members voted for the next principal conductor at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Reported on January 29 by the Dutch daily newspaper “De Volkskrant”. According to reports, the poll was held on January 25. Candidates were Valery Gergiev (66), Ivan Fischer (69) and Andris Nelsons (41). The orchestra has not commented on the results of the voting.

The Concertgebouw Orchestra welcomed Daniele Gatti as chief conductor from the 2016/2017 season, but suspicions about sexual harassment emerged in 2018. He was fired in August. There was a view that Jaap van Zweden (59) was likely to succeed Gatti. He was the former concertmaster of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, then turned conductor and has been the music director of the New York Philharmonic since the 2018/2019 season.

Each of the three candidates is known for being busy. Gergiev is the General Director of the Mariinsky Theater and the Principal Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, while Nelsons is the Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Principal Conductor of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. They are competing for the seat of “busiest conductor”.

Fisher also leads the Butabest Festival Orchestra, which he founded in 2008. He has performed in various orchestras, and he is as busy as Gergiev and Nelsons. However, he recorded the complete Beethoven Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 2014 to 2015.

Photo：Philharmonie Luxembourg　/　Sébastien Grébille