BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
You've heard all the fears over the computer problem Y2K, the glitch that will interpret 2000 as 1900.
But have you heard this: The classical music world has its own millennium bug. It's an international podium switch that will begin in 2000 and build to 2002 in a crescendo more provocative than Ravel's Bolero.
By the time conductors have been swapped or dropped, the face of orchestral music could change dramatically.
Cincinnati will be right in the middle of this musical chairs. Jesus Lopez-Cobos, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's music director, announced Thursday that he will not renew his contract when it expires next season (1999-2000). He has agreed to say on for an additional year to give the CSO board of trustees time to find his replacement.
Big-budget, prestigious orchestras searching for music directors are the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Other major orchestras searching for leaders are the Atlanta, Houston and Indianapolis symphony orchestras -- and now the CSO. What names should every board member know? Are there enough conductors to go around?
Name game
Names are already being matched to three of the "Big Five" orchestras holding searches: New York, Philadelphia and Cleveland.
In Philadelphia, where Wolfgang Sawallisch, 74, announced he is leaving in 2000, the speculation hints at Riccardo Chailly (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), Franz Welser-Most (Zurich Opera) and Sir Simon Rattle, a free agent, recently with the City of Birmingham (England) Symphony.
Mr. Rattle, 43, is perhaps the most eligible contender for an American music directorship. But he may shun Philadelphia indefinitely for the prize he most wants: Boston, where Seiji Ozawa, 62, shows no sign of budging after 25 years.
Will Claudio Abbado, 64, who is leaving Berlin in 2002, be lured to New York when Kurt Masur, 70, leaves the New York Philharmonic the same year?
Then there's that young lion Christian Thielemann of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the hottest name tossed about. Will he be Berlin's next Herbert von Karajan? Or will he go to Houston, New York or Cleveland?
Courting in Cleveland
In Cleveland, Christoph von Dohnanyi, 68, plans to leave in 2002, but will stay longer if necessary. Cleveland has seriously wooed Mr. Welser-Most, but after appearances this year, the courtship soured.
Will Christoph Eschenbach, whose mentor was Cleveland's George Szell, trade Houston for Cleveland?
Or would Esa-Pekka Salonen, the "golden boy" on the Los Angeles Philharmonic podium, leave La-La Land for Cleveland?
"Who knows?" says Donald Rosenberg, Cleveland Plain Dealer critic. "If Cleveland knocks on your door, do you say no? He's young, vibrant, and does interesting programs."
Then there's Houston. In October, a committee from the Houston orchestra was reportedly observing German Claus Peter Flor (who led the CSO Oct. 9-10) as he guest conducted the Minnesota Orchestra.
Slow-cooking a conductor
Some search committees may want to travel to Finland, where the hottest exports are students of Jorma Panula, such as L.A.'s Mr. Salonen and Jukka-Pekka Saraste of the Toronto Symphony.
"The young conductors from Finland bear close attention, because with all due respect, you're not going to get Simon Rattle," says Cori Ellison, who wrote the February New York Times article, "Making Maestros for the World."
Mr. Panula uses a "holistic approach," teaching different genres of music, visual arts and the humanities. The students get lots of practical time in front of an orchestra.
"It's slow-cooking a conductor, if you will," Ms. Ellison says.
Do genes count for anything? Among younger conductors mentioned are Roberto Abbado (nephew of Claudio), Michael Stern (son of Isaac) and Paavo Jarvi (son of Neemi).
Mr. Stern is guest-conducting the CSO Friday and Saturday; Mr. Jarvi on Feb. 19-20.
Roberto Abbado, one New York artist manager says, is "trim, handsome and charismatic." Although most of his work has been in opera houses, this season he's conducting in Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco.
Non-American candidates
Why are all these empty podiums giving folks the jitters?
Because, says Gustav Meier, the renowed teacher of conductors, "If Masur resigns (from the New York Philharmonic), there are only 10 big names equivalent to his."
Most of the speculation surrounds conductors who are not American.
For years, critics have complained that more Americans should hold American positions. Yet recently, the Russian Yuri Temirkanov was named to replace David Zinman at the Baltimore Symphony; the Dutch Hans Vonk replaced Leonard Slatkin in St. Louis; and the 39-year-old German Andreas Delfs is the new conductor in Milwaukee.
Look to history. The symphonic tradition began in Europe
and was imported to America around the turn of this century. Because of that history, boards have always gone to Europe -- specifically Germany -- to find conductors.
Today, three of the Big Five U.S. orchestras are led by German-born conductors: Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia. For Cincinnati's last two maestros, board members have traveled to Germany (Michael Gielen) and Spain (Mr. Lopez-Cobos).
Why such an inferiority complex about American conductors? "It's a little snobbishness," Mr. Meier says. "One feels if somebody's from abroad, maybe they'll bring something to the orchestra. But I think Americans can be packaged just as well.
"America has the best young conductors. It's also the best place to study conducting," he says.
Leonard Bernstein was the first major talent to break that European mold. Today, Americans who wield batons are Michael Tilson Thomas (San Francisco); Mr. Slatkin (now leading the National Symphony in Washington); Hugh Wolff (leaving the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra); Gerard Schwarz (Seattle); and Andrew Litton (Dallas).
Keith Lockhart, who made a meteoric rise when he was named conductor of the Boston Pops in 1995, is trading the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra for the Utah Symphony.
Although women have been absent from major podiums, Marin Alsop (Colorado Symphony), a Bernstein protege, is reportedly a contender in Atlanta and Houston.
Meanwhile, gifted Americans like Cincinnati May Festival maestro James Conlon, Cincinnati native James Levine and American conductor Kent Nagano pursue their orchestral work in Europe.
Some critics claim orchestras are preserving an outdated, European tradition that has no relevance to 21st-century America. Will the new millennium be the perfect time for orchestras to re-invent themselves?
Whatever happens, CSO concertmaster Timothy Lees
says, "a search can be an exciting thing."
