Anthony McGill, the charismatic associate principal clarinetist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, will be moving to New York next season to be principal clarinet of the Met Orchestra.

"I'm going to miss it here; it's been awesome," says McGill, who came in 2000. He's just returned from making his subscription debut in four concerts with the Baltimore Symphony, performing the Copland Concerto.

He starts in September with the Met Orchestra, which is conducted by Cincinnati native James Levine.

Ticket prices

With ticket prices going up from 20 percent at the Pops and 25 to 35 percent at the symphony, I asked subscribers what they thought. A few, like Dick and Susan Hamilton of Wyoming, are willing to dig deeper because, they say, ticket prices were low compared with other orchestras, and they want to keep Paavo Jarvi in town.

Some, such as Don and Carolyn Lincoln of Finneytown, are worried.

"People who have shared seats with us have dropped out," says Don Lincoln. "I'm concerned that we'll be able to get people to continue to subscribe at this price. ... We love the symphony, we love Paavo, but we have a real concern that the symphony's going in the wrong direction."

Longtime symphony fan Sam Dollin of Loveland agrees. "Raising ticket prices is counter-productive. If you could get another 1,000 people in the hall, it would erase the budget deficit. I think you're going to drive away audience," he says.

"I absolutely adore going to the concerts - the music touches the very depths of my soul," says Mary Kay Frebis, 62, of Westwood. "But even with a senior discount, it is difficult to manage now, even though I count the symphony as a priority."

What do you think? Let me know at 768-8382 or e-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com.

Up the road

While in Chicago last weekend, I took in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which featured as guest conductor an American maestro, David Robertson, who is the newly appointed music director of the St. Louis Symphony.

It was interesting to compare this gifted young conductor with the Cincinnati Symphony's Jarvi. Both are convincing and extremely musical, but Jarvi draws more inner detail and richer textures from a performance.

That said, Robertson is a dynamic leader who knew when to stand back and allow orchestral soloists complete freedom. His New World Symphony No. 9 by Dvorak was as fresh as if it was being played for the first time. The Chicago horn section is incomparable, the strings had a silken ensemble and the winds phrased Dvorak's folk tunes with wonderful imagination.

One of Chicago's missions is to perform the music of our time. American composer Augusta Read Thomas, Chicago's composer-in-residence, introduced her Tangle in its world premiere, a bold, bright orchestral work with brilliant swaths of percussion, angular melodies and jazzy syncopations.

At its heart was a lyrical cello theme, beautifully interpreted by principal cellist John Sharp, formerly of the Cincinnati Symphony.

Kennedy Center Honors

Erich Kunzel fan Andrew B. Matthey of Hyde Park has nominated the Pops maestro for the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors, for the third consecutive year.

"I will continue to nominate him each and every year until he wins," says Matthey.

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com