Klaus Mäkelä New Principal in Chicago

[Petrushka]

She canceled 3 years of planned concerts with KM

Unprofessional behaviour.

[Darkbloom]

Must say I actually enjoyed the new Petrushka, maybe the fairground music could ideally be more exuberant but I held concentration more than normal during the more eerie sinister puppet stuff. Hurwitz’ view was entirely predictable and totally and offensively OTT. In my view Makela is far preferable to Rouvali in another recent Petrushka release.
There is certainly a dearth of conductors approaching greatness right now and I’ve not seen a credible alternative name put forward for Chicago.

I know exactly what you mean about the lack of conductors. The old ones are dying off and nobody is replacing them. I saw Jurowski conduct Gotterdammerung last night and although it was technically excellent and the orchestra was very good, I couldn't help remembering how Haitink would have delved into the music a lot more and produced a lot more excitement. And I would have put money on VJ being considered a great conductor by now, but it seems he's taken a different path.

[richardfinegold]

I saw Giancarlo Guerrero conduct the CSO last night. I don’t know his exact age but I would guess early fifties. I had never heard of him. He has been the conductor of the Nashville Symphony for 6 years, the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, and a variety of lesser known orchestras all over the globe. He exudes charisma and his Prokofiev and Shostakovich were excellent. He appears to have paid his dues and I couldn’t help but compare him to KM . Guerrero appears so much more deserving and seasoned and he is in the prime of his career, but he isn’t a name and while he isn’t unattractive he doesn’t have young Brad Pitt looks