by sarah - April 12th, 2009
Chinese American conductor Xian Zhang has been appointed the musical director and conductor for Milan’s Orchestra Sinfonica (La Verdi). Gramophone announced the news in the first week of April. The ensemble had been without a conductor since the resignation of Riccardo Chailly in 2005.
Zhang just completed a contract as the Associate Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, where she was the first woman to hold the appointment. Having conducted across the country and around the world, Zhang’s credentials are more than impressive. (A full biography for Zhang can be found through her agency.) Zhang discussed her career in an interview with Denver’s (now defunct) Rocky Mountain News in 2005, posted here. Among the topics discussed were her role as a “woman conductor” – a label that she did not even consider until moving to the United States.
La Verdi is planning a press conference to present Zhang as their new conductor on April 28th. Gramophone’s article has already given Zhang credit for being the first woman to hold such a position in Italy and reported that her first official appearance will be on April 30th at the Vatican. The works heard will include Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus and Vivaldi’s Magnificat.
(Photo Credit: Rosalie O’Connor, http://www.harrisonparrott.com/artists/Xian_Zhang.asp)
Filed: conductors, news | Tagged: Orchestra Sinfonica (La Verdi), Xian Zhang | No Comments »
by sarah - April 9th, 2009
The Reno Gazette-Journal just announced that Laura Jackson has been appointed the new music director and conductor of the Reno Philharmonic. She is the fourth conductor to hold a position with the ensemble and first woman.
Jackson’s conducting career has taken her across the country and around the world; the RGJ reports performances with the Philippines Philharmonic Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Boca Raton Symphony. She just finished three years with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra where she served as assistant conductor.
What makes this story more interesting is that the Reno Philharmonic chose to make the audition process for their new conductor more interesting by centering it on an American Idol-esque elimination process. (The other conductors auditioning for the position were Jeffrey Grogan, Rebecca Miller, Christopher Confessore, and Sarah Hatsuko Hicks.)
Jackson’s personal website reveals further truths about her career highlights and a clear interest in the performance of works by women composers. The repertoire listed on her website list performances of works by Jennifer Higdon (City Scape and Zaka); Susan Botti (the West Coast Premiere of Translucence, the U.S. Premiere of “The Exchange”).
In interviews with NewsReview.com and the Reno Gazette-Journal Jackson discusses the continued importance of symphony orchestras in communities and her feelings on diverse programming. In the RGJ she likens the construction of a concert program to be similar to that of a meal:
What you want is every piece on the program to be savored in and of itself, but you also want it to complement and blend or to contrast the other pieces on the program. So, you’re savoring every flavor and yet each flavor sort of positions you for the next. I love juxtaposing pieces that are in some way related aurally. In other words, if it’s a piece that was just written last week and the composer was fascinated by, let’s say Beethoven you put that right next to a Beethoven piece. Then you understand that new piece better and you also hear the Beethoven differently.
I believe that we can anticipate a diverse palette from Jackson in her programming choices for Reno, ones that include works by women composers — evident in the release of schedule for the 2009-10 concert season: the Reno Philharmonic will be performing Higdon’s Blue Cathedral in November.
(Photo Credit: http://www.newsreview.com/reno/content?oid=936758)
Filed: conductors, news | Tagged: Laura Jackson, Reno Philharmonic | No Comments »
Chinese American conductor Xian Zhang has been appointed the musical director and conductor for Milan’s Orchestra Sinfonica (La Verdi). Gramophone announced the news in the first week of April. The ensemble had been without a conductor since the resignation of Riccardo Chailly in 2005.