Yannick Comes To Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Artswatch
Yannick Comes To Philadelphia
Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic
Conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, at Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center in December. (Laurence Kesterson / Staff Photographer)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin becomes the Philadelphia Orchestra's music director-designate today - as of the expected nod from the orchestra's board this morning.
And then he comes to town to meet his new public with a series of events Friday.
Details are still falling into place, but he will likely meet the orchestra board and staff, attend a public signing of his contract, and perhaps get a chance to listen to his new charges perform at a free neighborhood concert in Upper Darby. Details to come.
He's also expected to have his first encounter with a cheesesteak. Asked about it yesterday, he used those famous last words.
"Maybe just one," he said.
Comments (8)
For the past few years I have read Peter Dobrin's comments on potential conductors, and thought, "I feel sorry for whomever is chosen, if it's not Vladimir Jurowski." Mr. Dobrin's article in today's (June 14) Inquirer seems to reinforce my concern, as it strikes an intensely critical tone, in contrast to Mr. Stearns' more measured comments. Let's not have a repeat of the journalistic misbehavior Mr. Dobrin often showed in his comments about the orchestra's previous music director.— Kozera- Mr. Dobrin's article yesterday about the announcement of Yannick Nézet-Séguin as music director designate, and his op-ed piece today, which was juxtaposed with Mr. Stearns' assessment of the appointment, confirmed my own sense that Mr. Dobrin is one of the best arts and culture writers at any major American newspaper. The article published on Sunday was an excellent piece of arts reporting and analysis. To begin with, it was clear from how extensively researched it was that it had been in the works for a while, indicating that he knew, or at least anticipated, that the appointment was imminent. No other announcement by any other news outlet that I read offered anything with the same level of analysis. Indeed, even the New York Times rehashed old news about the Orchestra with readily available biographical information about Nézet-Séguin. Other news outlets appeared to recycle bits and pieces of Mr. Dobrin's article, which as far as I'm concerned articulated a fair and balanced analysis of the decision to hire Nézet-Séguin in the context of the Orchestra's current financial and artistic situation. Those of us who care about the Orchestra and the music should be grateful for Mr. Dobrin's critical assessment of the situation. My own reaction ranges from skepticism to cynicism. Most Philadelphians don't care who the next music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra is, and the small percentage who do likely don't know who Nézet-Séguin is (as the NYT pointed out about American audiences generally), which is precisely why the Orchestra management and board are going to such lengths to introduce him to the city. Mr. Dobrin's article and shorter piece published today went a long way towards introducing him to the Orchestra's audience and stating, reasonably and fairly, what is at stake with this appointment. To accuse him of "journalistic misbehavior" is to confuse journalism with public relations. The latter is the Orchestra management's job, not Mr. Dobrin's.— Draco
- Kozera, I couldn't agree more. I wish Maestro Nezet-Seguin all the best for a successful and memorable tenure with our great orchestra. I also hope he is not treated to the same type of base, unwarranted criticism to which Maestro Eschenbach was subjected. No great musician deserves such treatment.— JT123
- If the criticism Eschenbach got in Philadelphia was "base and unwarranted," it was also universal. Next time you're at your local public library, run a Nexis search on reviews of his performances -- there is a pretty clear consensus among critics about his excessively slow tempos and solipsistic, if not onanistic, interpretations. Eschenbach is a great pianist, and I liked his championinng of 20th century masterworks -- Messiaen and Berg, etc. -- but for the Orchestra's core repertoire, the harsh criticism was largely warranted.— Draco
- Please Draco, don't be so naive. If you don't think the arts critic of a city's major newspaper doesn't have public relations influence you are sadly mistaken. And Mr. Dobrin's unfair treatment of Maestro Eschenbach went a long way toward undermining his position and helping to bring about the organizational troubles the Orchestra has experienced recently. One thing the public does need to know: despite what's been written in this paper and, therefore, disseminated elsewhere around the country and the world, this orchestra is not in any sort of trouble artistically. That they were not included in that wretched Top 20 list is laughable. We heard a Mahler Third on Friday evening that was nothing short of miraculous.— JT123
- JT123--What's naive, or confused in my view, is to think that an arts critic's job is to simply promote rather than to assess a performance, interpretation or work of art critically, good or bad. It might have what you call a "public relations influence" -- though I'm not entirely sure what that means -- but that isn't it's raison d'etre, nor should it be. This isn't hockey or basketball: the art critic isn't like a sports writer who is expected to be a booster for the hometown team and whose job it is to point out how, as much as he loves them, they didn't play very well last night (although I believe Mr. Dobrin truly loves the Philadelphia Orchestra and is genuinely concerned about its future). The Orchestra is part of a world historical project -- now very much in jeopardy -- commonly referred to as classical music. Mr. Dobrin's assessment of Yannick Nézet-Séguin's appointment quite clearly situates the announcment within that larger context of the future of the Philadelphia Orchestra, classical music, and the classical music industry, which now cynically promotes looks and personality over substance. What is naive is to think that repeating superlatives like "miraculous," and making ad hominem attacks against critics is going to fix all of the Orchestra's problems.— Draco
- Agree with Kozera and JT123. Much like the critic in Cleveland who had a vendetta against Franz Welser-Most, Mr. Dobrin was so biased against Maestro Eschenbach (as were a number of people connected with the orchestra) that his criticisms were worthless. It was a shameful episode in the Philadelphia Inquirer's history.— lingin
- Stop the negativity! Remember a young Canadian led us to 2 Stanley Cups!!! YNS has the magic wand!!! Reminds me of the people who booed Muti when he was selected. BTW, when will the new replica tuxes go on sale? I even have the Stokowski Fantasia edition. You can keep the Sawallisch version though. Never warmed up to him. Saratoga is coming up soon & no TV contract. Even the Union is on digital! Hey, Volgamore, you're on the clock!!!— gakski
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About this blog
Peter Dobrin is a classical music critic and culture writer for The Inquirer. Since 1989, he has written music reviews, features, news and commentary for the paper, covering such topics as the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the Venice Biennale, expansion of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra's bankruptcy declaration in 2011, Philadelphia's evolving performing arts center and the general health of arts and culture.
Dobrin was a French horn player. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Elliott Galkin. He has no time to practice today.
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