The Seattle Symphony made the New York Times this weekend. The article isn't favorable and it reports a lot of the same information that has made the Seattle Weekly. The focus of the article is on an impending lawsuit but it also manages to traverse a little more than ten years of symphony turmoil. Sources are plentiful and generally negative. Nevertheless, a couple of the kinder paragraphs at the beginning of the article describe the recent good fortune of the orchestra:
"Yet even as this soap opera has unfolded, the orchestra has continued its rise from regional ensemble to national presence. With a current roster of 88 and a budget of $22 million, it plays in one of America’s finest modern auditoriums, Benaroya Hall. It also churns out recordings while others remain mute and made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2004. It has a large and loyal audience and, as of this season, a balanced budget at a time when neither can be taken for granted.
Much of the orchestra’s success can be attributed to its conductor, Gerard Schwarz, a throwback to the era of long-ruling maestros, having held the podium for nearly a quarter-century. He has been the kind of music director often held up as the ideal, heavily involved in fund-raising for the orchestra and active in the civic affairs of Seattle."
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I found this section of the NY Times article interesting:
A recently obtained copy of the survey showed that the players voted 61 to 8 in favor of new artistic leadership and 61 to 12 to form a search committee for a new music director. Players anonymously poured out a litany of complaints — some stated with eloquence, others with angry language — about Mr. Schwarz and the board’s attitude toward their opinions.
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