A Look Into The Search Process For The New Conductor Of The Greenwich Symphony

The Greenwich Symphony Orchestra (GSO) concert on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago filled the Greenwich High School Performing Arts Center with a program featuring as centerpiece the rapturous Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18. But before and after there were less familiar pieces by Alberga and lastly Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Leading the orchestra with gusto was conductor Joshua Gersen.

Gersen is one of five finalists in the GSO’s ongoing new conductor search following the 2020 retirement of the four decades-plus serving David Gilbert. Gersen, who hails from the New York area and recently concluded his tenure as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, is the youngest candidate with candidates ranging in age from the 40’s to the 60’s.

“We haven’t thought about that [ages] in about 16 months,” says David Creswell, principal violist, who co-leads the search committee made up of six musicians and five GSO board members. “We see their ages on their resumes,” but, “Conducting careers really can last forever. I’ve played concerts with Blomsted at the New York Philharmonic and he’s a phenomenal conductor at 98.”

“It’s the quintessential aerobic exercise – conducting,” says principal oboist Diane Lesser, co-leader with Creswell. (Between the two they have served GSO for 60 years!) The two were guests of GSO board member Anita O’Sullivan, hosting the regular postconcert party for her fellow search committee members and conductor. “There’s no pickiness or evaluation going on,” she shares, “We’re partying, we’re celebrating.”

But O’Sullivan did add, that having gone to a few rehearsals, she liked Gersen’s energy. “So, what’s our search committee goal?” she asks. “Our goal is to make an enormous change. We want to break through, and we want excitement.” She believes the conductor search is bringing more people to their concerts. “I’ve never seen so many people in the audience,” she said of the Gersen Sunday concert.

She confirms that audience attendance is steadily increasing. “The first concert was 436, second 516, the third 592.” She adds, “The Sunday attendance is always much higher - sometimes more than double the Saturday concert.”

With two earlier candidate concerts, the one in November featured Martin Majkut from Czechoslovakia, a Fulbright scholar serving his fourth season as Music Director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra in New York, with a program of John Adams, Ravel and Beethoven. And last September, Stuart Malina, while serving his 21st season as Music Director/Conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted at GSO program of Samuel Barber, Mozart, and Cesar Franck.

Having received over 170 resumes at the start of the search Creswell says the geographic range has included Asia, Europe, and the U.S, with the five finalists based in the U.S. “We are very fortunate here to be so close to New York City,” he says, “because New York City is essentially the epicenter of classical music in the world. So, there are many people who are based here, and everyone’s careers come through New York.”

“The good news about COVID for us,” says Lesser, “was that this search coincided with the beginning of COVID. And so, we have had a lot of time on our hands. We looked at every single file -we watched all of their videos, read their bios, and we kept eliminating and eventually we got down to five.”

So, how do the musicians give their feedback on their experiences with the different conductors? “David is a phenomenal computer expert,” tells Lesser. “He actually created a survey and at the end of each week, we send out the survey to the entire orchestra. They fill it out, it’s all anonymous, and then we get the results. We make charts of all of the comments.”

“So, we ask them,” explains Creswell, “Is this person, acceptable, unacceptable, outstanding. So, some of it is rankings, where it’s multiple choice and then some of it is basically freeform answer. We take all the things that the orchestra tells us and gather it together. And then the committee goes over it all to digest what the impression that the orchestra as a whole had of the person. And that’s really important.”

“One of the challenges of a music director search as opposed to other positions,” Creswell continues, “is that someone can be remarkably qualified and expert in their job and have very poor chemistry with an orchestra. And we picked five exceptional candidates who are different from each other, and we did that on purpose so that we have different people to choose from. But you never know how they and the orchestra are going to get along until they’re actually in the same room, playing music together.”

“It’s like a marriage,” says Lesser. “You might be a wonderful musician and conductor in front of a certain orchestra, and then come to a different orchestra and it’s completely the wrong fit. So, it’s been fascinating. I have never heard such interesting responses from my friends who are in the audience, because they’re also experiencing it. It’s a search that’s not just for a conductor for the orchestra - it’s for the community.”

Inside each GSO playbill audience goers find a questionnaire with four questions requiring responses. Questions include, does the conductor have a good rapport and is he in sync with the orchestra? Does he/ she communicate well with the audience verbally and nonverbally? Has he/she made the concert a positive experience? The anonymous answers are tallied.

So, musicians and audience goers will have two more chances to size up the remaining candidates. On March 19-20 [originally slated for January 8-9 but postponed with the virus outbreak] will be the only female candidate, Parisian conductor Mélisse Brunet, Music Director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic with a program of Joan Tower (“Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman”), Lalo, and Dvorak.

And on April 9-10 Conductor Ransom Wilson, an international flute virtuoso,

serving as Music Director of California’s Redlands Symphony, who finds time to serve as Music Director of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and teach at the Yale School of Music. His program will be Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours,” Delius, and Brahms.

For tickets and information visit https://greenwichsymphony-orches-2.square. site/#uxldgh

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Top: Stuart Malina, Martin Majkut; Center: Joshua Gersen, Mélisse Brunet; Bottom: Ransom Wilson

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