In Thursday’s (8/12) Times-Union (Albany, New York), Steve Barnes writes, “Twenty years ago this week, Charles Dutoit led his first concert as summer music director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Thursday, after more than 200 performances at SPAC, Dutoit will take his final bow, as will his collaborator for 19 of those seasons, violinist Chantal Juillet, who founded and directed the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival that runs concurrently at SPAC with the Philadelphians’ season. The pair, who married in February, are stepping down from their respective SPAC positions to pursue other artistic endeavors; Dutoit, 73, leads and guest-conducts a number of orchestras and festivals around the world, and Juillet, 49, is a soloist and involved with festivals and music-education programs. … Dutoit, who developed such a rapport with orchestra members that he could, [SPAC President and Executive Director Marcia] White said, ‘conduct with his hands in his pockets’ and yet fully communicate with the musicians, will be leading a program tonight that includes music by Shostakovich and Debussy” as well as Korngold’s Violin Concerto, with Juillet on violin, and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.”
Posted August 13, 2010
