“Jorge Mester’s contract as music director with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra will end at the completion of the 2011-12 season, and the Philharmonic Center has begun an international search for his replacement,” reads an unsigned piece in Monday’s (12/20) News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida). “ ‘Jorge Mester has guided the orchestra’s growth over the past seven years and we are grateful. He is an outstanding conductor,’ said orchestra founder and CEO Myra Janco Daniels in a news release. Daniels said that this season’s two guest conductors in the orchestra’s Classical Series—Carlos Miguel Prieto in January and Michael Stern in March—are among those the Phil is considering as a possible new music director. Mester became music director of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall of 2004 and first conducted the NPO in 2003. He is conductor laureate of the Aspen Music Festival, which he led for 21 years, and is former music director of the Pasadena Symphony. He is currently music director of the Louisville Symphony.”
Posted December 23, 2010
