In Sunday’s (12/11) Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada), Steve Bornfeld writes about peripatetic conductor David Itkin. “Most three-job jugglers don’t have time for interviews, but Itkin, the 54-year-old conductor/music director of the Las Vegas Philharmonic since 2007, made time recently before a rehearsal for next Saturday’s double holiday concerts (2 and 8 p.m.) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Pinballing between conducting our Philharmonic and the Abilene (Texas) Philharmonic and heading the orchestral studies program at the University of North Texas, Itkin is a bona fide mobile maestro.” Itkin comments on how juggling multiple jobs keeps each project fresh, as well as the uniqueness of leading an orchestra of musicians who regularly play for shows on the Las Vegas “Strip”: “When you’ve played the same show eight times a week, people of this quality are so ready to play some great music. They come in so ready to rock. And the people who play the shows that are long runs, they take the week off when it’s a philharmonic week because there’s more rehearsals, and they’re losing money. We pay a respectable scale, but it’s not what they get paid to play on the Strip. It’s an illustration of their dedication.”
Posted December 13, 2011
