In Wednesday’s (4/25) Cincinnati Enquirer, Janelle Gelfand writes, “Speaking emotionally at times, French conductor Louis Langrée made his debut Tuesday afternoon as Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s next music director by expressing his love for music. He greeted and was enthusiastically received by about 100 people gathered in Music Hall’s lobby. Langrée told them about an exchange he had with a taxi driver on an earlier visit here to guest-conduct. When he explained his visit’s purpose, the driver said of the CSO, ‘I know they are great,’ Langree related. And then he added; ‘That is important that everyone in the city would know that Cincinnati has a great orchestra.’ Yet, Langrée also told how the driver explained to him he didn’t like classical music enough to attend concerts—he was a sports fan instead. The new music director made clear that was an attitude he would be out to alter when he begins his tenure in the 2013-14 season. … After an extensive, 27-month search, Langrée, 51, was named the 13th music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the nation’s fifth-oldest orchestra. … Langrée, the first Cincinnati Symphony music director to hail from France, succeeds Paavo Järvi, who left in May after 10 years. … From his first date, a concert last season that included Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, it was ‘instant chemistry,’ in Langrée’s words, for both the conductor and the musicians.” Langrée is entering his tenth season as music director of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in New York City.
Posted April 25, 2012
