The Lake Forest Symphony in Illinois has announced five candidates for its music-director position, with each candidate to lead a pair of subscription concerts during the 2013-14 season. The candidates are Vladimir Kulenovic, Russell Ger, Andrés Franco, Stilian Kirov, and Jacomo Rafael Bairos. Kulenovic, recently named associate conductor of the Utah Symphony | Utah Opera, will lead the gala opening concert in September with music by Gershwin and Stravinsky. Ger, a native of Australia and an alumnus of University of New South Wales and Boston Conservatory, will conduct James Stephenson’s Celestial Suite and Holst’s The Planets. Franco, a Colombia native who is associate conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, will conduct Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Lukás Vondrácek. Kirov, associate conductor of the Seattle Symphony who holds degrees from the Juilliard School and Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, will lead Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Bairos, a native of Portugal who recently served as associate conductor with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, will lead Lake Forest’s final 2013-14 season concert, Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Barber’s Violin Concerto, with soloist Rachel Barton Pine. Lake Forest’s current music director, Alan Heatherington, has been with the orchestra for thirteen years; he conducted his final performances as music director earlier this month, leading Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”). The new music director will be announced at the end of the 2013-14 season.
Posted May 30, 2013
