In Monday’s (4/14) Buffalo News, Mary Kunz Goldman reports that the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has just completed round one of auditioning candidates for its open associate conductor position, with current associate conductor Matthew Kraemer set to step down at the end of June. “The position is very visible.… The associate conductor presides over classics concerts when JoAnn Falletta, the BPO’s music director, is out of town. He or she also conducts children’s concerts. And until a pops conductor is appointed, pops concerts are also the associate conductor’s domain. The BPO received 250 applications for the associate conductor job, said Dan Hart, chief executive operator. Last week, the orchestra auditioned five of them” at Kleinhans Hall: Lucas Waldin, Erin Freeman, Benjamin Rous, Troy Quinn, and Stefan Sanders. “It was interesting to study each candidate and imagine how it would affect the atmosphere of the BPO if he or she were given the job. Waldin, with his hipster vibe, would be very different from Kraemer. Sanders, with his accent and rolled r’s, would add a note of the Old World. All the possibilities seemed promising…. Round Two takes place May 6.”
Posted April 15, 2014
