“Peter Gistelinck knew the history of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra when he took over as the new executive director in May,” writes John Liberty in Sunday’s (11/16) mlive.com (Kalamazoo, Mich.). “He just had no idea he could listen to a lot of it as well. In October, the KSO signed a licensing agreement with Naxos, [which] offers downloads of music from many orchestras around the world. Gistelinck said he was surprised to find about 900 recordings from the KSO dating back to as early as the 1960s.… Gistelinck said he was delighted to find recordings of Benny Goodman in 1960, Ravi Shankar in 1971, Andre Watts in 1974 and many more.… The distribution deal with Naxos, which is similar to the one he orchestrated as executive director of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, is one of the first additions of Gistelinck’s tenure.… He sees the Naxos arrangement as a revenue-generating opportunity with branding and development possibilities as well.” Gistelinck’s 2014-15 plans include “more films incorporated into the season,” a revamped website, and a new electronic newsletter for KSO patrons. “ ‘Do they know us? Do they think we are too stuffy?’ he said. “ ‘We are not stuffy at all.’ ”
Posted November 18, 2014
