“The Asheville Symphony Orchestra has tapped Darko Butorac as its next music director,” effective with the 2018-19 season, writes Matt Peiken in Thursday’s (6/7) Blue Ridge Public Radio (North Carolina). “Butorac succeeds Daniel Meyer…. Butorac, 40, began … as a cellist, but had his first chance to conduct an orchestra when he was 17. From then on, he knew he wanted a life on the podium…. Butorac’s family moved from Belgrade to Seattle when he was 10. Butorac … has steered the Missoula Symphony in Montana since 2007 and five years ago added the title of music director for the Tallahassee Symphony in Florida.” Butorac will step down from the Missoula Symphony at the end of the 2018-19 season, retaining his Tallahassee Symphony post. “Butorac said he’s intrigued by Asheville’s commitment to performing masterworks by the titans of classical music, though he has a particular affinity for Prokofiev, Stravinsky and other Russian composers.” Michael Brubaker, horn player Asheville Symphony and a member of the search committee, said, “Darko’s concert by far had a higher level of excitement amongst the players and … with the audience.”
Posted June 11, 2018
