“The 2019-20 season will be Alan Gilbert’s first with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in Hamburg,” writes Jeffrey Arlo Brown in Wednesday’s (5/22) VAN (Berlin, Germany). “Q: Your first season [in Hamburg is] heavy on new music. Gilbert: I don’t think of myself as a specialist… I’m just interested in a lot of different things.… I figure, if I’m able to get excited about a piece by Johnny Greenwood or Xenakis or Stravinsky or Dvořák or Josquin, then maybe other people are also able to get excited … by this range of music. Q: Was the issue of gender imbalance something you were conscious of when you chose [Unsuk Chin as composer in residence]? Gilbert: The fact that she’s a woman had exactly nothing to do with the fact that we chose her. I think she’s one of the great composers working today…. But … it’s absolutely the right thing to go toward gender equality. Q: What do you think is the right length of time for a conductor and an orchestra to be together? Gilbert: Not so long, actually…. I was in Stockholm for eight years and then eight years” at the New York Philharmonic. “And that felt right for me.”
Posted May 24, 2019
