“When conductors first practice with a new ensemble, they might sense a connection with the musicians in a matter of minutes or hours,” writes Liz Teitz in Sunday’s (9/30) Stamford Advocate (subscription required). “For the Stamford Symphony’s incoming music director designate, it was instantaneous. ‘Those first 10 minutes of shorthand were easy and it only got better from there,’… says Michael Stern, 59, adding that there is a great potential in the ensemble…. Stern is confident about … what he wants to do at the helm of the podium: engage with the community…. For Stern, who will be the Stamford Symphony’s fourth music director, it’s almost a duty and responsibility that music ought to be shared, spread and advocated for—anything less is not enough.” Stern is also music director of the Kansas City Symphony, with a contract that was recently extended to 2023, and principal conductor of IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee. “Though Stern joins the Stamford Symphony this fall—the program for this upcoming season still involves other guest musical conductors—it won’t be until July of next year that he will officially assume the reins and the baton for himself for a five-year tenure.”
Posted September 30, 2019
