Conductor, leader, model?
Anne Midgette, in her blog The Classical Beat, has a new post about the romanticized view of the leadership of the conductor in the business world. She notes that leadership workshops for businesses led by conductors are a common affair now. And she questions the wisdom of holding up the relationship between conductors and professional orchestras as a worthy business model to incorporate into business culture.
Fair enough.
Do professional orchestras constantly battle to survive? Do bad personnel situations exist in the professional orchestra world? Of course. But seriously, is the for-profit business area kinder or nicer to its employees? Are the relationships better there than in the orchestra world?
I’m less worried about a conductor who has put together a talk/workshop/lecture about leadership and then is able to take it out on the road to businesses, rotary clubs, or business conferences, than about the actual training of leadership to young conductors. I’ve made it a major component of my undergraduate conducting classes, because I think it is such an important issue. My mentor dedicates an entire course focused on the issue of leadership.
I agree with Midgette that Marin Alsop and Orpheus are tremendous leaders in the American orchestra field and are doing fantastic work artistically and on the behalf of classical music in our country. But I don’t understand why she is referencing George Szell and talking about the autocratic leader. The successful Music Directors of today are so far removed from that concept of a conductor, it just doesn’t make sense to me to be talking about it.
Honestly, the more I thought about Midgette’s article the more I disagreed with her statements and the entire frame of her argument. What I came away with from that article is that orchestras are failing businesses and bad places to work; and who are those conductors to think they can tell anyone anything about leadership because of that. But I didn’t come away with her ideas of how things could or should improve.
Am I being too sensitive?
What are your thoughts about leadership and how it is taught and developed?
Before I sign off, special thanks to my friend Jason Caslor for bringing this article to my attention.
Jacob Harrison
brianstjohn
This article reminds me of another recent editorial (which unfortunately I cannot exactly recall to reference) that hypothesizes that conductors are relics of a past age and they represent everything insidious about the music business. I think the oft-recurring theme highlights that the conductor’s image in the public eye has begun a state of flux; the hoary, wise “maestro” is becoming ever more ridiculed, denounced, and even despised.
However, the recent excitement (even hype) surrounding Dudamel’s arrival in Los Angeles reinforces the conductor’s potential for reinvigoration in orchestral organizations.
It appears, for now, a conductor’s relevance depends on their ability to inspire enthusiasm. Those that can’t manage it will have a hard time succeeding from now on.