Appointing a music director is probably the hardest job an orchestra ever has to do, and appointing the right music director is the most important one. I have a few thoughts in today's Independent about why it's so tricky and why Sir Simon Rattle would be a Good Thing here...and why it's taking so long. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/will-simon-rattle-take-over-at-the-lso-10006409.html
Cheers to another British conductor, Jonathan Nott, incidentally: he's won a ballot by a rare unanimous vote, we're told, to become music director of the Suisse Romande Orchestra.
Now I'm off to Birmingham to talk about Korngold tonight at Symphony Hall, where the CBSO and conductor Michael Seal are doing the Symphony in F sharp, the composer's most important orchestral work. I've never heard it live before, having missed the Prom last year, and as Seal is fast becoming one of today's prominent Korngoldians I suspect we're in for a treat. Do come if you're in Brum. Talk is 6.15pm, concert at 7.30pm. http://cbso.co.uk/?page=concerts/viewConcert.html&cid=2971&m=01&y=2015
