This is an appalling article. That anyones private life and medical problems, regardless of what occupation they are in, be spread about in the press in this manner... this is disgusting...this cannot even be considered journalism.
And My auditions listing this as the "top Story" Shame on them. And posting his mug shot on the opening page, what is this the national enquirer? People Magazine? Are there no newsworthy topics in the arts? I can think of at least a dozen other topics that John Fleming could have written about... this guy should be writing obituaries since a person who writes such a ridiculous article clearly does not have the intelligence to write a decent critique of a Symphony performance, when all he can think about is the personal business of the musicians.
The quote "Kitts' downward spiral seems particularly shocking because drugs and classical music aren't often linked"... give me a break. Are these people living in a bubble? Classical Music, Drugs and alcohol abuse have been united and prevalent since the beginning of music.
People will see what they want to see, and pretend the rest doesn't exist, but addiction is a disease that affects anyone, regardless of their Occupation.
What is so nasty is that this poor guy may be in recovery, and wanting to try and make a comeback as well, and this gets blared across one of the most read musician websites. Nice.

Disgusting abuse of free speech.

I disagree completely. Obviously, Mr. Kitts's story is tragic in the extreme, but he is no more deserving of absolute privacy than any other convicted criminal. Musicians are entertainers, and as such, we have chosen to place ourselves in the public eye just as professional athletes and actors do. It is a journalist's job to write about such occurrences, and the fact that most of the American arts press chooses to roll over and ignore the difficult subjects in favor of parroting an orchestra's PR releases doesn't make it wrong for a critic to cover the horrifying fall of a prominent local musician.

If anything, John Fleming seems to have gone out of his way to write the article with an emphasis on the sadness of Kitts's descent. It was in no way lurid or voyeuristic, nor did Fleming succumb to the temptation to sensationalize what was clearly a very painful time for Kitts's colleagues. The orchestra obviously made a concerted effort to stonewall Fleming's reporting, but he still turned out a very professional piece. I came away from my reading of the article stunned, saddened, and glad that I'd read it.

Oh, and if you read the article carefully, you'll note that the "poor guy" you're so concerned about was also arrested for beating up his girlfriend. Maybe I'm just callous, but I have a hard time conjuring up any sympathy for men like that.

Sam Bergman
violist, Minnesota Orchestra
news editor, ArtsJournal.com
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

This is a completely innapropriate forum for this topic, is the point im trying to make.

This is MyAUDITIONS.com
Not MyADDICTIONS.com

I have no opinion either way about the guy, I do not know him personally. And if you had read the article "carefully" as you put it, nowhere in the article does it state that he has been convicted of any crime yet. So he is not a convicted criminal. Nor is it any of our business. I personally do not enjoy reading about others misfortune on this forum. Lets have some valuable and productive standards of journalism in our part of the business...we should expect that from an arts critic, not a exploitive gossip column.

quote:

Originally posted by Picc*girl:
This is a completely innapropriate forum for this topic, is the point im trying to make.

I personally do not enjoy reading about others misfortune on this forum.

Well, if you didn't want to discuss it on myauditions, then why post it in the forums to begin with?

I gotta go with Sam. The guy is an entertainer and a prominent member of the community. Stuff like this is in my paper every day, from street thugs to stock brokers and doctors. We also had the tragic story of the Kansas City bassist who was murdered discussed here.

Picc girl, this story could have been about me a few years ago; I had a severe substance abuse problem, it almost cost me my life. I spent 7 months on my deathbed, they literally could make a movie of my ordeal, I dont think people would believe what I went through. My substance was booze.

I assume a lot of young-uns read this forum who are new to the biz. If I could do anything to spare them from what I went through, I would. Perhaps this article will make someone rethink their actions.

I never got in any legal trouble because of my actions, this guy did. As Sam mentioned, this man is accused of beating up another human. That's farly despicable.

You say "Shame" on myauditions, I say "bravo" and "Thank you" from the bottom of my heart for caring enough about musicians to post this subject.

One of the major focuses of MyAuditions is to provide a forum where professionals can impart their knowledge on aspiring future professionals. Folks like Sam, TrickySam9, Cygnus, Drew, Jeffrey Biegel, Frosty, Robert Phillips, CorEnFa, Kef2323, Frank Almond, Picc*girl and dozens of other professionals who take the time to participate in our forums really do make a difference and I know that not only myself and my staff appreciate their participation, but the whole MyAuditions community as well which now totals over 12,000 members.

With our daily news, we strive to tackle real issues. We get below the surface to speak about people and their impact on our industry. We focus on human interest stories. We don't do concert reviews, or promote CD's or provide a menu of ancilliary services just to sell advertising.

To that end, discussing Mr. Kite's ordeal is very relevant. If we can impact one person to think twice about his ordeal and help them understand that professionals in our industry are real people with real weaknesses just like in any industry, then we have served our purpose. Our goal is to educate. The forums goal is to educate.

This subject is very relevant to our members and exposes the darker side of our industry. I would hope more folks like Cygnus would have the courage to come forward and discuss these issues in greater details.

After all, this is one of the major reasons for creating MyAuditions.

The article nearly made me weep. Having been a regular attendee at Florida Orchestra concerts, I have enjoyed Kitts' occasional performances as concert master. I too had wondered where he was last season.

The article was tasteful, informative, and respectful of both Kitts and his orchestral "family". If this can happen to Kitts, it can happen to anybody, and as I see it, MyAuditions' reprinting it serves to inform and caution us. Kitts is one of us, and that we have an interest in his misfortunes and mistakes is not voyeurism.

Having used amphetamines in my younger days in order to keep up with a grueling schedule I can certainly see how Kitts could have lost control. It was my good fortune to have realized where I was headed before I had a serious problem.

I join Cygnus in applauding MyAuditions for printing this painful article.

Since Mr. Mednick mentioned me, I'll chime in here,too. I agree that this was a perfectly appropriate article for MyAudtions to publish. (I'm not sure that the mug shot was really necesary.) Since this site was apparently created primarily for younger musicians in the early stages of their careers - hence, the name I suppose - it's important for them to learn about every aspect of our business -- the good with the bad. In the same way, MyAuditions covered the recent publication of Blair Tindall's book, "Mozat in the Jungle," which dealt with drug abuse, sexual harassment and other undesirable aspects of our business.

Picc*Girl,this was one musician's story...a tragic story but one we can not overlook.

On the flipside, I hope you all agree that "From Skid Row to Disney Hall" in today's news was a wonderful, touching, sensitive story. I nearly had tears in my eyes as I read and re-read it. I've already emailed the article to musician friends around the country. Bravo and thank you to MyAuditions for publishing it here!

I just came back today. I also want to say bravo to myauditions.com. That is a story that may appear on different newspapers in any part of the world. It's not big deal and not attacking any individual. What myauditions.com has posted were things that are happening in our business. And, any thing that people feel uncomfortable after reading is really an extremely good teaching material in its own. We must know what we have to or not to do. Because perhaps one day we would be on the paper with a photo if we walk in a wrong way.

Actually, anyone in diferent fields will fall into this result if found guilty. The bigger name you have, the bigger shame you might have.

Just to rehash an old thread. It appears that Stewart Kitts is on the mend and I hope he lands a job back in a good orchestra.

However, I wonder if any orchestra would pass him up knowing his past history and conviction.

Hope he gets a good job, but chances he'll end up like Eugene Fodor. I think he is only "welcome" to perform in Europe and S. America. I never see him on the concert circuit these days. Unfortunately, this isn't Hollywood where the "bad attention" gets you good rolls.

Having lost a dear friend and colleague to a heroin overdose several years ago, I applaud having stories like this one told every now and then. It helps to raise awareness of the problem that some of us might not be so alert to noticing, and maybe it will save a few people down the line.

I don't think there is an orchestra in the world that has not had a member with a serious substance abuse problem. We are, above all, human in our failings even as we pursue this divine art.

Although it was distasteful in it's narcissism, Blair Tindall's book "Mozart in the Jungle" touches extensively on this subject (as well as the elephant in the room, sex as a career tool).

As to whether a drug conviction would prevent someone from being hired....I suppose it would depend on the orchestra contract. It's not like he would put it on his resume and orchestras don't have traditional employment applications that do have little boxes next to questions like "have you ever been convicted of a crime?". I wish him the best of luck.