I found it rather bewildering that president James Undercofler notified the Philadelphia musicians that the board has selected Charles Dutoit as their new chief conductor minutes before a concert.

Does having the word "Interim" in Dutoit's job title allow the board to simply bypass consulting with the musicians? Will this do any damage to the relationship between management and musicians and make it more challenging for Dutoit?

Dutoit had a rocky time with the Montreal Symphony having resigned that position after disputes with the musician's and their union back 2002. It seems to me that he brings some baggage to Philadelphia. How will the Philadelphia musicians react to all this?

While you are very correct in saying that he will probably bring some baggage to Philly since he left l'OSM in the way he did, I don't feel like this is going to be the same situation entirely. Remembering that he was in Montreal for 26(?) years or so, a four year interim position will probably not allow him to settle in and become so comfortable as to become the "tyrant" he was before leaving 5 years ago. Dutoit is arguably one of the most respected conductors alive today, and I feel like he will do Philly a great service. In knowing their recent work with recording and Martha DeFrancisco of McGill University's Sound Tech. programme, I feel like this will further help them to build a fantastic signature sound in their "new" hall.
I am not trying to say I don't think Dutoit needed to step down from the podium with l'OSM, but in knowing how some long-time musicians there valued his leadership for the most part, I feel like he will not lead anywhere near as tumultuous a "legacy" in Philadelphia.
The one thing that I feel like could change all my beliefs on this topic is the hiring of him without full consent of the musicians. That's like they didn't even want to give him a fair chance to prove himself- why piss off the talented Philly members in anyway on this topic given their circumstance with Eschenbach already? If this reporting is true, I don't understand why management would inflict this.

We should remember he's not exactly a stranger in Philadelphia. He's been conducting there for years -- I even have a couple of recordings made in the early 1990's, long before he left Montreal.

Hiring Eschenbach without consulting the musicians seemed like an ill-advised move at the time, and considering how things worked out, it still does; but in this case the conductor in question is someone they know and (from what I've heard) like.

The musician-members of the committee, in signing off on this, probably had a pretty good idea of how their colleagues felt about Dutoit and (especially considering the orchestra's history with how Eschenbach was hired) are probably pretty sure the rest of the musicians will approve of this move; so I don't think it's a repeat of a past mistake.

Great move by Philly all around!

The "tyrant-baggage" themology doesn't hold up under scrutiny at all.

The chances of any repeat difficulties as per the OSM are of the getting-hit-by-a-meteorite %.

Given the situation, you don't have to have a hand-wringing vote of all of the players when the option is simply to go for the gold or not.

I fervently hope Philly will launch a series of DVD productions featuring Dutoit.

Even though I personally hope for the best outcome here with Dutoit and the Orchestra. This leads me to think about the question, when are "big" orchestras going to start hiring the next generation of conductors? How long are orchestras going to keep passing the same group of conductors around? If you look at the big names in conducting, I would feel rather safe in saying not much has changed in 15 years or so. It's time that the new generation be let in. None of these very fine conductors can conduct forever.

The whole point, from what I read, seems to be that Dutoit is an interim. Undercofler seemed to indicate that the musicians would have a large role in choosing the actual MD, and that he expected the whole process to take a few years.

Anyone know what the Philly musicians' "official" take is on this? They quote one person in the article, but who knows if her opinion is reflective of anyone else's?

RWhite: In general I find that if an orchestra is happy, they don't say anything. If they're unhappy, that's when they make noise. Based on Philly's past behavior, I would guess that if the musicians are unhappy about this, we'll hear about it Otherwise, I'd say "no news is good news."