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This week, the Springfield Symphony selected six finalists who are auditioning for the position of music director and conductor during the 2012-2013 season. Each finalist will trade off leading one of the season’s six concerts as a guest conductor, and they will then be evaluated by the audience, orchestra and staff. KSMU’s Rebekah Clark has more.
The Springfield Symphony has been on the search for a new music director since last year when Ron Spigelman announced his resignation. Courtney Wendel, Marketing Manager for the Springfield Symphony, says these six applicants were chosen after almost 80 people from around the world applied for the position.
“They sent out an open invitation for people to apply for the position, and then from all of those applications, a committee made up of board members and orchestra representatives narrowed the search down to the final six that we have.”
Wendel says that those six people will each conduct a concert next season.
“They looked for very qualified conductors—people who had years of conducting experience, and then they rated them based on their musicality, their community experiences, their education…kind of the entire package, if you will, of a regular job you were applying for.”
Following each concert, the audience, orchestra, Symphony staff and Board of Directors will evaluate the auditioning conductor. All evaluations will be equally weighted, and the finalist with the highest score at the end of the season will become the next conductor.
“So they should definitely come out and hear each of the different applicants, each of the different conductors because they’re all incredibly qualified. They can go to our website and see all of their biographies and all of the places they have conducted and the things they have done in their professional experience.”
To read about the six finalists, you can visit www.springfieldmosymphony.org or look them up on Faceook for more information.
For KSMU News, I’m Rebekah Clark.
Rebekah has lived in Springfield her entire life, and she plans to spend the rest of her life in southwest Missouri. She's a student at MSU seeking a major in public relations and a minor in history. In her free time, she loves to read, ride her bike, sing, spend time outdoors, hang out with her friends, listen to music and take pictures. She also volunteers with the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks and is a member of her church worship band.
