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The Monterey Symphony is in the midst of a very immersive search for its new music director.
The 75th season of the Monterey Symphony, which began in February, is also the first time the orchestra has played together in Sunset Center since February 2020. “It's good to see that we survived,” Executive Director Nicola Reilly says.
Tajha Chappellet-Lanier here, thinking about all the jobs I've applied for, and what the application processes entailed. In journalism, some organizations will ask an applicant to demonstrate their skills in an "edit test," a practice that can give unfiltered insight into someone's abilities, but has caught some flak over time. That said, I've never experienced something quite like what the Monterey Symphony is going through as it picks a new music director.
This weekend Peter Bay, the second of four final candidates for the job, will conduct the orchestra in what is essentially a live-action job application. Bay is currently the conductor at the Austin Symphony Orchestra, where he's worked since 1998. He is also conductor of the Bravo! Big Sky Classical Festival Orchestra and the Arizona Philharmonic, and has appeared with over 80 different orchestras over the course of his career.
Bay is eminently qualified, as is Donato Cabrera (current music director of the California Symphony) who helped the Symphony kick off its 75th season in February.
So what's this process all about?
It all began when former Music Director Max Bragado-Darman retired two years ago. The Monterey Symphony posted a job listing to replace him in 2019 and received about 175 applications—all, Executive Director Nicola Reilly says, from "totally qualified" candidates. (Yes, it is now 2022 and this has been a drawn-out selection process, but in the era of Covid what process hasn't been at least a little disrupted?)
The Symphony whittled down the list of applicants to four (Jung-Ho Pak will take the baton next in April; Jayce Ogren in May) and invited all four to come pay a (working) visit. "We really wanted to see each of them in action," Reilly says.
Each candidate is in town for a week to meet the orchestra and conduct two concerts—but also to meet the broader community during lunches and meetings and determine, both from the Monterey Symphony's side as well as the conductor's, whether this partnership might be a fit.
How normal is this? Reilly doesn't have exact numbers, but says off the top of her head it's probably a 50/50 split between orchestras that go through a process like this and ones that just appoint someone. "I'm glad that we're doing it this way," she says. Reilly takes notes after each event and those, together with audience surveys, will be part of the final deliberation process. The new music director's name will be revealed in June.
If you'd like to track this process more closely, there's still time to attend the upcoming concerts.