Klarinet Archive - Posting 000566.txt from 1995/04

From: Laurence Liberson <hardreed@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Stepping down?
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 21:36:26 -0400

> intouch Reply 4/28/95
> Subject:Stepping down? 4:02 PM
>George Landis wrote:
>
>"Mr. Strickler was the principal player from apx. 1957 or '58 until the
>mid-70s, when he became associate principal to Steve Girko, the current
>principal player."
>
>George, you've sparked yet another question now. How did it happen that Mr.
>Strickler stepped down from his principal chair of 12 years and allowed Steve
>Girko to assume the principal spot? Why did he take the associate chair? Did
>Girko challenge him? Was it some kind of mutual agreement? This is really
>interesting. I've never heard of anything like this before. Does it happen
>often in other orchestras, where a senior player assumes a lesser role?
>
>Neil
>

Generally, when this happens, it is because of the wishes of the music
director of any given orchestra. He/she will have the
power--contractually--to seat and/or reseat players at will (in this case,
reseating usually means demotion!). Occasionally, a musician might want to
take a less stressful(?) position in a section, but there has to be a
vacancy for that to take place.

It has happened before and it will, no doubt, happen again.

Larry Liberson
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
hardreed@-----.com