Klarinet Archive - Posting 000108.txt from 1998/04

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: very young principal cl's
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 10:22:05 -0500

On Fri, 3 Apr 1998 peter.stoll@-----.ca wrote:

> One of my students asked if it ever happens that a very young player wins
> a 1st audition, and is technically "the boss" of older, experienced
> orchestral clarinetists. Of course this does happen (I remember hearing
> about a flutist winning prin.flute in I think Cleveland at an age barely
> into the 2O's) and it got me thinking

That flutist would be Josh Smith (or was he a bassoonist? I get the
details mixed up). Other prodigies include Ricardo Morales, of course,
winning principal clarinet of the Met Opera at 23 (?) and Christina Smith,
an "old" friend of mine (she turns 26 this year) who won principal flute
in Atlanta when she was barely 20. And we all know about Drucker at 18
in New York, but it was around ten more years before he ascended to the
principal chair.

> Might it not
> lead to real long-term tension if there's a more experienced and obviously
> great Assoc.Principal (no small achievement as jobs go) in a big
> orchestra, who may have been hoping to move up to the Principal job for a
> while, and then is bypassed by someone potentially a lot younger?

That was the case in Atlanta, although there was also a Curtis v. Juilliard
rivalry between Christina and her associate principal as well. It's hard
to know which issue was more a bone of contention, but the contention was
definitely there.

Neil

   
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