Klarinet Archive - Posting 000141.txt from 1998/04

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: Re: very young principal cl's
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 15:25:28 -0500

Happens more often than you would think. The most recent illustration,
of course, is Ricardo Morales at the Met--I think he was 19 or so.

If memory serves me correctly, Stanley Drucker was 19 or 20 when he
joined the NY Philharmonic in 1948 (but not as principal--that happened
in 1961). He had ALREADY been the principal of the Buffalo
Philharmonic!

kjf

----Original Message Follows----
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 09:57:44 -0500
From: peter.stoll@-----.ca
Subject: Re: very young principal cl's

Hi all,

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; what do you all think of this
fact
of life, versus say a situation where a young, brilliant player is
started
as say Assoc.1st or 2nd, and then as others retire, moves up. 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? A
couple
of years ago the Toronto Symphony denied tenure to a great young
percussionist who'd won the Prin.Perc.job while still a student at
Eastman, but didn't have the support of his section, or enough prof.
experience. Just wondering.

Peter Stoll
Instructor, University of Toronto

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com