Thomas Wilkins is having a busy weekend, and not just because of his Omaha Symphony concert tonight with violinist Itzhak Perlman.
On Friday night, Wilkins was in Tennessee, auditioning to become the Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s new music director. His performance there followed recent appearances with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera and the Utah Symphony, where Wilkins also has tried out for conducting posts.
“I have two daughters who are both getting ready for college,” Wilkins said in a recent phone interview. “I need one music director job for each daughter.”
Regardless of what happens with those tryouts, Wilkins will remain in Omaha. His contract with the orchestra runs through the 2011-12 season. His most recent available tax filing showed that he earned $126,000 with the Omaha Symphony in 2007.
Nancy Coe, a member of the Memphis Symphony’s selection committee, said Wilkins is one of three finalists. That orchestra probably will choose its new music director in the spring, she said.
Molly Sasse, executive director of the Chattanooga Symphony, said her ensemble is at the very beginning of a two-year search process.
“But Thomas was at the top of our list and was the first candidate invited to Chattanooga,” she said.
Wilkins tried out for the Utah Symphony last spring. That orchestra selected a different music director, Thierry Fischer, last month.
Rob Hallam, the Omaha Symphony’s president, said Wilkins’ contract commits him to conducting only 14 weeks’ worth of concerts a year.
“That gives Thomas plenty of time to conduct other orchestras,” Hallam said. “And we believe the extra experience he gets from other conducting jobs benefits our orchestra.”
That view is widely shared, said Judith Kurnick, an expert in orchestra administration with the League of American Orchestras, a national trade group.
“Conductors with multiple posts are more likely to bring fresh ideas and energy to the podium,” Kurnick said. “So a lot of orchestras encourage their music directors to bundle jobs.”
Orchestras didn’t always see it that way.
For much of the 20th century, music directors were local fixtures. They were the cultural counterparts of mayors, police chiefs, high school principals and other local civic leaders.
Not surprisingly, they were often required to live in the same ZIP code as their orchestra.
Eugene Ormandy, the legendary conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was the archetype old-school conductor. In fact, his 44-year tenure in Philly from 1936 to 1980 seemed almost like a papal reign. He never would have considered holding a second post.
Likewise, Leonard Slatkin, music director of the St. Louis Symphony from 1979 to 1996, was so committed to his city and orchestra that it was said he knew every back-alley shortcut to all of his favorite custard shops.
Kurnick said attitudes about the music director’s role began shifting about 20 years ago.
In 1987, Riccardo Muti, Ormandy’s successor in Philadelphia, accepted a second post at Italy’s Scala Philharmonic Orchestra.
“I was in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s administration at the time, and there was a lot of resistance to it,” Kurnick said. “But Muti believed conducting in just one city created a provincial musical climate.”
By the time Wilkins arrived in Omaha in 2005, orchestra culture everywhere had become more cosmopolitan.
Hallam said the search committee that ultimately selected Wilkins wasn’t looking for a local, Omaha-bound musician.
“The committee was looking for the best conductor it could find, and there was no requirement that the person live in Omaha,” Hallam said.
Wilkins did end up moving to Omaha, even though the Omaha Symphony was, at the time, technically his second job. He retained his position as resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony.
Last year, Wilkins also took on an extra part-time job as principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in Los Angeles.
But earlier this year, he decided to give up his longtime post in Detroit.
“It was time to give a younger conductor a chance,” Wilkins said. “But that decision also freed up a lot of dates for me to conduct elsewhere.”
Rank-and-file orchestra musicians usually send résumés to orchestras when they find out about openings. That’s not how it works with music directors, Wilkins said.
“All the orchestras I’ve auditioned for recruited me,” he said.
Sasse said many of Chattanooga’s musicians remembered Wilkins, who taught music at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga 20 years ago. Those musicians requested Wilkins, who conducted an evening of Tchaikovsky with the orchestra last month.
Sasse did mention that some members of her board of directors were concerned that Wilkins wouldn’t live in Chattanooga.
“They’re still trying to get used to that idea,” she said.
For now, Memphis seems to have no reservations.
“We’re looking for an expert musician and charismatic communicator,” said Coe, the Memphis selection committee member. “That sounds like Thomas Wilkins to me.”
Contact the writer:
444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com
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