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Natural Selection
Choosing MSO's new conductor will be group effort
By Katherine Walden
T he Macon Symphony is truly having a “Select Season.” That’s the title of the upcoming symphony season, which will feature auditions by three candidates vying to be MSO director/conductor.
The candidates are Lawrence Golan, currently resident conductor of the Phoenix Symphony; music director and conductor of the Lamont (Colo.) Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre; and the Portland (Maine) Ballet Company; Rei Hotoda, the assistant conductor of the Dallas (Texas) Symphony Orchestra, a position she previously held with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2009 and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California in 2005; and John McLaughlin Williams, a Grammy winner in 2007 for “Best Instrumental Solo with Orchestra” who has appeared as a guest conductor with many ensembles, but holds no permanent post at the moment. As a composer, Williams most recently wrote music, along with Michael Kamen (“Lethal Weapon,” “Die Hard”), for the soundtrack to “Mr. Dreyfuss Goes to Washington,” a documentary for The History Channel about the founding of Washington, D.C.
It’s an impressive group of candidates who will be charged with continuing the Macon Symphony’s impressive history while creating a new chapter for one of Middle Georgia’s flagship fine-arts organizations.
Friends of the Symphony has been sponsoring neighborhood parties to get the word out about the conductors and about the rare opportunity patrons will have to participate in the selection process.
Longtime symphony supporter and board member Susan McDuffie spearheaded Friends of the Symphony, as an adjunct to the board, to focus on enhancing the number of subscribers. The neighborhood parties are part of that initiative and have generated a renewed interest in the MSO because the information on the candidates and the upcoming season can be presented in a more intimate setting.
To read more about the final three candidates for MSO director/conductor, subscribe to Macon Magazine for home delivery or purchase the August/September issue at a local store.
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