The Colorado Symphony Orchestra has taken two big blows to its artistic and administrative well-being, with recent back-to-back announcements that its two top leaders are leaving.
The main questions now are whether the orchestra will be able to find equivalent replacements — hardly a given — and whether it will continue its impressive rise, go into a holding pattern or, worse, slide backward.
Doug Adams, the orchestra’s president and chief executive since 2002, plans to depart in September to take the same job with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Music director Jeffrey Kahane will step down after the 2009-10 season.
The good news is that the two are not jumping off a sinking ship, as such closely timed announcements often signal. Indeed, the opposite is true; the CSO is prospering. That means the orchestra should be an attractive draw to potential replacements.
Under Kahane’s leadership, the orchestra has never sounded better, and participants at June’s national conference of the League of American Orchestras in Denver definitely took notice. A recent favorable review in The New York Times was a boon, as well.
The orchestra also has been in the black every year during Adams’ leadership — a major accomplishment during these troubled times for American orchestras — and attendance has increased during his tenure by more than 40 percent.
The bad news is that these key leaders are moving on just as the orchestra is poised to make an even bigger name for itself on the larger scene, potentially joining the likes of the Minnesota Orchestra or Seattle Symphony as a nationally important regional orchestra.
Concert hall overhaul
Making the timing even worse is that a $90 million overhaul of city-owned Boettcher Concert Hall is gaining steam, with the recent naming of an architect and acoustician. Because the symphony is the building’s primary tenant, it has been a pivotal partner in the process.
Adams has played an especially important role, working side by side with Jack Finlaw, director of Denver’s Division of Theatres and Arenas, and overseeing the symphony’s effort to raise $30 million in private funding.
An ideal successor would have experience dealing with a similar project elsewhere. But even then, it’s going to take that person months to become familiar with Boettcher and its distinctive needs and acquainted with all the players involved.
Aside from Boettcher, it will be very hard to find a leader who can match Adams’ skills and experience. That’s why the Dallas Symphony, where he worked as general manager in 1999-2002, made him an offer that he couldn’t refuse.
Adams has brought savvy, smarts and amiability to the job. In addition, he has paired his considerable business experience with love and surprising knowledge of classical music. It is an ideal and unfortunately rare combination of abilities.
The symphony board was able to identify Adams as the right candidate for the post in 2002 and successfully lured him to Denver. That certainly bodes well. Let’s hope it can repeat that feat. Much is riding on this selection.
In some ways, finding the right successor to Kahane could prove easier because of the rich pool of conducting talent and because he is not leaving for two years. That time cushion means the board can target its efforts now on replacing Adams and still have time for its conductor search.
When choosing a new music director, orchestras tend to go in a different direction from the type of podium leader they already have. Given that the Colorado Symphony has had two American-born conductors in a row, look for it to think more internationally this time around.
An obvious candidate right out of the gate is British conductor Douglas Boyd, 49, who in January was named the orchestra’s principal guest conductor. He was a big hit with audiences and musicians alike during his two appearances with the orchestra in 2006 and earlier this year.
In addition, Adams made it clear during an interview a few weeks ago that the orchestra will give serious consideration to talented up-and-comers. He cited the example of Gustavo Dudamel, the 27- year-old Venezuelan conductor who last year was named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Fitting the bill for foreign origin and youthfulness is Edward Gardner, another rising English conductor who has twice led the orchestra, making a splash both times. He was 33 at the time of his most recent Denver visit in January.
It’s easy, of course, to speculate about possible candidates. But no matter how suitable a conductor might appear to be, what really matters is how well he or she bonds with the orchestra, and such rapport can be hard to predict.
Kahane and the symphony have established an unusually strong chemistry, and that’s why, among many other reasons, he will be missed.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
