Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra seeks new conductor

Five finalists, five concerts, five auditions. The Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra is hosting tryouts to find its next maestro. 
The winner will take the place of Maestro John Giordano, who served 12 years with the CCSO. After Giordano’s retirement last season, a newly formed search committee went looking for a fitting replacement. Led by Scott Elliff, retired Corpus Christi Independent School District superintendent, the committee includes board members, community leaders and musicians. 
The CCSO received 144 applications from as far away as Russia, Argentina and Israel. Finalists were vetted based on a long list of guidelines from the American League of Orchestras, the premier organization for professional orchestral music in North America.
The search is not just about choosing a great musician; it’s also about choosing a community leader, said Lynn Haueter, the orchestra’s executive director.
“In Corpus Christi, we want someone who wants to be involved in the community,” Haueter said. “We feel that a symphony orchestra is and should be a cornerstone of performing arts in a community. We want someone who shares that vision with us.”
Each conductor prepares a concert to impress the CCSO and the Corpus Christi community. Members of the symphony are given the material to prepare in advance. The week of the audition, the conductor spends four days in back-to-back rehearsals with the orchestra, tweaking the performance and getting to know the musicians.
“The conductors were asked to prepare a concert of music they selected to perform in order to give us a taste of their style and direction,” CCSO marketing director Madeline Schmidt said. “They each chose a program that would speak to how they would want our orchestra to sound. Each applicant is quite different and exciting.”
At the end of each concert, a survey is handed out to attendees, musicians and board members. Musicians get their own unique and extensive survey with questions about the rehearsal time and leadership of the conductor.
“Each part of our organization and community has the opportunity to provide feedback in the choice of our next conductor,” Schmidt said. “We are encouraging the community to get involved so that we can be sure that who we select, the community knows. The goal obviously is to get as much of the community involved as possible, especially the arts and culture organizations.”

TWO DOWN, THREE TO GO

Maestros Aram Demirjian and Robert Franz performed in October and November, respectively. Maestros Akiko Fujimoto will perform Feb. 18, Hector Guzman on March 11 and Richard Buckley on April 8.
Franz worked with the Art Museum of South Texas, which was presenting a special exhibit on Dorothy Hood. He conducted “Amerindia,” a ballet by Hood’s husband, Bolivian conductor José María Velasco Maidana. He is currently associate conductor of the Houston Symphony.
Demirjian conducted pieces from Mozart, Barber, Falla and Tchaikovsky. He is currently the music director designate of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. 
In February, the CCSO will be collaborating with the Texas State Museum of Asian Cultures to hold a reception for finalist Maestro Akiko Fujimoto, associate conductor of the San Antonio Symphony. She will be conducting performances of works by Márquez, Beethoven and Dvorak. 
Guzman, who is music director of the Plano Symphony Orchestra, the Irving Symphony and the San Angelo Symphony, will conduct music from the movies “Avatar,” “Gravity” and “Lord of the Rings” as well as pieces by Moncayo and Tchaikovsky. 
The real work in choosing a conductor begins after the last notes die out on Buckley’s presentation of Kodály, Copland and Shostakovich on April 18. Buckley is the conductor and artistic director for Austin Lyric Opera.
“All of the surveys will be pulled together after our very last candidate concert,” Haueter said. “The search committee will come together, assess all of that data and, ultimately, choose our next conductor.” 
See the conductors in action at the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s Performing Arts Center, 6300 Ocean Drive. Visit pac.tamucc.edu for information on parking, directions and more. Purchase tickets online at ccsymphony.org or by calling the box office at (361) 883-6683.