Santa Rosa Symphony Hires Frenchman To Be New Conductor

Orchestra's Choice For Fourth Music Director In Its 78-Year History Was Final Candidate To Try Out For Post

by Diane Peterson
The Press Democrat, March 17, 2006

SANTA ROSAöAfter a two-year search, the Santa Rosa Symphony's board of directors has named Bruno Ferrandis to succeed Jeffrey Kahane as conductor. The 45-year-old Frenchman will be just the fourth music director in the orchestra's 78-year history.

The 10-member search committee unanimously recommended Ferrandis, who tried out last month as the final candidate for the post.

"You might say we saved the best for last," Board President AnneBenedetti said. "I believe he will further our vision of being one of America's leading regional symphony orchestras, especially as we move into a world-class concert hall," the future Green Music Center on the Sonoma State University campus.

Ferrandis, who has a master's degree in conducting from Juilliard and lived in New York for 10 years, signed a three-year contract Monday. His salary was not disclosed.

Kahane, who also performed regularly as a piano soloist with the symphony, was paid $127,500 for his work during the fiscal year 2004-2005, according to the nonprofit tax-return database GuideStar.org.

Reached by phone Thursday at his home in Paris, Ferrandis said he was thrilled to get the conducting job, which takes effect during the orchestra's 2006-2007 season. Although he has guest conducted all over the world for 20 years, he has never led his own orchestra.

"I feel terrific, and at the same time, it's a mountain before me," Ferrandis said. "To be a music director, it's a very different view."

Due to scheduling conflicts, Ferrandis will only be able to conduct three concert sets during the 2006-2007 season. For the two subsequent seasons, he will lead six of the seven concert sets.

Ferrandis plans to move to the Bay Area in September 2007 with his partner and young child. He will continue to guest conduct opera, ballet and orchestras in Europe and America.

For the search committee and local symphony supporters, Ferrandis' willingness to move to California was considered key to his appointment. "It's a major change that bodes well for his level of excitement and commitment to working with us," said Alan Silow, the symphony's executive director.

Symphony concertmaster Joe Edelberg said Ferrandis was the first-place preference of a majority of orchestra musicians, who responded to his clear and compelling conducting style as well as to his collegial spirit.

"He really knows his way around the podium and his way around an orchestra, so he's starting at a very high level," Edelberg said. "He's relatively young and a rising star, in a sense, but has really vast experience."

Ferrandis was chosen over five other top musicians: Federico Cortese of New York; Christoph Campestrini of Vienna; Steven Smith of Santa Fe, N.M.; Paul Polivnick of Clearwater, Fla.; and David Amado of Wilmington, Del.

Ferrandis plans to program a broad repertoire, starting with the classical composers. "Haydn and Mozart are composers whose music disciplines my own style and the style of the orchestra," he said. "If you play it well, you have a good chance of playing the rest well."

He also hopes to deepen the orchestra's regional identity in order to make it better known to the world. "It's like the wine," he said. "The more you work on your own image ... the easier it is to sell it away from there."