Day 1

Posted by Joey Young:

So I arrived in Chicago on Sunday night and spent my first day already learning great ideas!!

WHY SO EARLY??

The league conducting fellows arrived a bit head of schedule to share our reflections from our current year. We all come from different orchestras, so it's great to hear about everyone's valuable experiences. We also had some very informative sessions throughout the day that included time with two conductors performing this week-Sir Mark Elder and Carlos Kalmar. They shared their insights on career building as well how music directors create and maintain an orchestra's artistic vision. Sir Elder brought an interesting perspective to the table being the music director of a British orchestra (Halle Orchestra). As we all are thinking about the current financial crisis he shared the perception of the problems in Britain. And Carlos Kalmar shared with us his unique artistic prospective between his two orchestras (Grant Park and Oregon Symphony).

They both brought interesting discussions to the table but I'm sure this week will be full of many more. Tuesday begins the Orchestra Leadership Academy and I will be attending Pops and Special Programs-the Next Generation. See ya there!! Oh and if you haven't arrived yet, the weather feels great in Chicago so far.