CARLOS KALMAR NAMED MUSIC DIRECTOR
Orchestra, board approve search committee recommendation by overwhelming majority;
Vienna’s Kalmar to assume music director position in 2003-2004
____________________________________________________________________________________

Portland, Ore.… Carlos Kalmar, the internationally acclaimed Music Director of Vienna’s Tonkünstlerorchester and Principal Conductor of Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, has been named the next Music Director of the Oregon Symphony, Board Chair-Elect Sue Keil announced today. Kalmar, who received rave reviews from the orchestra, the audience and the media during conducting appearances in October and February, was recommended by the Music Director Search Committee Wednesday and approved by an overwhelming majority of the orchestra and the Symphony’s board of directors today.

Kalmar will serve as Music Director Designate for the 2002-2003 season and will succeed James DePreist as the orchestra’s 10th Music Director beginning with the 2003-2004 season. DePreist, Music Director since 1980, will become Laureate Music Director at that time; a major tribute recognizing his transformational tenure will take place during the 2002-2003 season.

“We are thrilled with this most fantastic conclusion to our search,” said Symphony President Tony Woodcock, who led the Music Director Search Committee. “Carlos Kalmar is an exceptionally gifted conductor working on the international scene with orchestras in Europe and with some of the finest U.S. orchestras. He’s a great orchestral builder and will be a dynamic force in this community. Carlos represents the finest of the central European tradition but also holds a keen interest in and passion for American music.”

Born in Uruguay in 1958 of Austrian parents, Kalmar has served as music director of the Hamburg Symphony, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau, Germany.

Woodcock credited Kalmar’s appointment, in part, to the flexibility the search was afforded by DePreist’s May 2 offer to change his role prior to his 2005 contract expiration if the orchestra selected his successor.

“Jimmy’s generous offer allowed the search to accelerate in the manner necessary to secure the best possible candidate,” said Woodcock. “As we knew that many of our candidates were sought by other orchestras, we recognized the need to move quickly."

“I am deeply grateful to everyone on the Search Committee,” said Woodcock, “in particular the musicians, for the effort and vision which have made this appointment possible.” The members of the search committee are: Joe Berger, French horn; Mary Ann Coggins Kaza, violin; Niel DePonte, percussion; Mark Eubanks, bassoon; Kathryn Gray, violin; Charles Noble, viola; Brian Quincey, viola; Lynn Loacker, immediate past board chair; Mary Tooze, Foundation board member; Charles Calmer, artistic administrator; Mary Crist, general manager; Sandra Snyder, marketing director for audience development; and Woodcock.

“Kalmar is a tremendously exciting presence on the podium,” said Noble, Assistant Principal Viola. “The orchestra sits up on the edge of their seats when he’s here. He brings an unusual combination of élan and intensity, with an elasticity of tempo. He will bring a wonderful Viennese tradition to the traditional Germanic and Central European repertoire, which is great, but he’ll also bring a remarkable breadth of repertoire which includes many works by contemporary American composers — which is quite unusual for a European-trained conductor,” he added. “Kalmar will bring vitality and excitement to our performances and guide the orchestra into a new era of artistic growth, carrying on from the remarkable progress brought about by Maestro DePreist.”

Joe Berger, Associate Principal Horn, added: “While I am feeling a great deal of sadness about the inevitable departure of James DePreist as music director, I am also energized by the fact that the orchestra has chosen such a brilliant musician as his successor. Maestro Kalmar was the clear choice of the audience, the search committee and (in many ways most importantly) the orchestra. I’m very proud to know that we have taken such a bold step,” said Berger. “I believe that this choice will not only ensure our future but will lead to meaningful artistic and economic growth for the organization.”

Kalmar’s international conducting appearances, for both symphony and opera, have included the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the National Orchestra of Spain, the Cincinnati Symphony, the ORT Orchestra of Florence, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the Hamburg State Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera, the Detroit Symphony and the Zurich Opera House, among others.

John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune writes of Kalmar: “…Kalmar impressed as a sensitive, probing and communicative young conductor the orchestra world should be paying serious attention to-and undoubtedly will before long.” Words that international critics have used to describe Kalmar include: “skillfully guiding” and “buoyant” (Chicago Tribune); “grit and propulsion” and “positively liberated” (New York Post); “stylistic feeling” and “musical fire” (Opernglas); “gutsy and precise” (The Cincinnati Post); “graceful” and “intensely propulsive” (The Oregonian); “athletically vigorous” (The Indianapolis Star); “genteel and heady” (The Cincinnati Enquirer); and “crystal clear and transparent” (Opernwelt).

Kalmar began studying violin at age six and by age 15, his musical development led him to the Vienna Academy of Music where he studied conducting with Karl Österreicher. His wife, Britta, is a chemist and teacher; they have two daughters, Svenja (12) and Katja (14), and currently reside in Vienna. Kalmar plans to establish a residence in Portland.

The Music Director Search Committee was created in 1999 following DePreist’s announcement that he would not renew his contract when it expired in 2005. Musicians were purposely established as majority shareholders on the committee, said Woodcock. The Search Committee invited the Orchestra to submit names and recommendations of conductors, and the result was a long list of 72 conductors. Names varied from well-known celebrities to lesser-known but talented conductors, he said.

“This list was very diligently worked upon,” said Woodcock, “with many calls to orchestra musicians and managers by the Search Committee members, until we arrived at a shortlist of 12 conductors who would work with the Oregon Symphony over the seasons 2000/01 and 2001/02. Three finalists were identified by the committee this season.”