NY Times thinks running an orchestra is a real job

I don’t know if the New York Times has done this kind of profile on an orchestra musician yet; we may need to be content to see one on an orchestra manager. At least they picked a good one to profile:

In early 1990, I got a call from the New York Philharmonic, which was looking for an executive director. I felt as if I had been named president of Harvard.
The orchestra was about to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 1992. To mark the cultural milestone, we initiated programs that were innovations at the time, such as rush-hour and Casual Saturday concerts. We also brought the budget into balance and enjoyed close to a decade of robust artistic and financial health.
One winter Sunday in 1997, I was sitting in my apartment, reading the newspaper, and saw an artist’s rendering of plans for a new concert hall for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, designed by Frank Gehry. I was stunned by its beauty and felt a surge of professional envy.
More than two years later, a search firm called and I was offered the job of executive vice president and managing director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I flew to Los Angeles and spent a day at Frank’s studio admiring the beauty of the models for the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I also met with Esa-Pekka Salonen, then the music director. Their artistry made an enormous impression on me.
I accepted the job and began on Jan. 1, 2000, the start of the millennium. I was promoted to president and C.E.O. in October 2003.