An announcement from Michael Seal, the associate conductor and sub-principal second violin for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He's quitting professional violin playing to devote himself full-time to the podium.
This might not in itself seem like huge news. But to baton-watchers, it could be significant. Seal has been associate to CBSO chief Andris Nelsons and deputized on several occasions when his increasingly-famous boss has been ailing. Each time he had a great success and is seen somewhat as the one-day guy in the CBSO ranks.
Well, that day could be moving closer now. Says Seal in his Flipping Batons blog (flippingbatons.blogspot.com), "Quite simply put, it is something I have to do! Conducting is my passion and it is what I see myself doing for the rest of my life. Nothing makes me feel happier and more alive than conducting orchestras and I want to do it 100 per cent of the time.
"It must be said that my whole outlook on conducting has been influenced greatly by my time in the Second Violins of the CBSO. I first started playing with them in July 1991 and since then I have sat in every seat within that section, played virtually every piece of standard repertoire, under literally hundreds of conductors in countless different acoustics. I draw on all of that experience almost daily as a conductor and use it to my advantage, wherever possible. There is no conducting course or class available that can begin to replicate 20 years experience within a professional violin section."
He goes on to pay tribute to conductors he has learnt from by playing under them, such as Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo, Nelsons, Pierre Boulez and Valery Gergiev. And he rather winningly points out that he has learnt as least as much from the bad conductors, in terms of 'what not to do!'
Now that Seal is full-time, his rise is likely to be worth watching. More power to his baton.
