The Philadelphia Orchestra will tour Europe in 2015, says the mayor of Philadelphia. On the face of it, this is well and great but hardly news. In the context of the orchestra's trials over the last decade though, it seems little short of a miracle.
Philly hardly has (or at least had) a reputation as the easiest orchestra to get along with, something not helped when they parted ways with former music director Christoph Eschenbach (now having a far happier time at the National Symphony Orchestra) amidst much acrimony. Then came a period of rebuilding under interim chief conductor Charles Dutoit, but a mooted European tour had to be scrapped for financial reasons and word of Dutoit's successes never really spread beyond the shores of America.
The lowest point was yet to come, however.
For all the excitement surrounding the announcement of the gifted young conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin as the new music director, there was dismay at the orchestra's declaration of bankruptcy. For the first time people started to contemplate that there might be an American music scene without the Philadephia Orchestra, one of its biggest names, in it.
Well, funding came back and the situation has been at least somewhat reversed. There have been no whispers lately that the orchestra might again collapse and the new arrival has been a sterling success. So this European tour, assuming the money is forthcoming (and, hey, they've got the mayor behind them) will be a lap of triumph. Not least for Nézet-Ségiun for whom the London leg will be a bit like a home visit, as he is chief guest conductor with the London Philharmonic and a frequent and popular guest there.
Give them a big hand, Europe. They deserve it.
