Music or Artistic Director
Ffs...@cs.com
Officially, my title is Music Director. Almost everyone initially refers to
me as Artistic Director; even board members seem to prefer that title. So, I
wonder how you define the titles, and which you would give the director of a
very active organization which refers to itself as chorus, orchestra, and
chamber chorus?
Thanks.
Frances F. Slade
Music Director
Princeton Pro Musica
John Howell
I was just reading through the help-wanted ads for symphony orchestras in
The International Musician last evening, and I was struck by the variety of
titles used. So obviously there is no "official" terminology and you can
call yourself whatever you want!
The sense I got, however, is that "Music Director" in a number of cases is
a separate person from "Conductor." A number of ads listed one person as
"Music Director" and a second person as "Principal Guest Conductor." So in
those cases I would expect the Music Director to be in overall charge and
the Conductor to be in day-to-day control of events. There was at least
one that referred to a single person as "Music Director and Conductor."
"Artistic Director," in my limited experience, refers to someone who,
again, is not involved in day-to-day activities but who instead coordinates
the artistic work of other, equally-important specialists. This would not
seem to be an appropriate title for a musical organization, but rather for
an opera company, musical theater company, or ballet company where the need
is to coordinate the work of a Musica Director or Conductor, a Stage
Director, a Choreographer, a Stage Designer, a Costume Designer, a Lighting
Designer, and perhaps an Audio Designer. In this case the Artistic
Director would have final responsibility for what the audience sees and
hears, while the Producer would have responsibility for obtaining and
allocating funding.
You seem to imply that your organization includes chorus, orchestra, and
chamber chorus. If that is the case, Music Director would seem to be the
best descriptive title, and would allow for future expansion to more than
one conductor even if you are doing it all at the moment.
John
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:John....@vt.edu)
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
Jim Copland
Let me try to claifiy these titles by comparison. I direct two choirs. For one I
am music director and the other artistic director. In both cases it's a question
of what I'm responsible for. As music director, I'm responsible for choosing
repertoire, frequency of rehearsals, selecting members and accompanists, choosing
guest soloists or ensembles and choosing the conductor -- including choosing
myself (which is what these two particular groups expect me to do most of the
time). The "artistic director" includes all of the above plus responsibility for
lighting, programs and program notes and other "visual" stuff. I manage to
delegate the visual aspects to others who are better qualified, but the final
responsibility is mine. Hope this helps.
Jim Copland
L'Harmonie Vocale de Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec
Kevin Sutton
Ffs...@cs.com wrote:
> Dear List,
>
> Officially, my title is Music Director. Almost everyone initially refers to
> me as Artistic Director; even board members seem to prefer that title. So, I
> wonder how you define the titles, and which you would give the director of a
> very active organization which refers to itself as chorus, orchestra, and
> chamber chorus?
>
If you make the artistic decisions, such as personnel, repertoire etc. then you
are the artistic director. If you also stand on the podium, then I would suggest
using the title that I use for Helios, which is "artistic director and
conductor." Most chief conductors of major orchestras are called "music director"
or "music director and conductor" or words to that effect. It's really just a
matter of preference. In the case of a theatre or opera company, the artistic
director is usually in charge of the overall scope of the company, and will hire
singers, stage directors, conductors etc.
Kevin sutton
maes...@gte.net
Kevin Sutton
John Howell wrote:
>
>
> The sense I got, however, is that "Music Director" in a number of cases is
> a separate person from "Conductor." A number of ads listed one person as
> "Music Director" and a second person as "Principal Guest Conductor." So in
> those cases I would expect the Music Director to be in overall charge and
> the Conductor to be in day-to-day control of events. There was at least
> one that referred to a single person as "Music Director and Conductor."
>
The music director and the principal guest conductor are two different people. The
music director of an orchestra is the chief conductor. In the case of the Dallas
Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton is the music director and conductor, Claus Peter
Flor is the principle guest conductor.
>
> "Artistic Director," in my limited experience, refers to someone who,
> again, is not involved in day-to-day activities but who instead coordinates
> the artistic work of other, equally-important specialists. This would not
> seem to be an appropriate title for a musical organization, but rather for
> an opera company, musical theater company, or ballet company where the need
> is to coordinate the work of a Musica Director or Conductor, a Stage
> Director, a Choreographer, a Stage Designer, a Costume Designer, a Lighting
> Designer, and perhaps an Audio Designer. In this case the Artistic
> Director would have final responsibility for what the audience sees and
> hears, while the Producer would have responsibility for obtaining and
> allocating funding.
I agree with this for the most part, but I hold the title "Artistic Director and
Conductor" of The Helios Ensemble, because I serve both functions.
Kevin Sutton
maes...@gte.net
JEFF...@aol.com
writes:
<< Officially, my title is Music Director. Almost everyone initially refers
to
me as Artistic Director; even board members seem to prefer that title. So,
I
wonder how you define the titles, and which you would give the director of a
very active organization which refers to itself as chorus, orchestra, and
chamber chorus?
>>
An Artistic Director oversees all phases of performance production--
including lighting, set design, choreography, direction, selection of
material performed, working closely with the Executive Director on things
like budget, publicity, touring itinerary, venues, supervising office staff,
etc. It is largely an administrative position, since the AD in larger
organizations will hire many of these tasks out to other professionals. This
is not to say that the AD will not conduct or direct frequently during the
course of a season.
A Music Director and supervises all phases of musical production, including
programming (usually with the AD, if the two positions are divided),
rehearsing, scheduling, and performance.
A conductor leads performances and dress/final rehearsals. Most often the
conductor and the MD are the same person, although the positions are usually
split in the world of professional musical theatre. There is also a 'music
supervisor' who generally takes care of the details of musical production,
such as rights clearance, scheduling, liaison between the composer (if
living) and the production, although this position is rare outside of LA and
New York
Artistic Director is a title not usually used in organizations devoted to
strictly concert presentations (yes I'm aware Chanticleer has one) since
producing the music takes care of it. If your organization uses costumes,
lighting, scenes, movement, spoken dialogue, and you are responsible for all
those aspects, or at least hiring someone who will be, then you are an AD.
All that being said, the titles are fairly elastic, and some individuals call
themselves Artistic Directors when they do almost none of the described
duties and others who singlehandedly hold an organization together (answering
the phone, ordering music and office supplies, leading rehearsals , yadda
yadda) often call themselves simply 'the conductor.' In the end, as long as
your duties are spelled out in your contract and everyone is happy, it
doesn't matter if they call it "Larry."
In closing, in your case, "Artistic Director" might be appropriate given the
scope of your program, especially if you oversee other condcutors or
rehearsal leaders.
Jeffrey Jones-Ragona,
who is called "AD" by one organization and "MD" by another and still other
names by his students,
Austin TX
Richard C. Wall
person responsible for the entire artistic scope of an
organization (such as a theatre company, an opera
company, a conservatory. etc) and a Musical Director is
the person in charge of the music for any organization
which uses live music.