Musicians of the New York Philharmonics seem to be upset about Gilbert E. Kaplan, a wealthy businessmen, who recently conducted Mahler’s Second with them. Mr. Kaplan stands accused to be a talent-free conductor who only got to conduct the New York Philharmonics because he donated a lot of money to the orchestra. (see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/arts/music/18kapl.html?hp) Mr. Kaplan is not the first to raise eyebrows within the classical music community. Former Sony Chairman Norio Ohga, a classical music lover, received similar reactions when in 2000 he conducted the Berlin Philharmonics at the opening of the Sony Center in Berlin.
. Maybe the community of musicians could be placated a little bit by letting one of them manage a company rather than play in an orchestra or conduct it. After all, who knows – maybe conductors are as good as managers, as managers believe they might be as conductors. Thus, how about Maazel running General Motors?
