Symphony Orchestra names music director
The Memphis Symphony Orchestra announced March 25 that principal conductor Robert Moody has been hired as music director.
Moody, 49, who has been serving as conductor on an interim basis since October 2015, has signed a six-year contract to serve as the MSO’s fifth music director, starting with the 2017-18 season. Symphony board chairwoman Gayle Rose announced the hire onstage during March 25’s “Orchestral Fireworks!” Masterworks concert at The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.
Elevating Moody to the orchestra’s top artistic position for six years — a relatively long term for a music director — caps the Greenville, S.C., native’s long association with the Memphis Symphony that dates to a guest-conducting gig at the Elvis Presley birthday pops concert in 2005. Over the next 10 years, he guest conducted concerts in formats from classical to chamber to pops, and after his predecessor, Mei-Ann Chen, announced in 2015 that she was leaving, Moody was the popular choice among the musicians to take over.
“The chemistry was clearly phenomenal,” Moody said in an interview March 24, ahead of the March 25 public announcement.
The hire also represents another step in the symphony’s strategic regrouping in the wake of financial problems that led to significant cuts to musicians’ compensation in 2014.
“Having Moody for six years as we execute our six-year business plan, which takes us into the black within that time frame, is critical,” said George Monger, the symphony’s chief operating officer, “because he’s led from an artistic perspective two other symphonies into the black in Winston-Salem (North Carolina) and Portland (Maine). He understands asset or service utilization perhaps more than any artistic or music director that we could look for at this time.”
While the symphony’s board had planned to conduct an extensive search for a new music director while Moody provided artistic stability in the interim, the musicians once again prevailed upon the board to choose Moody.
“As the process unfolded, it became clear that there was a strong consensus, that we should move forward,” said Robert Patterson, a French horn player who serves as chairman of the orchestra’s musicians committee.
“We definitely needed some stability in our organization. We’ve been in-between with leadership for a long time, so it was important to make a move, and he felt like a really good fit.”
Patterson also said Moody understands how to connect and engage with the community.
“I think he gets it, being from the South — he’s going to be able to key in to what makes Memphis, Memphis.”
Moody, who is giving up his duties with the Winston-Salem Symphony and the Portland Symphony Orchestra, said he was pleased to have the confidence of the musicians.
“I want to be the strongest champion for this orchestra and to see the players get the recognition for the true rock stars that they are,” he said. “They’ve sacrificed so much, and we’re going to honor that by working like crazy to see this orchestra be one of the best success stories for 21st century American orchestras.”
Monger said Moody has a knack for increasing revenue-generating programming without requiring additional rehearsals for which musicians must be paid with no financial return to the symphony.
“People (in the community) think the model cannot work because we have a union contract,” Monger said. “The union contract is not the problem. People wanting fair pay for their labor is not the problem. It’s what we do with the services we buy from them.”
Moody explained how his commitment to match “artistic growth and financial strength” will play out:
» More pops concerts, four each season, including a “Tribute to Prince” set for April 21, 2018. “These really fell by the wayside during tough financial times,” Moody said.
» Doubling up The Paul & Linnea Bret Classic Accents Series of chamber concerts for smaller orchestra. These shows now take place Sunday afternoons at the Germantown Performing Arts Center; the coming season adds Saturday night performances at the Harris Concert Hall at the University of Memphis’ Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music.
» More roadshows taking the symphony to communities throughout the Mid-South. “We want to make our presence known in the region,” Moody said. “It has a history, and I want to see us work to up that relationship.”
Moody said he also has been meeting with U of M music faculty to work out how to build up the two institutions’ partnership, announced last year, as “The Memphis Symphony Orchestra in Residence at the University of Memphis.”
“This is unique in America,” he said, “and we are aware of that and working to make sure it has strong practical benefits.”
Monger said symphony management and the board agreed with the musicians’ assessment that Moody is the right choice at the right time.
“He has the artistic excellence and vision for our symphony,” Monger said. “We thought, ‘Will he do a long term deal?’ Now the pieces of our business are coming together.”