Allen Gilbert will remain his post at NY Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic has extended the contract of its music director, Alan Gilbert, for three years, keeping him at the helm through at least the 2016-17 season, the orchestra said on Wednesday.

Mr. Gilbert, 45, is now in the fourth year of a five-year contract, so he will have led the orchestra for at least eight seasons after the new contract ends. His predecessor, Lorin Maazel, was in the job for seven seasons. Before that Kurt Masur held the baton for 11 seasons.

“There’s been a sense of inevitability for the renewal for some time now,” Mr. Gilbert said in a telephone interview. “I feel closer and closer to the musicians as time goes on. I just feel that the relationship is deepening and getting stronger. I’m thoroughly enjoying the work.”

The Philharmonic made a point to say that the extension, which was approved by the board, was one of the first official acts under its new executive director, Matthew VanBesien, 43, and that it heralded five years of beautiful togetherness for him and Mr. Gilbert. The emphasis on generational and attitudinal harmony was a reminder of the scarring from the fractious relationship in the 1990s between Mr. Masur and Deborah Borda, the executive director during his tenure, who left to run the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Mr. Gilbert said he felt the sense of a “fresh start” with the renewal. He said the five-year window allows the orchestra to move forward with new educational efforts; new “official partnerships and relationships,” including a project in China; an expansion of its new music series, Contact!; and a deeper connection of the orchestra to New York.

“It’s really nice to be working with Matthew,” Mr. Gilbert said. “We have a winning team here. I conduct a lot of the greatest orchestras in the world, and I can say the New York Philharmonic is playing as well as any of them, with a new enthusiasm.”

Mr. Gilbert was hailed, when his appointment was announced in 2007, as the first native-born New Yorker (and an Upper West Side native at that) to lead the orchestra, and one of few American-born maestros in the job. His mother is a violinist in the orchestra, and his father retired from that section.

Since taking over he has overseen several innovations and efforts: the creation of resident posts for performers and composers; the Contact! series; a project to perform and record the symphonies and concertos of Carl Nielsen; several weeks of performances dedicated to one composer (Brahms this year); and high-profile concert performances of big 20th-century works, including Ligeti’s “Grand Macabre” and Janacek’s “Cunning Little Vixen.”

Mr. Gilbert also solidified his New York musical presence by becoming director of conducting and orchestral studies at the Juilliard School last year.

The contract extension increases the likelihood that Mr. Gilbert will be in place if the orchestra and Lincoln Center agree on a renovation of Avery Fisher Hall, a laggard in the arts complex’s renewal efforts and long criticized for its acoustics.

The leader of the orchestra’s musicians’ representative committee, Fiona Simon, a violinist, said the players “feel pretty positive” about the extension, which she said they had expected. “There’s actually no one else in our lives at the moment,” she said. “The relationship is progressing. My hope and expectation is it will continue to progress and improve.”

(Content credit: New York Times)

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com