Wanted: Music Director. Must Like Music.

By Kari Geltemeyer in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 21, 2005 7:08PM

We the people have been invited to a Chicago Symphony Orchestra town meeting Tuesday night to offer our input on the replacement for long-time music director Daniel Barenboim. You can join the official search committee at 5:30 in Buntrock Hall at Symphony Center for an update on their progress (Barenboim announced his departure a year ago, so we’ll assume it’s going, you know, s…l…o…w…l…y) and then share your personal likes/dislikes in an open-mic jam session. Afterwards, you’ll get the chance to chat up committee members and find out what they really think about that whole Paris Hilton Sidekick thing.

Barenboim, who’s served as music director since 1991, is scheduled to depart after the CSO’s 2005-06 season, which runs from Sept. 22 through June 17, 2006. The CSO presented its line-up last week as a year-long thank you of sorts, with performances of some of Barenboim’s favorite works and appearances by some of his favorite people (Lang Lang and Itzhak Perlman among them).

If you haven’t got the time to make a personal appearance on Tuesday, you can take the CSO’s online survey instead. According to the Tribune, “concertgoers already have sent hundreds of e-mails and letters expressing thoughts about who should succeed Daniel Barenboim.” We’ll just bet they have.

CSO Association Town Meeting
Buntrock Hall at Symphony Center
220 S. Michigan
Tuesday, Feb. 22
5:30 PM
FREE
Call (312) 294-3000 for more info

Photo from cso.org