When a noted artist affiliated with a particular organization dies, it's standard practice for that organization to put on its website a page in tribute to that artist. In the case of orchestras, this situation would obviously apply to orchestra musicians, or past music directors/conductors. This past December 23, the 9th music director of the St. Louis Symphony from 1975 to 1979, Jerzy Semkow, died in Switzerland. You can find newspaper obits on Semkow from:
(a) St. Louis Post-Dispatch
(b) Detroit Free Press
However, as of this posting, if you go to the SLSO's own page......
......you will find nothing about this. Literally, nothing. In a way, it's kind of understandable, since Semkow died two days before Christmas, probably no one was in the office to put together a tribute page or issue a statement. Plus, the orchestra had concerts going on just after Xmas and on New Year's Eve to plan for. But it's been over 2.5 weeks, and still nothing from them, not even on their FB page. The only mention on the SLSO's FB page is a link from a rather self-promoting type's blog here.
If memory serves, I saw him 4 times as a returning guest with the SLSO. The first time was in 1998, which evidently was after a fairly long absence from St. Louis (need to dig up the program, I guess). He cut quite a figure on the podium, kind of like Captain Nemo, if that makes sense. What I particularly remember was at the close of the concert, after he took a bow with the orchestra remaining seated as a mark of affection for him, when he strode towards the woodwind section and specifically shook hands with then-principal clarinetist George Silfies and then-principal flute Jacob Berg, as they had big solos in the final work (Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini). Semkow did like to use a long baton, which Mark Stryker noted in his obit:
"..... there was a maestro mystique at work when he conducted. The effect was heightened by his regal countenance, all-white mane in later years and a quirky stick technique carried out with a frighteningly elongated baton that came perilously close to maiming the front-desk string players."
Another subsequent occasion of his return to St. Louis was the first concert that the SLSO gave in March 2005, after a long and bitter labor dispute where the musicians were locked out of Powell Hall for about 2 months. (As I heard one local joke, the SLSO had their financial crisis long before it became fashionable among American orchestras.) One quirk at the start of that concert, following the standing ovation that the audience gave the orchestra after the concertmaster walked on stage to tune the orchestra, was the long delay before Semkow appeared on the podium. This wasn't the first time, as Timothy Judd noted in his blog post:
"Audience members and musicians will remember Jerzy Semkow’s slightly eccentric and aristocratic stage presence. Following the orchestra’s tuning, minutes would often elapse before Semkow appeared onstage, wielding his enormously long baton."
Well, maybe not "minutes" here, but perhaps a full minute or so, which can feel like the plural when you're sitting in your seats, not moving, waiting for the music to start.
Sarah Bryan Miller in her article did note this about Semkow and St. Louis:
"He found, however, that he didn’t care for the position of music director in an American orchestra and decided he’d rather be based in Europe."
From the SLSO's
page on past music directors (this has been up for a while; again, not updated to reflect Semkow's passing), it says more or less the same thing in conclusion:
"Ultimately, Jerzy Semkow was never comfortable with the role of Music Director of a major American orchestra and felt more at home in Europe."
My guess is that Semkow probably didn't care for the glad-handing and fund-raising that a music director of an American orchestra needs to do.
I don't know when, if ever, the SLSO will rectify this omission about Jerzy Semkow. No one else seems to be raising a fuss, admittedly. Maybe David Robertson will mention something from the stage at the concerts next weekend, since a Polish work happens to be on the program, and Semkow was Polish. We shall see.
With that, time for the standard SNLC protocol, namely your loser stories for the week......