Ground finale for Perick, stuck overseas

Music director of the Charlotte Symphony will have to miss his own farewell shows.
By Stephen Brown
Charlotte Observer

The volcano-induced tangle in international air travel will force the Charlotte Symphony's Christof Perick to miss his own goodbye concerts.

Perick, who was to have bowed out this week with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, is stuck in Scotland, where he guest-conducted the Scottish National Orchestra a few days ago.

With the first rehearsal in Charlotte scheduled for Tuesday, he and the orchestra decided early Monday to turn to a substitute.

"Both Christof and I are just sick over this," said Jonathan Martin, the orchestra's executive director. "Obviously, we have a unique global situation."

Stefan Sanderling, music director of the Florida Orchestra, will step in. Sanderling guest-conducted the Charlotte Symphony in 2008 as one of the candidates to succeed Perick.

This week's performances of Beethoven's Ninth, which begin Thursday, were to have been Perick's last as the orchestra's music director. The same work, ending with the famous "Ode to Joy," was the music he led in his inaugural concerts in September 2001.

British conductor Christopher Warren-Green takes over this fall as the orchestra's leader.

The orchestra hasn't tackled the question of a new send-off for Perick.

"Obviously," Martin said, "we've got to find some way to celebrate his time with the orchestra."

With his new title of conductor laureate, Perick will return in March 2011 for a pair of concerts featuring music by Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner.