Symphony night
We had our second conductor candidate tonight, a man whose initials are FK. During the preconcert talk, I concluded that although I probably like him fine as a person, and he has a good sense of humor, he doesn't really have the extraverted communication skills that would make him very good at "community presence" - like Francesco is and like I believe the first candidate had been. He's naturally quieter, and his English is not fully fluent. The concertmaster, who hosts the preconcert talk, certainly treated him differently from the first candidate - she barely had anything to say about him and just asked the audience for questions. He was also being way too flattering about our orchestra, staff, city, etc. Maybe he was being sincere, but it didn't seem for the best. After listening to the concert, I have to say, too, that I wasn't all that happy with his interpretation of the first two movements of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony. Anyway, I wish him well but think he has long odds on getting this job.