Women Conductors

What a sad and stinging indictment of our teenybopper-based pop culture--and The Times’ ability to pander to it--that singer George Michael is worth 96 column inches of copy while symphony conductor JoAnn Falletta gets a little more than half as much space.

Michael is obviously a thoughtful enough young fellow to realize he’s in velvet bondage, captive to the recording industry that’s done such a splendid job of savaging music. Best wishes for his escape.

JACK O’MARA

Irvine