What I’ve Learned

As my second season as music director of the L . A . Philharmonic comes to a close, I thought it might be a good idea to do some retroactive thinking. I have learned a lot about mainly two things . The first thing is the much-publicized multicultural society which I knew of theoretically but not in practical terms. Now, I realize that this multicultural society is one of the most exciting things I can imagine, and at the same time it is also one of the most complex, difficult issues in the history of civilization. As head of a large arts organization I think that we need to react to the reality around ourselves and not do the usual arts organization thing--i.e., forget about the outside world. This is a constant source of stimulation, but also headaches. This is one of the most interesting things that has happened to me.

The other thing that is completely new for me is to lead an orchestra that does not have 95% government support for the arts. I grew up in Finland and my first years as a professional conductor I spent in Sweden where the arts enjoy the full support of the government. Then I came here and I realized that things were different. After a while, though, I realized that things weren’t that different . We have to rely on the support of the government in the United States, in a sense, since most of the gifts given to nonprofit organizations are tax deductible and in the end the government pays for the arts.

In a way the American system is more honest because as long as there’s a large enough group of people who want to keep the Phil alive, we’ll have the Philharmonic. It’s somehow fair play that if we manage to produce concerts and events that reach enough people we are in business and if we don’t we’re out of business.

I feel greatly encouraged after these two years. There is indeed a future for classical music in Southern California. There’s always been, but I didn’t know it.