L.A.’s New Music Maker

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has a new managing director, Deborah Borda, and when she arrives next year she will be presented with both a big challenge and an excellent opportunity.

Borda’s credentials are first-rate. She is not only an accomplished musician, a violist, but also an extremely competent bottom-line administrator. Her management experience is vast, and the professional reputations of the institutions she has served are top-rank. In a more fundamental field, she has been hailed for her fund-raising abilities.

Yet the task ahead is not easy. The immediate challenge is the absence of the Philharmonic’s artistic director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, who will be on a sabbatical. To build a successful season in unknown territory, Borda will have to consult extensively with Salonen and deliver a carefully crafted plan for the Philharmonic next year. The circumstances require delivering to L.A. the best available guest conductors. Supporting her efforts will be an orchestra in excellent musical shape and great spirits.

Later comes the most exciting facet of her new job, the opening of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in the fall of 2002. Borda will have to work closely with Salonen on the inaugural season. We can look for a balanced musical program that visits the classics but continues with the sense of adventure that Salonen has brought to Los Angeles.

Attendance has been declining at both the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Hollywood Bowl. Borda should begin her tenure with programs that attract a range of music lovers to the Pavilion and the Hollywood Bowl until the much-anticipated opening of the Disney Hall.

Managing the Los Angeles Philharmonic may not be an easy task, but the rewards for the management and the audience are immense. Borda, one of two women currently managing major orchestras, deserves the city’s full support.