It’s Goodbye, Without Any Regrets

Willem Wijnbergen, former managing director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has a new job, effective Sept. 1: He will take over as executive vice president and managing director of the summer Carmel Bach Festival, a 64-year-old, three-week celebration that includes concerts, lectures and educational activities in various historic venues in Carmel-by-the-Sea on the Central California coast.

And, two years after his controversial departure from the Philharmonic, Wijnbergen says the problem was fit: He wanted change, the organization did not.

In 1998, Wijnbergen, a native of Holland, left a prestigious post as managing director of Amsterdam’s venerable Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to take the reins of the Philharmonic from Ernest Fleischmann, who had held the post for 28 years.

At the time, Wijnbergen, 42, waxed enthusiastic about breaking free of European tradition to join a young orchestra, with a young music director (Esa-Pekka Salonen, now 43) in a young, cutting-edge city.

The arrangement lasted only 15 months. He was relieved of his duties in the summer of 1999 after sending a letter to the Philharmonic board citing concerns about “serious issues,” which have never been made public, and stating his intention to terminate his contract if those issues were not addressed. The Philharmonic accepted Wijnbergen’s letter as a resignation.

Citing legal concerns, neither Wijnbergen nor Philharmonic leadership has offered comment on the terms of his departure. Former New York Philharmonic manager Deborah Borda succeeded him in January 2000.

Since leaving the Philharmonic, Wijnbergen has kept a low profile. He has acted as a consultant to various music organizations and done volunteer work for the Dutch American Heritage Assn. He also served as a board member of Symphony in the Glen, and performed Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” as a piano soloist with the symphony in a June concert in Griffith Park.

Now, in his first press interview about the Philharmonic situation since his tenure there ended, Wijnbergen calls his time with the Phil a case of “landing in the right place, but at the wrong organization. I used to think that my Amsterdam Concertgebouw environment was conservative, but now it seems wildly rebellious and adventurous compared to what I have observed here.

“I came to L.A. sort of with a mission: to build audiences against all odds through creativity, innovation, programming and communication,” Wijnbergen continued. “Based on the little I knew about the situation here, I had convinced myself that L.A. would be the perfect place to reverse the trends and develop something new also by mobilizing the underutilized creative capacity of the entertainment world here.

“The creative forces are definitely here for artistic and audience renewal, despite the obstacles with regards to the performing arts. The main problem seems to lie in old-fashioned leadership mentality combined with typical big institution entrenchment, notoriously hard to eradicate.”

Bruno Weil, 51, music director of the Carmel Bach Festival, said the situation surrounding Wijnbergen’s departure from the Philharmonic was of no concern to him when Wijnbergen approached the organization about succeeding former manager Barry Bonifas, who left the festival a year ago.

“For me, as a music director, it’s important that he’s a musician , besides his fantastic experience of managing orchestras and events,” Weil said. “I could talk to him about music, I could talk to him about the Matthew Passion, and he knew exactly what my concerns and my needs were. It’s an ideal situation for me.” The pair also share an educational connection: both Weil and Wijnbergen studied in Vienna with legendary conducting teacher Hans Swarowsky.

Aside from his specific feelings about the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wijnbergen believes that concentrated events like the Carmel Bach Festival, rather than traditional symphony seasons, are the wave of the future for classical music and the other performing arts. “I don’t believe in the spread-out seasons the way they are right now, because they are very repetitive,” he said. “The costs go up, and the offerings remain the same. At this point, I am more interested in trying to find new opportunities for new products for new audiences, so they will come back.”

Wijnbergen said it is “too early to go public” with his specific ideas for the Carmel Bach Festival, but said he has discussed new plans with the board and anticipates “substantial development” for the festival, which brings in talent from around the world. One of the first challenges, he said, is being involved in the planned renovation of Carmel’s Sunset Center, a city-owned building used for festival events along with such picturesque locations as the Carmel Mission Basilica.

Wijnbergen currently lives in Glendale with his wife, their 10-year-old twin daughters and 11-year-old son; a 22-year-old daughter lives in Amsterdam. The executive will move with his family to the Carmel Highlands, just outside Carmel, but says he plans to maintain his ties with Los Angeles through a think tank called LA-Radeus, a group he has formed with other professionals from the performing arts, entertainment, technology and academia, to explore “radically different event formats outside the traditional music temples.”

While he is excited about the future, Wijnbergen said he and his family have mixed feelings about leaving Los Angeles.

“I think California has been quite a discovery for me and my family, in terms of life, but also in terms of creative resources,” he said. “What developed here developed for its own reasons, and that’s fine too.

“I don’t regret coming, and I don’t regret leaving.”