4 conductors will audition to become the leader of the Olympia Symphony Orchestra

Although the Olympia Symphony Orchestra’s musicians expect to spend much of next season sitting on the sidelines, symphony leadership is forging ahead with their search for a new music director.

They have whittled the search down to four finalists, an international group of celebrated conductors who will each lead an audition concert during the 2021-2022 season.

“Pretty much all orchestras are on hold for a year,” symphony executive director Jennifer Hermann told The Olympian. “There’s a global pause, and everybody is envisioning traditional concerts happening in the fall of 2021.”

The candidates — each from a different country — are:

• Alexandra Arrieche, who grew up in São Paulo, Brazil. Principal conductor of “Night of the Proms,” a European concert series that mixes popular and classical music, Arrieche has been labeled a “rock-star conductor.” She’s worked with such big names as Bryan Ferry, Alan Parsons, the Pointer Sisters, and Earth, Wind & Fire. She’s also the music director of the Henderson (Nevada) Symphony Orchestra.

• Adam Johnson, who grew up in Hinton, Alberta, Canada. He is best known for conducting the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in a hockey-themed variation on “O Fortuna” from “Carmina Burana” after the Calgary Flames defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs. He also has conducted the symphony orchestras of Montreal, Trois-Rivieres, Edmonton, Thunder Bay, Guelph, Saskatoon and McGill University, among others, and performed internationally as a pianist.

• Kelly Kuo, an Oregon native. Kuo is the artistic director of the Oregon Mozart Players, a chamber group, and has conducted such well-known opera companies as the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Seattle Opera. He is also a pianist and is the only pianist to have studied with two pupils of Vladimir Horowitz. Reviewing a concert he conducted as part of his audition to direct the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Janelle Gelfand described him as “a leader of exceptional musical gifts, who has a clear technique on the podium and an impressive rapport with audiences.”

• Zoe Zeniodi, who was born and raised in Athens, Greece. Zeniodi is the artistic director of the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Greece. She has conducted productions for well-known opera companies including Opera Southwest and Greek National Opera and has served as a guest conductor for all of the major Greek orchestras and at orchestras from Bogota to Tokyo. She started her musical career as a pianist and has performed in major concert halls internationally. (Find out more in a recent YouTube video.)

Although they won’t be seen in Olympia anytime soon, the candidates will be creating digital content throughout the year as part of the selection process, offering local classical music fans a chance to get to know them.

“This is an opportunity for us to do more with generating excitement about these candidates than we would be able to do if we were in a traditional process,” Hermann said. “We have all of next season to introduce these candidates to the community.”

The orchestra also has moved its annual gala fundraiser online. The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 22, with more details to be announced.

Hermann also is working on plans for other digital offerings, including live-streamed concerts that would feature small ensembles of the orchestra’s musicians.

The musicians have been rehearsing in small, consistent groups to limit the risk of exposure to the coronavirus. “They’ve become sort of musical families,” Hermann said.

Earlier this summer, the groups were doing small outdoor performances through the orchestra’s Big Music in Small Groups program, which has been paused in light of Gov. Jay Inslee’s recent restrictions on live entertainment.

In the meantime, those wishing to celebrate a special occasion with music can check out the symphony’s Musical Notes, recordings by soloists and small ensembles that can be delivered by email.

This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 5:45 AM.