When the Boston Symphony Orchestra announced it would not renew the contract of music director and conductor Andris Nelsons, Seth Mascolo was dumbstruck.
“My reaction was, this cannot be. I cannot be reading this,” said Mascolo, a dedicated BSO fan who briefly worked as an usher at Symphony Hall. “Like it didn’t make sense.”
Mascolo added that he feels “Nelsons saved the BSO,” coming in more than a decade ago on the heels of James Levine, the now deceased conductor who was disgraced by allegations of sexual misconduct.
Likewise, Bettina A. Norton, a BSO concert attendee since 1944, said she got the email on Friday afternoon.
“I was stunned,” said Norton, a subscriber with her spouse since 1960. “My feeling is that classical music is in trouble, and it has much more to do beyond the BSO. And this isn’t helping any.”
On Friday, the BSO sent out a letter saying it would part ways with Nelson after end of the summer Tanglewood season in 2027. The board of trustees, along with BSO president and CEO Chad Smith, said they were grateful for Nelsons’ 13 years of service, but that the “BSO and Nelsons were not aligned on future vision.”
In a letter to colleagues and friends, Nelsons wrote that said he did not anticipate the decision, but he aims to fulfill his responsibilities.
“The music we have made together, your artistry, trust, commitment, respect and generosity, have been extraordinary and irreplaceable gifts to me,” Nelsons said.
The native of Latvia made his BSO debut in 2011, when he was 32 years old, and had been the orchestra’s permanent music director since 2014.
BSO musicians came out in support of Nelsons in a comment on their Facebook page, saying “We strongly oppose the decision by the Board of Trustees to end the appointment of Maestro Nelsons.”
The drama and discussions among fans, symphony patrons and others in recent days have played out like a symphony, with contrasting tempos and emotional intensity.
Norton, a Beacon Hill resident and an editorial contributor to the online blog, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, said that in less than four days, there were 3,000 views and comments about Nelsons’ dismissal.
A lot has changed at the BSO since its popularity under the direction of Charles Munch from 1949 to 1962, and more recently, Seiji Ozawa’s 29-year conducting reign that ended in 2002.
High ticket prices, COVID and Nelsons’ traveling schedule have been speculated to be possible reasons for his dismissal. Nelsons was on tour with the Vienna Philharmonic with scheduled performances in Washington D.C. when he learned he was being forced out.
“I don’t see any reason for canceling his contract. I do think that there ought to be some sort of limitation (to his guest conducting roles). I think he’s spread himself too thin,” said Norton.
Robert Dennis, former curator of recordings and collections at Harvard University’s Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, said he’s attended the BSO concerts for 60 consecutive years and heard “upwards of 600 BSO performances.”
In an email to GBH, he wrote, “the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s legacy is one of the richest of its kind, and Maestro Nelsons has shown himself to be a meticulous caretaker, which is why it is so difficult to understand why his tenure is seeing such an untimely end ... I am deeply saddened by all of this.”
Not everyone was a fan of Nelsons, however. Sean Park, a 36-year old Chicago transplant to Boston, said he was underwhelmed by Nelsons’ conducting.
“The role of an artist is to take risks and put oneself in a vulnerable position to convey novel ideas and forms of expression,” Park said. “Nelsons doesn’t risk anything by taking the traditional conservative road. He is a generalist who could make a B-tier orchestra soar to new heights, but when paired with orchestras like the BSO, the result is a resounding disappointment.”
Parks continued, “whether the BSO continues with traditional programming or moves in a different direction, my opinion is that Nelsons should not be in either picture. We need an innovator, a risk-taker, a flash of inspiration that can lift the BSO back into the spotlight.”
The BSO has not named Nelsons’ successor.
CRB Classical 99.5, which is a part of GBH, is the radio broadcast partner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
