From the New York Times: Is That in Your Job Description, Maestro?
For making news in the staid world of classical music, nothing topped Mr. Robertson’s unplanned New York debut as a singer during the symphony’s concert on Friday night at Zankel Hall, the first of two programs during this visit.
Stormy weather in the New York area on Friday afternoon delayed flights into La Guardia Airport for hours. Mr. Robertson and the St. Louis musicians did not touch down in New York until 6:08 p.m., a little more than two hours before the concert was to begin.
There was no time to check into the hotel, so most of the musicians played in street clothes. Not only that, H K Gruber, the Austrian composer, conductor and self-described chansonnier who was to perform the vocal solo of his own work, “Frankenstein!!,” the major work on the program, never made it.
Mr. Robertson, who had conducted this score many times but had never sung the vocal part, did some cramming backstage and performed the solo. Ward Stare, the orchestra’s able young resident conductor, took Mr. Robertson’s place on the podium.
Read on . . . it gets better.
