I wasn't sure which forum this belonged in, forgive if I chose poorly. Does anyone know anything about this position? I heard there were some trials, the position was offered, and nothing more, thanks.
AFAIK there was an audition at the end of September. The committee wanted to hold an audition as they’ve been down 2 tenured members in the horn section but there is something in their bylaw either prevented them from holding another open audition within a certain timeframe (which would delay the audition and the section having to go on longer without stability) or “continue” an audition that ended in a no hire. What is lame is that they ran it as an invite only… from what I know it was screened throughout.
I do think that the committee just really wanted to bring stability to the section and hire a principal ASAP esp after Cooper waited to hear about tenure from LA and then ended up turning it down.
They've had a large rotating cast of guest principals, I would not read anything more into any of those appearances. They will almost certainly hold another publicly listed audition. They went through a very similar process when trying to hire for principal flute over the last couple seasons.
No updates - SFS has been bringing in a rotating cast of guests. SFS management has been trying to cut costs, so I expect they're trying to lowball Dave, but he's negotiating from enough of a position of strength that he can wait them out for a better offer. The hard deadline would probably be for him to start in the fall.
Two candidates have been offered trials without another public audition.
Apparently David Cooper has declined the position in San Francisco.
Any update on this? It seems like a really long time to spend on negotiations, but maybe that's normal?
David Cooper was offered the position.