New maestro plans WSO’s future

By Tom Morrison

The new music director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra plans to improve relationships and create new ones to ensure a vital future for the organization.

Robert Franz was named the new conductor of the WSO Feb. 26 and officially takes the position July 1. He is also the music director of the Boise Philharmonic in Indiana and the associate conductor of the Houston Symphony.

The busy maestro said many orchestras in North America are going to have to reassess their business models because of economic conditions and the WSO will deal with this by focusing on relationships with other organizations and individuals.

“Specifically, in the education world, I see us really stepping it up and connecting with educators in a way that enables us to be a vital part of who they are and a vital part of the process,” said Franz.

The search for the new conductor began in spring 2011 after former WSO music director John Morris Russell announced he would be moving on. The list of candidates was originally over 150, then narrowed to 15, then eight. The final candidates were required to give a guest performance with the symphony, visit elementary schools, give lectures to music students at the University of Windsor and perform other tasks.

WSO board secretary Kathleen McCrone, who led the music director search committee, said one of the reasons Franz was chosen was his ability to relate to a variety of people.

“Robert did very well in every activity in which he was involved, from dealing with nine-year-old children to dealing with 90-year-old audience members and everybody in between,” McCrone said. “He also had very strong support from the musicians and from the members of the staff of the orchestra”

Franz was voted in unanimously by the 11-person search committee. He said he chose to take the position because of the connection he felt with the musicians and the strong relationship between the community and the musicians.

“It really was very evident at the concerts that you all loved the musicians and that the musicians feel super connected to you and that is really rare and extremely important and vital to the success of the organization,” said Franz.

Although he has taken this new position, he will not be resigning from his commitments in other cities. He will have homes in Windsor and Boise. Franz said his weekly blog about how people make connections with music will be linked to the social media of all the symphonies he works with so people in other cities will be reading about his experiences with the WSO. He will be conducting 11 weeks of the 2013-14 season.

Franz has a three-year renewable contract with the symphony and will lead the musicians for the first time as music director for three Toldo Pops performances from Sept. 27 to 29. He said Windsor should continue to support the Windsor Symphony.

“It’s about the place that music holds currently at the table to help develop the brains of young people,” said Franz. “I want to maximize that and do everything that we can to be able to be part of the process with our educator colleagues and really help develop these young minds.”