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Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Receives Anton Seidl Award from Wagner Society of NY
NEW YORK -- The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra received the Anton Seidl Award from the Wagner Society of New York Friday night, in a private presentation in midtown Manhattan. David Chan, one of two Met concertmasters, accepted the large scroll from Nathalie D. Wagner, WSNY president.
Many of the players attended the event, at which Peter Gelb, Met general manager, praised "the best opera orchestra in the world," noting that would be true "even if we were in (union) negotiations," which they are not. Gelb said some Wagnerians considered him "more dangerous than Alberich," first thief of the golden ring in Wagner's Ring cycle, but added, "My Wagnerian intentions are benign."
Chan, minus the fez he wore recently onstage for the Met's "Giulio Cesare", said Wagner nights offer the orchestra many opportunities to represent the "emotional undercurrents" of singers as they gaze seemingly endlessly into each other's eyes.
Robert Sirinek received special recognition for his service; he joined the orchestra as a trumpet player in 1977, and became orchestra manager in 1986.
The award, given in the Richard Wagner bicentennial year, recognizes the orchestra’s enormous contribution to the presentation of Wagner’s operas at the Met, is named in honor of Anton Seidl, who conducted the premieres of most Wagner operas at the Met and in Philadelphia and was New York's leading symphonic conductor before his death here in 1898.
Inaugurated in 1997, the Anton Seidl Award is given to those who have made major contributions to the performance and appreciation of Wagner's works in the U.S. An occasional award, it was given first to conductor James Levine (Met music director), followed by Birgit Nilsson and Jon Vickers, James Morris, Speight Jenkins (director of the Seattle Opera), Otto Schenk and Günther Schneider-Siemssen (director and designer respectively of the 1986-2009 Met Ring production), and, in 2010, Plácido Domingo.
"We appreciate the Wagner Society's choosing us for this prestigious award," said Sirinek. "We are honored to offer this accolade to the Met Orchestra, whose magnificent performances of Wagner’s works over the decades have meant so much to many thousands of Wagnerians around the world," said Nathalie Wagner, WSNY president. Now in its 35th year, the WSNY is the largest Wagner Society in North America.
Chan, minus the fez he wore recently onstage for the Met's "Giulio Cesare", said Wagner nights offer the orchestra many opportunities to represent the "emotional undercurrents" of singers as they gaze seemingly endlessly into each other's eyes.
Robert Sirinek received special recognition for his service; he joined the orchestra as a trumpet player in 1977, and became orchestra manager in 1986.
The award, given in the Richard Wagner bicentennial year, recognizes the orchestra’s enormous contribution to the presentation of Wagner’s operas at the Met, is named in honor of Anton Seidl, who conducted the premieres of most Wagner operas at the Met and in Philadelphia and was New York's leading symphonic conductor before his death here in 1898.
Inaugurated in 1997, the Anton Seidl Award is given to those who have made major contributions to the performance and appreciation of Wagner's works in the U.S. An occasional award, it was given first to conductor James Levine (Met music director), followed by Birgit Nilsson and Jon Vickers, James Morris, Speight Jenkins (director of the Seattle Opera), Otto Schenk and Günther Schneider-Siemssen (director and designer respectively of the 1986-2009 Met Ring production), and, in 2010, Plácido Domingo.
"We appreciate the Wagner Society's choosing us for this prestigious award," said Sirinek. "We are honored to offer this accolade to the Met Orchestra, whose magnificent performances of Wagner’s works over the decades have meant so much to many thousands of Wagnerians around the world," said Nathalie Wagner, WSNY president. Now in its 35th year, the WSNY is the largest Wagner Society in North America.
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