The New York Philharmonic has a habit of summoning ex-leaders back into service. Deborah Borda did three separate stints as chief executive. Now Matias Tarnopolsky will take over as president and CEO on New Year’s Day, returning to an orchestra where he served as head of artistic planning nearly two decades ago. When Tarnopolsky arrived at Lincoln Center back then, he found an airmail envelope waiting for him — even then, an antiquated form of communication. The handwritten letter was from the composer, conductor, and sage of modern music Pierre Boulez, who had led the Philharmonic as music director for an electrifying but frustrating six years in the 1970s. “Shake strongly the programming of the NY Phil,” he advised. “Give them a little bit of adventure. It is not easy, you will see.” It wasn’t: Lorin Maazel was music director at the time, and his boundary pushing was scant.
The orchestral world has probably evolved more since Boulez penned that letter than it had in the previous 40 years. The definition of adventure has changed, and the appetite for it increased. There are more women onstage, on the podium, and in the programs. Musical organizations now double as educational institutions. And the Philharmonic, still getting used to its radically rebuilt Geffen Hall, is looking forward to some disruption from inside, as the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel gradually takes over the music director’s duties even before his tenure officially begins in 2026.
For Tarnopolsky, who is 54 and has been president and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2018, the move up I-95 is both a return and a major shift. “I saw this as a unique chance to bring together three fundamental elements: a great orchestra, a new hall, and an extraordinary artistic director,” he says. He and Dudamel go way back. “When I first worked for the New York Philharmonic, my first trip was to Caracas to meet Gustavo and invite him to make his debut with us,” he recalls. They bonded instantly over a common language — as the London-bred child of Argentinian parents, Tarnopolsky grew up speaking Spanish at home. They also share a musical sensibility. “Gustavo’s a voracious devourer of the new and interesting, and he’s always exploring,” Tarnopolsky says. Now, they can “shake strongly” together.
The new era comes after a rough year at the Philharmonic. The concert season got going last September as the players’ contract was about to expire. On opening night, musicians leafleted the audience in front of the hall and, backstage, were planning for a possible strike. Even more troubling was the fallout from a 2010 sexual-assault case that became public only when New York reported on it last spring. Long-interred resentments resurfaced, a new investigation was launched, and the two musicians accused of misconduct, Matthew Muckey and Liang Wang, were placed on leave — then sued the orchestra. The chief executive, Gary Ginstling, faced with a suddenly fractious institutional culture, abruptly quit last summer, just two years into his tenure. Borda temporarily unretired, but the Philharmonic suddenly seemed like an institution in crisis — not the most appealing look for an orchestra in search of a leader. The situation gave Tarnopolsky pause.
“It was important to me that these factors were more resolved before I could consider the position,” he says. He got his wish. The labor dispute ended with a new contract a few days after opening night, and Muckey and Wang were fired, though the lawsuits continue. “I feel like I start with a clean slate,” Tarnopolsky says. “Music is an innately collaborative process. My job is to be a collaborator and a listener, to make sure that we’ve established solid ethical and moral values, and to make people feel joyful about coming to work at an orchestra that’s important to people’s lives.”
Related
