Symphony will
lose conductor
Wong in ’05
Maestro Samuel Wong, who helped return a troubled Honolulu Symphony to artistic credibility and audience appreciation, will step down after the next classical season, his ninth with the orchestra.
"It's time to shift my musical focus to the mainland and to Europe," Wong said yesterday just before departing for Hong Kong. "My priority is to spend more time with my family and do something big in science."
Wong, a licensed ophthalmologist, said he plans to work on an Institute of Music and Healing. He lives with his wife, violinist Hae-Young, and their two children, Ariana and Christopher, in New York City.
In a Star-Bulletin interview in March, Wong said he expected to renew his contract when it expires in 2005. Pressed on that comment yesterday, Wong said, "I can't really (address) that now."
"I do want to take a break from being a symphony musical director," he said. "I think the decision (for my leaving) was mutual.
"It's been a decade and it's time to move on. I have big things on the horizon."
The symphony's executive director, Steve Bloom, who told the orchestra of Wong's decision following Sunday night's concert, said he was surprised by Wong's decision.
Wong, however, said the decision was mutual and not initiated by him.
Wong had a tense relationship with the orchestra the last few years, which he had characterized as not uncommon for a conductor. Some orchestra members have described Wong as heavy-handed and intolerant. Wong declined to discuss the internal matters.
After Wong renewed his contract in 2002, for at least $140,000 annually, Bloom said that with the organization's "new era of ... (financial) stability and artistic vision ... retaining our artistic leader was our most important priority."
Asked if he would take a musical directorship with another orchestra, Wong said, "I can't say."
"I will do something very big in science and healing, but right now I can't elaborate."
At the end of next season, Wong will become the Honolulu Symphony's Conductor Laureate for 2005-06, which honors his contributions to the organization and the community, Bloom said.
Wong said he expects to be a guest conductor for three weeks of concerts with "a good presence until 2007."
The symphony is organizing a musical director selection committee that will include Bloom, up to three musicians and a symphony board member. The selection process could take as long as two years, which means the symphony may go without a musical director for the 2005-06 season.
Wong was hired by former symphony director Michael Tiknis beginning with the 1996-1997 season. During his tenure, Wong brought some of classical music's greatest stars to Honolulu, such as Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Deborah Voigt, Andre Watts and Midori, and led the Honolulu Symphony in its first mainland concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 1997.
Wong's "East Meets West" series explored the influences of Eastern and Western classical music, celebrating Hawaii's cultural roots, and brought Japanese taiko, Korean samulnori, Chinese bamboo flute and Chinese pipa (lute) to the stage.
To share his belief in music's power to heal, Wong performed at the Queen's Medical Center, played in nursing homes, spoke at the Alzheimer's Society and at Central Union Church, and led discussions with the University of Hawaii at Manoa's medical school faculty and students.
"In these most wonderful years (Hawaii has) filled me with goodness and aloha, and your applause will ring in my ear for a very long time," Wong said in a news release.