Matias Tarnopolsky Named Director of Cal Performances
Matías Tarnopolsky at Zellerbach Hall. Photo by Kat Wade.
Cal Performances named a new director Wednesday to replace the highly respected Robert Cole, who will step down at the close of the 2008-09 season after 23 years. Cole will pass the baton to Matias Tarnopolsky, currently vice president of artistic planning for the New York Philharmonic. Tarnopolsky will take the helm on August 10 to lead the celebrated performing arts organization at the University of California-Berkeley, one of the largest and oldest in the U.S. Its origins hark back to 1906 when actress Sarah Bernhardt performed for earthquake refugees.
Since its inception, Cal Performances has attracted luminous figures in the arts – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cecilia Bartoli, Mark Morris, Yo-Yo Ma, Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch – from a variety of fields: chamber music, classical and modern dance, early music, opera, theater, jazz, and world music. Many of these relationships were forged by Cole during his tenure and his legacy will continue as programming for next season has already been set.
Tarnopolsky, 39, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the son of a concert pianist and doctor. He moved to London while still a toddler, attended King’s College London to earn degrees in music and launched his career as a producer for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers. In 1999, he moved to Chicago to become programming director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He went on to earn promotion to senior director of artistic planning, created the MusicNOW series and led collaborative projects with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and the University of Chicago. In 2006, he joined the New York Philharmonic as vice president of artistic planning.
Tarnopolsky credits The BBC Proms, an eight-week annual summer series of concerts in London, as inspiration for his career. “I remember sitting there at The Proms thinking this is what I want to do. I want to bring this to the community.”
He went on to outline his artistic vision. “The idea of the art center is one that is fundamental to me…We need to be a museum and a laboratory. A museum where we can come and see the great works of art exquisitely performed and beautifully explained, in front of a captivated, engaged, and informed audience and a laboratory where you see great creators come and try their new works, and you can see the best of the new in theater, opera, music, and dance. This is what I think makes art a pulsing, living, fundamental part of our society.”
Part of Tarnopolsky’s new responsibilities will include the commission of new artistic ventures. He may have given a hint to his tastes in programming when he told the crowd gathered in Zellerbach Hall to meet him, "I don't entirely buy that you can't be adventurous in times of financial stress. On the contrary, I think it forces you to be more adventurous."
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