After nearly seven years leading The Philadelphia Orchestra through transformative growth, Matías Tarnopolsky is stepping into a new role as President and CEO of the New York Philharmonic. His tenure in Philadelphia leaves a legacy of innovation, collaboration and artistic excellence. Florian Riem catches up with him as he prepares to shape the future of America’s oldest symphony orchestra
As you prepare to leave Philadelphia after nearly seven years as President and CEO of The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Kimmel Center, what do you think you will miss most?
Living in Philadelphia and working for The Philadelphia Orchestra has been the honour and the gift of a lifetime. It’s been really unique, and I will greatly miss the friendships, the beautiful music-making and the musical culture in Philadelphia.
The partnership with Yannick Nézet-Séguin has been extraordinary and always inspiring, and we’ve done many things together: the merger of the orchestra with the Kimmel Center, the renaming of Marian Anderson Hall, the new approach to repertoire—we can look back at these achievements with great pride. Working across three buildings with this great orchestra at its heart is something I will really miss.
At the same time, I am so excited to be moving to the New York Philharmonic. There is a magnificent brand-new hall, an orchestra in fantastic shape, and you have the visionary Gustavo Dudamel coming in as Music Director in 2026. I decided to go there because the ingredients are there for the future, for an extraordinary success, and I really wanted to be part of shaping this future.
Similar to other American orchestras, the past years have not always been easy for the New York Philharmonic, and a dynamic and visionary leader is required to bring this huge organisation together. How would you characterise your leadership?
It’s a great privilege to work for these mighty arts organisations. But I think every company, every organisation, every situation requires different things from you. At the same time, there are certain values that just stay with you, they are about who you are rather than where you work.
It is really important to love your work—and I do. I love going to concerts, working with musicians and other artists. I love putting on concerts and thinking about how to structure a season. I believe in collaborating and listening, and imbuing everything with a sense of joy, ambition and passion.
What were the biggest issues you were facing with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and how did you succeed in solving them?
It’s been an incredible six-and-a-half years, but naturally it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Obviously, there were all kinds of challenges; the biggest, of course, was the Covid-19 pandemic. But the way we were able to navigate was through deep collaboration and simply working together. I think it’s very important that organisations like these are singing from the same song sheet, and I’ve really tried to develop a culture of collaboration, of celebrating the achievements rather than focusing on the difficulties. I try to remind everybody—musicians, board and staff—of what we achieve together, not of the problems we are facing.
You just came back from a very special eleven-day tour to China.
In 1973, under the direction of Eugene Ormandy, The Philadelphia Orchestra became the first American orchestra to perform in China. Since that historic visit more than 50 years ago, the orchestra has returned 13 times, most recently in 2019. But this trip was historic for a variety of reasons. Besides performing in Beijing and Tianjin, we visited two new cities that the orchestra had never been to before, Chengdu and Haikou, which is on Hainan Island. In fact, we were the first American orchestra to visit Hainan province. The tour was led by our Principal Guest Conductor, Marin Alsop, who conducted all nine concerts, featuring 26 pieces of repertoire, including a world premiere by Mason Bates.
In preparing the tour, we closely worked together with the US State Department and the US Embassy in Beijing, with Ambassador Nicholas Burns, who helped enormously and took part in many of our events. In addition to the main stage concerts, we focussed on education and community activities. For example, a side-by-side concert with the Chengdu Symphony Orchestra, or a pop-up chamber performance at the National Museum of China (Beijing) and at the Panda Research Center in Chengdu.
We enjoyed significant support from both countries: the Bank of China, the Ford Foundation and Hainan Airlines, which generously provided a Boeing 787 for our exclusive use throughout the tour. They picked us up in Philadelphia with all of our instruments and cargo, took us around China and brought us home.
A tour of these dimensions is really rather special, considering the current political and economic climate.
As a travelling symphony orchestra, we get a very limited view of life in China. But what we heard from people on both sides, including American and Chinese diplomats, was, “Please continue doing what you’re doing, because often it’s the only thing that works between our countries.”
It was the first tour of the orchestra led by Marin Alsop. How was she received in China?
Marin was a hero there. In Chengdu, we performed at an arena in front of 5,000 people, and it was simply incredible. It was our first international trip with her as our Principal Guest Conductor, and we were just thrilled to have her lead the tour.
It was the idea of the musicians and Yannick to invite her to be Principal Guest Conductor, and the relationship has been absolutely wonderful. I think she is a fantastic choice for the orchestra.
Back to New York. Looking at the list of music directors and principal conductors at the New York Philharmonic since 1842, there are 26 names: Mahler, Toscanini, Bernstein and many more—but not a single woman. Will this change in the future?
It has to. A commitment to diversity, equity, access and inclusivity is something very important to me, and if you look at my work with Yannick and the team in Philadelphia, we have made great strides. But as I mentioned before, there are certain values that stay with you no matter where you work.
One of the institutions that used the Covid timeout in a very productive way was Lincoln Center. The renovation of David Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic, was completed two years ahead of schedule in 2022.
It is a magnificent hall. It has excellent acoustics, and the orchestra sounds fantastic there. It also looks beautiful, and the overall audience experience is very good. With the renovation, they created a gem of a concert hall and I’m very excited to be working at David Geffen Hall.
How does it compare to the Kimmel Center?
I love the Kimmel Center. Rafael Viñoly’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is one of the great concert halls of the world as well.
What are your thoughts and plans for the next few years?
I am going to dedicate myself with all my heart to the world of the New York Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in order to ensure the orchestra’s place in the contemporary life and culture of New York. I can’t wait to embrace that challenge.
Your relationship with Gustavo goes back a long way. When did you first meet?
I think it was back in 2006, when I called him for the first time. He was in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the time. I was working at the New York Philharmonic, and my first business trip was to go and see him in Caracas, Venezuela. It was there that I invited him for his debut in New York. Even back then, it was absolutely clear that he was a musician of extraordinary breadth, passion, ability, curiosity, refinement and drama in his music-making. So my return to the Philharmonic now is really a full-circle moment, and I’m very, very excited that we are reuniting in New York.
Of course, we met many times over the years, but once we met in a coffee shop in midtown Manhattan. It must have been about 20 years ago, before he was appointed to the LA Philharmonic. At that time, I said to him, “You’ll be going to LA now, but please keep the New York Philharmonic in mind, too!”
I think Gustavo will be a burst of energy for New York City just at the perfect moment, and therefore, the chance to lead this great orchestra at this time is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
