FYI

   Salonen to London Philharmonia as Principal Conductor
   By Martin Kettle
   The Guardian
   November 17, 2006
   
   LONDON -- Esa-Pekka Salonen is to succeed Christoph von Dohnanyi
   as principal conductor of London's Philharmonia Orchestra next
   year; Dohnanyi makes his exit after ten years in the post.
   
   Salonen is Musical America's 2006 Musician of the Year.
   
   It was a last-minute podium appearance at the Philharmonia that
   first put the conductor on the international map in 1983, when,
   in his London debut, he took over conducting Mahler's Symphony
   No. 3. It appears now that he is returning to his launch pad.
   
   The new appointment is a "coup" for the Philharmonia, reports
   the Guardian, because the New York Philharmonic has "made little
   secret of wanting" his services. The Finnish conductor/composer
   will remain at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

   "His wide-ranging, non-traditional approach to his orchestras
   make him the closest thing ...to Sir Simon Rattle. Short of
   tempting Rattle back from the Berlin Philharmonic, it is hard
   to think of a more exciting appointment for the Philharmonia to
   have made."

Karl