Willem Wijnbergen has been named executive vice president and managing
director of the Carmel Bach Festival, effective Sept.  1, (after the
conclusion of the 2001 season).  Wijnbergen, 42, moves to Northern
California from Los Angeles, where he has been president of the marketing
firm BC&DG, a position he took just last year, after leaving the Los
Angeles Philharmonic.

He had a brief tenure there, only 15 months, succeeding Ernest
Fleischmann (who held the position for 29 years), with exactly the same
title he is assuming at the Bach Festival.  Wijnbergen's departure from
that prestigious job has never been explained publicly, but apparently
he took on the LA Phil board of directors with a letter about "serious
issues," communication construed by the board as a letter of resignation.

Previously, Wijnbergen had a dual (or alternative) career between music
and marketing, ranging from assistant brand manager at Procter & Gamble
to assistant conductor (and pianist) with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in his
native Holland.  For six years, until 1998, he was managing director of the
Royal Concertgebow Orchestra.  A few weeks ago, Wijnbergen appeared as the
soloist in "Rhapsody in Blue, in the Griffith Park Old Zoo, with Arthur B.
Rubinstein's Symphony in the Glen.

Janos Gereben/SF
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