Keith Lockhart, longtime conductor of the Boston Pops, said Wednesday “there is a lot of blame to be spread around” for the turmoil that has engulfed the Boston Symphony Orchestra, noting that the BSO for years has been “living on borrowed time.”
“The board and management seriously miscalculated their announcement” of music director Andris Nelsons’ dismissal in early March, Lockhart said during a candid discussion on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “I can’t blame people for having felt blindsided by it.”
But he said Nelsons also shoulders some of the blame and that the symphony “needs big resets and big decisions to be made over the next few years” to help reverse a long decline in attendance and revenue.
“We’ve been living on borrowed time,” he said.
Lockhart’s remarks carry unique power in the public tumult that engulfed the BSO after Nelsons’ dismissal, plunging the symphony into perhaps the greatest crisis in its 145-year history. On one side are musicians, deeply loyal to Nelsons, along with many BSO supporters who were outraged. On the other, is the symphony’s leadership, which is grappling with steep demographic and financial challenges and said Nelsons was “not aligned on future vision.” Lockhart, whose ensemble falls under the BSO umbrella and is a crowd favorite, is both invested in the BSO’s success, but also not directly caught up in the controversy.
During his radio appearance Wednesday, Lockhart said that Nelsons himself contributed to the eruption that followed the conductor’s dismissal.
“It was handled badly by Andris and his camp, because I think they created an emotional turmoil that did not have to be.”
He compared Nelsons’ exit to the comparatively calm departure of Red Sox manager Alex Cora who was fired after a particularly rough start to the season.
Cora “made a very gracious goodbye and did not create an us-versus-them sort of situation,” said Lockhart. “Why are you guys not calling for a public forum to discuss with the season ticket holders why he was let go and what the Sox ownership’s future vision for the organization is?”
Lockhart said he didn’t know what the “sticking points” were between Nelsons and the BSO’s board, but “the solutions are complicated.”
“They may involve new ways of looking at what a large performing arts organization does,” he said. “All I know is that Andris is a great conductor, and this is a great organization, and I know both of them will be fine at the end of the day.”
The BSO is an “ongoingly great institution” that, like many legacy arts organizations, faces critical challenges, he said.
“Now what we have to do is come back together and discuss the future of the organization.”
Malcolm Gay can be reached at malcolm.gay@globe.com.
