高层人员的变动：后疫情时代艺术机构吸引一批生力军

司马勤

就算在一年前，当大家开始讨论全球后疫情时代逐渐“恢复常态”时，我心里总是在疑惑，想要把世界还原，真的能办得到吗？事实上，一条文艺新闻说明了一切。那就是珍·莫斯（Jane Moss）退出林肯中心。

去年夏末，莫斯辞去了她的艺术总监一职——在过去的27年里，她在林肯中心的领导地位高高在上，刚好跟我从事音乐评论的年份相若。林肯中心是全球最庞大的文化机构，在她宣布离任之前，林肯中心旗下各家场馆的大门已经关闭了6个月；与此同时，黑人乔治·弗洛伊德（George Floyd）之死所引发的公愤蔓延至全美的各个角落，当然也影响到各大文化机构。莫斯这一举动所传达的信息很明确：我们的世界无法走回头路了。身为一位备受敬重、善于发掘艺术家以及孕育新项目的文化策展人，现年67岁的莫斯心里所忧虑的，是林肯中心前路茫茫。所以，是时候把权杖交给他人了。

在大西洋彼岸，古典音乐界最显赫的夏季盛会——萨尔茨堡音乐节，也引发了类似的高层人事震动：担任音乐节主席26年且一直负责处理外界公众事务的赫尔加·拉贝-施塔德勒（Helga Rabl-Stadler）将于今年年底离任。在她多年的领导下，音樂节屡创佳绩，包括2006年将当地最小型的剧院莫扎特剧院（Haus für Mozart）修缮一新，以纪念莫扎特诞生250周年，并展演了作曲家毕生创作的全部22部歌剧。但是，她最令人佩服的能力于去年展现得淋漓尽致：2020年恰逢萨尔茨堡音乐节成立100周年，这一纪念活动是当时疫情背景下全球最大型的演艺项目——或者应该说，是去年在国际乐坛举行的寥寥无几的演出项目中最成功例子。

两位女士都能独当一面，又截然不同：拉贝-施塔德勒比莫斯大6岁，她在欧洲的角色更接近一位公职人员。在美国，很少有文化领袖会拥有这种像拉贝-施塔德勒一样的声望。拉贝-施塔德勒辞任的决定也不令人惊讶：原本她的合约在2020年年底就已经到期，但因为疫情的关系，音乐节委员会特别请求她多留任一年。其实，疫情的影响形成了两个极端的效果：拉贝-施塔德勒在困境下坚持举办音乐节获得空前成功，而莫斯却连自己的办公室都无法出入自如。

然而，这两则新闻背后传达的信息同样清晰：这是一个时代的正式结束。

几周前，又传来另一个“人事变动”的新闻。尽管新闻中涉及的职务交替将于几年后才会实现，在我的心目中却引发更大的共鸣。9月中旬，梵志登（Jaap van Zweden）宣布，他将会在2023–2024年演出季结束后，同时辞去他的两个音乐总监的职务。

现任纽约爱乐乐团与香港管弦乐团音乐总监的梵志登——那正是我常住的两个城市的乐团——他与我所累积的“万里行”航程里数不相伯仲，因为大家都是“空中飞人”。很明显，这就是问题所在。

差不多一年前，我与梵志登就“飞行”这个话题有过一次长时间的交谈。当时，他滞留在阿姆斯特丹，无法前往香港或纽约工作。说真的，梵志登曾经飞往香港并且依据当地防疫措施，在酒店隔离多天。当他终于熬过了孤独的日子后，很可惜，整个香港管弦乐团却被送去隔离。演出全部取消，无可奈何的梵志登唯有返回欧洲。

其实，这位大师在疫情期间并没有闲着。他指挥了数场音乐会，各个演出城市都位于欧洲，自己驾车就可以到达（因此避开了搭乘航空交通）。他也有充足的时间去经营帕帕基诺基金会（Papageno Foundation），这个他早年创办的、协助自闭症儿童的音乐治愈计划。即便是在一年前，他的未来计划已经有了雏形。

他告诉我，这种在一个城市待一周，然后飞到另一个城市待一周的日子将永不复返。“未来，最低限度是在一个地方逗留一个月，或者六周，为当地积极推进更具持续性的成果。”他坚决地说。我当时以为那是梵志登因为受疫情的种种限制而产生打破传统的理念——想深一层，也的确如此。但是，当你要重拾“老规矩”时，这些想法却挥之不去。

一方面，梵志登决定卸任的新闻登上了《纽约时报》头版（指挥大师准备卸任香港管弦乐团的消息当时还未公布，所以这篇报道名副其实属于新鲜出炉的“新闻”）。犬儒主义者或会在字里行间寻找梵志登暗示有意考虑其他乐团就职的意向，因为到了2024年左右，几支具有领先地位的国际乐团将要聘任新总监。（梵志登在报纸访谈中曾提及，没有兴趣接管阿姆斯特丹皇家乐团，虽然他曾在那里担任乐团首席。当然，这类声明也没有否认他不会考虑其他乐团。）

艺术世界的未来会是什么样的呢？很明显，这要取决于谁担纲领导。莫斯公布离职一年后，林肯中心向外界发送消息，聘请了从前任职纽约公共剧院的珊塔·塔克（Shanta Thake）为“首席艺术官”（Chief Artistic Officer），连职务的头衔都有所变动。她的工作范围主要负责使林肯中心所演出的剧目更加多样化，超越古典音乐与芭蕾等传统领域，扩展至嘻哈、诗歌与原创歌曲等范畴。

薩尔茨堡音乐节主席是由音乐节委员会物色的，而委员会成员都是奥地利政治圈中不同层面的人士。因此，这个主席职位也可被归纳为“政治任务”。虽然要找一个像拉贝-施塔德勒那么出色的、25年来一直是音乐节代表人物的继任者十分困难，但大多数观察家一致认为，鉴于艺术节的现任艺术总监与财政总监都是男性，新任主席看起来也会继续由女性担任。

那么纽约爱乐乐团又如何呢？自从马林·阿尔索普（Marin Alsop）于今年8月离开巴尔的摩交响乐团以来，很多人关注的焦点都围绕在美国最大规模的25个乐团中没有一位女指挥担任音乐总监上。在过去的一段时间里，南半球传出了好消息：女指挥西蒙·杨（Simone Young）离开汉堡歌剧院后重返家乡，领导悉尼交响乐团大获好评。纽约爱乐乐团总裁兼首席执行官黛博拉·博达（Deborah Borda）是一位无可非议的女权主义者，她也是女指挥家国际大赛（La Maestra）的主席。在《纽约时报》的访谈中，她强调必须“加快速度”为更多女指挥家提供就业机会。

我不敢百分百打赌，但我不看好从前那些“男性为主”的古旧关系网在未来的生存机遇。

Even back a year ago， when people were first talking about the world “returning to normal，” something told me things would never be the same. In fact， one bit of news said it all： Jane Moss left Lincoln Center.

Moss stepped down as artistic director—a position shes held in New York for 27 years， nearly as long as Ive been writing about music—at the end of last summer. Lincoln Center， the worlds largest cultural institution， had been dark for nearly six months； in the meantime， the furor over the death of George Floyd had resonated throughout the country， not least in Americas cultural institutions. Mosss message was clear： the world was not going back. And as an impresaria famous for cultivating artists and developing works that reflect the world around us， Moss—now 67—had no clear idea what that was anymore. It was time for someone else.

Across the Atlantic， a similar rumble shook the Salzburg Festival， the classical music worlds leading summer event. Helga Rabl-Stadler， the festivals president and public face for 26 years， will be stepping down from the job at the end of this year. Rabl-Stadler has seen a number of career accomplishments， not least of which was the renovation of the festivals smallest theater， the Haus für Mozart， as part of the composers 250th birthday in 2006， along with presenting all 22 of his operas. But she truly made her mark last year with the Salzburg Festivals centennial season—the largest performing arts event in 2020 and one of the few events that took place that year at all.

There are major differences between the two women； Rabl-Stadler is six years older and a public dignitary in Europe in a way that few cultural figures in America have ever been. Nor was the move as much of a surprise， since Rabl-Stadlers contract was set to expire at the end of 2020 before the festivals supervisory board asked to remain one more year. The two in fact represent opposite sides of the Covid spectrum， since the pandemic spurred Rabl-Stadlers greatest success while Moss remained locked out of her own office.

The message underneath， though， was just as clear： this is officially the end of an era.

A few weeks ago， yet another announcement came through with news of yet another change of employment. This one doesnt take place for another couple of years， but it resonates with me all the more for being so close to home. In mid-September， Jaap van Zweden declared that he would be stepping down from both of his music directorships at the end of the 2023-24 season.

As the artistic leader of both the New York Philharmonic and the Hong Kong Philharmonic—the hometown orchestras of both my home towns—Van Zweden is one of the few people whose air-mile status equals my own. And evidently， that was the problem.

I had a lengthy chat with Van Zweden nearly a year ago about this very situation. How did it feel to be stuck in Amsterdam， unable to travel to either of your professional work places？ Actually， Van Zweden had flown to Hong Kong and undergone a hotel quarantine. But when he got out， his entire orchestra had gone into quarantine and their concerts cancelled， so he flew back to Europe.

Van Zweden hasnt exactly been twiddling his thumbs. He managed to conduct several concerts， all within easy driving distance of Amsterdam（bypassing air travel entirely）. He also spent significant time working with the Papageno Foundation， an organization he founded to provide music therapy for autistic children. But even a year ago， he was clear about his future plans.

The days of spending a week in one city and then flying to the next are over， he claimed. “In the future it will be a month， maybe six weeks， in any city so we can really accomplish something in depth，” he insisted. I thought it was simply the Covid talking—and in a way it was. But it turned out not to be the kind of thing that you forget as soon as the old patterns return.

For one thing， the story made the front page of The New York Times （Van Zwedens plans hadnt been reported yet in Hong Kong， so it was literally news there， too）. Cynics might read this as a subtle announcement of his availability for some future choice positions， as a number of orchestras will be looking for new music directors by then. （The only thing Van Zweden ruled out was taking over the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra， where he was once concertmaster， but that leaves a lot of other orchestras out there.）

So what will the future of the arts look like？ Well， obviously it depends on whos in charge. Nearly a year after Moss declared she was stepping down， Lincoln Center announced her replacement. Shanta Thake， formerly of New Yorks Public Theater， has now been hired as chief artistic officer （even the title has changed）， charged with broadening the centers programming beyond classical music and ballet to include hip-hip， poetry and songwriting.

In Salzburg， where the president is selected by a board drawn from many levels of Austrian politics， the job is essentially a political appointment itself. Though it wont be easy to fill the shoes of a woman whose profile had been synonymous with the festival for more than 25 years， the one thing that most observers agree on is that， since both the artistic and financial directors are men， her replacement will also be a woman.

And what about the New York Philharmonic？ Since Marin Alsops departure from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in August， much public discussion has centered around the fact that none of the top 25 American ensembles are led by a woman. Favorable news keeps coming in from Down Under， where Simone Young， formerly of Hamburg State Opera， has returned to her hometown to lead the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The New York Philharmonics president and chief executive Deborah Borda—an unapologetic feminist whos also chair of La Maestra， an international conducting competition for women—has already told the Times about “an acceleration”underway of women on the podiums.

Its not exactly a sure bet， but I wouldnt put my money on the old boy network.