Remmereit leaves chamber orchestra post 

Conductor Arild Remmereit, who was to become music director of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra next season, has withdrawn from that commitment. He has also canceled his remaining appearance conducting the RCO this season, on October 27. The RCO's longtime music director and founder, David Fetler, will lead that concert.

RCO board president Tom Paul said this afternoon that Remmereit asked to be relieved of his RCO commitments because future conducting engagements would make his work in Rochester impossible.

Remmereit will conduct the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on October 18, 19, and 20 and the Buffalo Philharmonic on November 2 and 3. And Paul said that Remmereit's management firm wants to be able to secure other engagements for him in the US and in other parts of the world.

Remmereit was appointed to the RCO post in May after being terminated as music director with the Rochester Philharmonic late last year. He had the title of conductor with the RCO for the current season and had led the chamber orchestra in a well-received "Remembering Frederick Douglass" concert on September 19.

The RCO has begun a search for a new music director to succeed Fetler, who retires at the end of this season after 50 years.