RPO terminates Remmereit

By Christine Carrie Fien @CCFien

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The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra board has fired Music Director Arild Remmereit, effective immediately. The board made the announcement in a statement released just minutes ago.

The board had previously voted to end Remmereit's contract early. He would've finished with the orchestra in August.

Here's the statement from the RPO board:

"The Board of Directors of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) has terminated, effective immediately, its contract with its Music Director, Arild Remmereit. The reason for the immediate termination is Mr. Remmereit's failure to perform his contractual job responsibilities since late November. Originally, the termination of the music director's contract was to take place at the close of the 2012-2013 season (August 31,2013).

We gave Mr. Remmereit the opportunity to continue to perform this season, but he has not provided us with any assurance he would do so," said Board Chair Elizabeth Rice. "Many people have said they want Mr. Remmereit reinstated; however, the truth is, he has shown no interest in being reinstated, let alone finishing this season.

"This has been a challenging time for the RPO, its musicians and staff, and the board," Rice said. "In the interest of the long-term excellence of the orchestra, both artistically and financially, we concluded that ending the relationship with Mr. Remmereit now is necessary.

"The RPO is energized and poised for a bright and exciting future," Rice said. "We have formed a search committee and will be launching immediately a wide-ranging search for a new music director. In the interim, we will be completing arrangements to bring in the best talent available to guest-conduct the orchestra during the remainder of the 2012-2013 season and beyond."