Noseda pulls out of July NSO concerts to recover from back surgery
Music director designate Gianandrea Noseda has pulled out of his summer concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra following surgery for a herniated disc, the Kennedy Center announced Friday.
Teatro Regio in Turin, where Noseda has been conducting a production of Verdi’s Macbeth, announced Monday that Noseda would be replaced at the podium for the rest of the run. Following back surgery Thursday, Noseda decided that he must withdraw from his first concerts with the NSO next month.
“I am saddened to have to cancel all of my performances until the middle of August,” Noseda said in a released public statement. “It would be best to take this time to make a full and complete recovery so I am physically prepared for the Teatro Regio di Torino’s historic residency at the Edinburgh International Festival in the second half of August and to start my new position in Washington, D.C.”
The doctor who performed the surgery, Prof. Michele Naddeo, reports that the recovery is already moving along very well and the prognosis is for a full recovery. These are the first cancellations announced by Noseda in 20 years.
A substitute conductor, to be determined, will take Noseda’s place for the July 28 concert at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. The free public performance on the National Mall on July 29 will be postponed. In a related change, National Dance Day, also scheduled for July 29, will now take place at the Kennedy Center.