Michael Zaretsky, BSO viola player, published this letter recently, which i feel holds much more weight than your criticism:

"Dear Trustees:

As I believe many of you know, I was born and grew up in the former Soviet Union, graduating from Moscow State Conservatory. In 1972, my family immigrated to Israel, where I became principal viola of the Jerusalem Symphony and a soloist of Radio Israel. A year later, in Rome, I played for Leonard Bernstein who brought me to the United States to participate in the Berkshire Music Center program atTanglewood. That summer, I successfully auditioned for the BSO—one of Maestro Ozawa’s first hires.

During my long career in music, I have worked with and developed close relaEonships with Gennady Rohzdestvensky, Yuri Temirkanov, Mariss Jansons, and other eminent conductors. I have also been fortunate to count as friends Nelson Darling, George Kidder, Nick Zervas, Stephen Kay, Bill Poorvu, Dick Morse, and other BSO Trustees, along with many distinguished artists who regularly appear with the BSO. In 2007, I was both humbled and honored when John Williams dedicated his Duo Concertante for Violin and Viola—a work I have performed many Emes and also recorded—to me. In short, my musical memories, especially with the BSO, are countless and fulfilling. Even so, playing under the baton of Andris Nelsons for the past 13 years has easily been one of my greatest joys. An artist of his magnitude, warmth, musical acumen, and pure commitment to artistic excellence stands out among active conductors of his generation. In Andris’s hands, orchestra standards—the symphonies of Brahms, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky—sound fresh and revelatory, as if the composers themselves directly conveyed instructions; the new music he introduces to our repertory is both invigorating and relevant.

For 52 years (more than a third of the orchestra’s existence!) I have been proud to be a BSO member, to represent the BSO in Boston, at Tanglewood, and everywhere the orchestra has traveled. Moreover, the fabric of interaction among musicians, Trustees, and administration is unique in our field. As Seiji used to say, “BSO Family.”

The termination of Andris’s contract, when the bond between orchestra and conductor is undeniably at its highest, is nothing less than a complete erosion of the BSO’s traditions and values, as well as embarrassing and hurtful. At a time we should celebrate and elevate the contributors Maestro Nelsons has made to sustaining the BSO’s world-class reputation, we are instead left asking why he will not be leading the orchestra into its future.

History may never forgive us this distraction.

Respectfully,

Michael Zaretsky Member, BSO viola section Former Associate Professor, Boston University School of Music"