Start Slow: Do not rush. Gradually increase your weight by no more than 10% every few weeks.
Fit is Critical: Choose a vest that hugs your torso securely to prevent shifting or bouncing, which can strain your spine.
Distribute Weight Evenly: Ensure weights are dispersed equally between the front and back to maintain your center of gravity.
Consult a Professional: Always consult your physician or a physical therapist before adding a weighted vest, especially if you have spinal arthritis, disc issues, or severe bone loss. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
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Power WearHouse Vest: Featured in the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Foundation Store, this highly-rated unisex vest ($199) uses soft neoprene and comes with stackable weights for gradual progression. [1, 2]
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Hyperwear Hyper Vest FIT: A comfortable, woman-specific adjustable vest ($114.99) also found on Hyperwear that is specifically engineered to comfortably accommodate different female body types during walks and workouts. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
For more advice on building safe, bone-strengthening routines, review the guidelines on Osteoporosis Canada or check out the wellness tips outlined by Hinge Health. [1, 2]
Several famous figures famously incorporate a daily or near-daily mile-long swim into their routines to maintain longevity, joint health, and cardiovascular endurance.
Notable examples include:Meryl Streep: The Academy Award-winning actress regularly swims a mile a day, citing it as an excellent way to support her health and longevity.Natalie Portman: During her rigorous preparation for Black Swan, Portman swam nearly a mile daily to relieve joint stress and condition her body.Rahm Emanuel: The former Chicago Mayor and US Ambassador routinely swam a mile as part of his early morning fitness regimen.Janet Evans: The four-time Olympic gold medalist continued to swim a mile a day at her gym long after retiring from competitive swimming.
*************
Dr. Gabor Maté routinely incorporates a daily swim into his health and self-care routine. While he usually swims 2 kilometers per day, a 1-mile swim (about 1.6 kilometers) is an excellent aerobic workout that improves lung capacity, heart rate, and overall mental health.
Dr. Gabor Maté: I do meditation practice. Actually,
when I learned from one of my colleagues, Dr. Daniel Siegel, who’s got
this Wheel of Awareness that I’m practicing. I have a yoga practice that
I do pretty much every day now. Every day I go swimming, I swim 2k
every day or do some other kind of workout. And I pay a lot more
attention to my own needs than I used to. https://tim.blog/2022/09/09/dr-gabor-mate-myth-of-normal-transcript/
At 67, Meryl Streep was swimming a mile a day — here are the surprising benefits for healthy ageing
Bridie Wilkins
4 min read
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At 67, Meryl Streep was swimming a mile a dayJohn Nacion - Getty Images
At
67, Meryl Streep revealed she was swimming a mile a day – and not in
pursuit of a particular physique, but to 'keep her health'.
Speaking
to HELLO! Magazine, she said: 'I do try to stay healthy. Sometimes I
let myself fall apart, but generally I try to swim a mile every day,
because I like the feeling and it gets me into my body. I'm quite
conscious of keeping my health, because it doesn't last forever and
we're all of us lucky as long as we do have it. I try to remember that.'
In another interview with The Guardian, she added that she aims for '55 laps', sharing that the pool tends to be where she does a lot of her thinking.
But
the benefits of swimming – especially Streep's mile-a-day habit – for
ageing well go far beyond mental health. Here are six big advantages for
longevity, with studies to prove it.
Meryl Streep at Cannes Film Festival in 2024Stephane Cardinale - Corbis - Getty Images
1. Swimming improves cardiovascular endurance:
Research
on adults 60-70 years old showed that after 16 weeks, participants who
swam regularly showed significant improvements in cardio health
(measured by a 6-minute walk test). Strong heart and lung function
supports long-term independence and reduces risks tied to ageing, like
cardiometabolic decline and poor mobility.
2. It reduces joint stress while improving fitness:
Several
studies on swimming show that water supports up to 90% of your body
weight, lowering joint loading and pain, which is particularly
beneficial for people with arthritis or mobility – one study
on people with osteoarthritis showed that swimming significantly
reduced joint pain and stiffness. Lower-impact exercise like swimming is
a game-changer not just for protecting joints and reducing pain, but
for maintaining any activity level when other weight-bearing exercise
isn't comfortable (or possible).
3. It helps maintain muscle:
Studies
prove that swimming improves muscular strength and physical performance
in older adults. This is particularly important with age, since the
process of sarcopenia means we lose 3-5% of muscle mass per decade after
30, which has a big impact on mobility and functional independence.
4. It promotes brain health:
Research
shows swimming increases blood flow to the brain, helping support
neural pathways and neurotransmitters linked to mood and mental clarity.
Over time, this can help sharpen cognitive function and protect against
the mental decline which can occur with age, like loss of memory or
slowed decision-making.
5. Swimming enhances flexibility and mobility:
Regular
swimming is proven to improve your joint range of motion, as water
supports your body as you move through full ranges of motion. The payoff
is practical: it can help reduce fall risk which increases with age,
and makes everyday functional movement – like bending over, reaching
upwards and walking – easier and safer.
6. Swimming reduces the risk of chronic health diseases:
Swimming has been associated
with improvements in metabolic function, insulin sensitivity, healthier
cholesterol levels and more stable blood pressure. This can lower the
risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and hypertension, and even
a few laps a few times a week can make a measurable difference.
For Streep, the goal has never been aesthetic – in 2014, she said:
'For young women, I would say, don't worry so much about your weight.
Girls spend way too much time thinking about that, and there are better
things.'
Now 76 and thriving (bookmark 30th
April for the Devil Wears Prada 2 release date, where Streep features
alongside co-star Anne Hathaway), Streep is proof that ageing well isn't
about doing more – it's about choosing movement that works with your
body, not against it. Swimming is a rare sweet spot: demanding enough to
pay off, gentle enough to sustain.
BIDDEFORD, MAINE - JULY
13: A woman sits in front of a monument during a vigil for a man that
was killed in a shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), on July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine. T...MORE
Share
The AP has just posted a detailed investigation
into the background of David Brouillette, the recently hired ICE agent
who shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. It’s
genuinely horrifying on more levels than are easy to describe.
Brouillette was hired during ICE’s recent hiring spree, as the agency
attempted to rapidly staff up to manage a program of mass deportation.
Brouillette has a long history of severe mental illness, a lengthy
history of violence against at least two wives as well as his children,
stalking, a seemingly endless list of restraining orders, violent
threats against other family members and more.
According to one relative, Brouillette was diagnosed with severe
bipolar disorder as a child as well as attention deficit disorder, twice
tried to commit suicide at age 12 and was hospitalized multiple times.
These early issues appear to have been compounded by service in the
military and deployments to Afghanistan which left him with an increased
propensity to violence as well as PTSD. A relative told the AP, “They
took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a
killing machine.” (An additional, horrifying detail: Brouillette was
initially rejected by the military because of his mental health history.
“But recruiters encouraged him to go off his medications for a year and
reapply, which he did,” and he was then enlisted.) If all this weren’t
enough, in 2021 he was broke and in some kind of firefighter training
program when he was hit in the head by a steal beam and suffered a
serious concussion and some sort of permanent brain damage, “with
symptoms including impaired memory, cognitive deficits, headaches,
vertigo and light sensitivity.”
Crazy as it may sound, this is only some of what is revealed in this
article. Brouillette sounds like a deeply disturbed and dangerous
person. The one part of the story that paints Brouillette in a slightly
sympathetic light is that he’s clearly been afflicted with serious
mental illness from a young age. Some of the mental instability and
propensity to violence are due to organic conditions he is afflicted
with and for which he is in some sense not at fault. Obviously that gets
into very basic conditions about free will, moral responsibility and
all the rest. And for the purposes of this discussion, these are reasons
he never should have been hired for any law enforcement role, never
should have been allowed to own firearms and really never should have
been allowed to enter the military. It certainly isn’t an excuse for
chronic violence against family members. That detail that he was
rejected by the military but then told — someone with severe bipolar
disorder with a lengthy history of hospitalizations — to go off his
medications and try again in a year just took my breath away.
We knew it would be bad when an agency already known as being the
repository of people who couldn’t make the cut in other federal law
enforcement agencies went on a breakneck hiring spree in what is
basically a near full-employment economy. It was apparently even worse
than we could have imagined.
Getting fit takes regular exercise—emphasis on regular—which can be
difficult to work into a busy schedule. Sometimes the spare time just
isn't there. The key is to look at the activities you already do, and
get creative with them.
For the perfect opportunity to work out,
look no further than your daily dog walk. Not only can you build
strength, but you also have an exercise buddy who's always in the mood
to get moving. Here are eight easy ways to exercise right in the middle
of your current dog-walking routine.
Choose Challenging Terrain
Before heading out, look up a topographical map of your area; you can try MyTopo, or set a Google satellite image to display elevation. Then plan a route that takes you up, down, and up again as you walk.
[easy_ways_to_exercise-terrain1.jpg]
Much
like the incline feature on a treadmill, topographical pitch increases
the intensity of your workout so you'll burn more calories without
adding time or distance to the walk. Hills work large muscle groups,
particularly within your quadriceps. To target the joints and smaller
supportive ligaments, however, you might take up the offroad hiking
trail through the woods for the best climbs, instead of the same old
pavement in your neighborhood.
Carry Weights
Add
resistance to your movement by bringing free weights with you. Simply
keep a dumbbell in your free hand—alternating hands every block—or wear
weighted ankle cuffs to make even a slow pace more beneficial. This will
burn more calories per step, increasing your workout without adding
time to your walk.
Band Together
Keep an exercise band in
your pocket while you walk. When your dog slows down to mark territory
or sniff a passing canine, take advantage of the slowdown to work your
upper body.
Slip the middle of the band behind your upper back so
the ends of the band are under your arms. Grasp each end with a hand,
and one at a time, stretch the band straight out in front of you with a
slow, controlled punch. Researchers at Harvard Medical University put
together a short video to show you exactly what this looks like. The best part? The exercise works both your upper body and legs.
Use Downtime
The
purpose of your dog's daily outing is exercise, but it's also his time
to do his duty. While you wait, avoid the temptation to relax. Practice a
standing yoga pose, working your way from these starter poses
to more advanced, challenging positions to build strength. Add
difficulty to your favorite poses by holding them longer than the day
before.
Jockey for Position
If you're constantly reminding
your kids to sit up straight, remember to take your own advice. Focus
on your stance throughout the walk by flexing your glutes and keeping
your tummy tucked in with your back straight. Relax your shoulders and
neck, lifting your chin straight up so that it's parallel with the
ground and pulling your chest toward the sky. It may sound simple, but
maintaining this position as you walk strengthens your core and burns
more calories, according to famous cardiologist Dr. Oz.
Go Further
Add
a block to your distance every week, but don't allow for more time.
This way, you can make it a goal to get back home at the same time as
you did with last week's shorter distance. It'll put a hustle in your
bustle for sure, burning fat by elevating your heart rate.
Increase Intensity
Jog
when you can—your dog will love it, don't worry, but keep an eye on
your canine friend when stopping at an intersection. If yours is old one
like mine, though, jog in half-mile increments to be sure he's not
overworking himself (especially in warm temperatures). Between these
short bursts of cardio the pace may slow down, but you don't have to.
Instead, perform lunges, as Mayo Clinic demonstrates, while Fido walks to cool off.
Share Your Success
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
sharing your exciting exercise routine—or even joining others in their
own—makes you more likely to stick with it, solidifying your results.
So, snap a selfie while you're working out with your dog and tweet it to
@TomsofMaine and the rest of your followers. The longer you maintain your new exercise habits, the more benefits you'll see.
You
have to walk your dog anyway, so why not seize the opportunity to build
strength each day? These are easy ways to exercise that don't require a
change of clothes, a gym membership, or special training. In fact, you
don't even need to squeeze it into your schedule, since the leash and
morning alarm are already set.
The time of 4 a.m. is considered to be the best time for prayer and meditation in many spiritual traditions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. This is because it is believed to be the "Brahma Muhurta," or the "time of Brahma," which is the most auspicious time of the day.
According to Hindu tradition, this is the time when the mind is most clear and the distractions of the world are at a minimum, making it easier to focus on spiritual practices. Additionally, the body is said to be in a state of rejuvenation at this time, which can make it more conducive to meditation and yoga.
In Buddhism, this time is also considered to be the best for meditation, as it is believed that the mind is the most calm and still during this time. The time before dawn is also seen as a time of new beginnings, which can make it an appropriate time for setting intentions and goals for the day ahead.
• Waking up when 4 am hits might mean that your spirit guides are sending you important messages or guiding you towards your purpose.
• Spiritually, 4 am is when the physical and spiritual realms are the closest. • Write down any messages you receive at 4 am. Harness the calm energy by meditating and centering yourself.
There are many activities you can take up when you wake up early in the morning. Here are some suggestions:
Exercise
Starting your day with some exercise can help you feel energized and alert. You can go for a jog, do some yoga, or try some other form of physical activity.
Meditate
Practicing meditation can help you relax and clear your mind before you start your day. It can also help reduce stress and anxiety. It should be noted that the best time for meditation and prayer will vary from person to person, and one should listen to their own body and choose a time that works best for them.
One
beautiful aspect of the digital age is its advancement of democracy.
Back in the newsprint age, you had William Safire, Maureen Dowd, George
Will, Russell Baker, Molly Ivins, and if you wanted to tell them how
dense and dim-witted they were, you had to put pen to paper and address
the envelope and put a stamp on it and drop it in a mailbox and weeks
later it might appear in Letters To The Editor, which nobody read
anyway. Now the big shots speak and the peasants get to post comments
immediately and often the comments are the best part.
Check
out an interview Chad Smith the CEO of the Boston Symphony gave WGBH
not long ago after he got in hot water for dismissing the popular
conductor Andris Nelsons because he was not in “alignment” with the
BSO’s need “to serve our communities more expansively and
inclusively” in deciding “whose voices get to be heard, whose stories
get to be told.” The BSO, he said, was at a “pivotal moment” and needed
“broad alignment” to “address the issues” and Maestro Nelsons was not in
alignment.
In his defense, I must say that it can’t be
easy to have the name Chad Smith. The man is about three syllables short
of a full deck. “Chad Smith” is a name for a third-grade teacher or a
necktie salesman, not the CEO of the BSO pulling down a seven-figure
salary.
The video shows the man looking stunned, face blank,
speaking gently as if explaining to Uncle Bud why he is going into
Memory Care, his eyes wandering as he searches for next phrase, and he
keeps coming back to the word “alignment” repeatedly, and the WGBH
interviewer is very polite, of course, but watching this performance as
he kept aligning his alignment, it was a pleasure to read the comments
ripping into the man.
“This pastiche of phrases like ‘systemic
issues,’ ‘serve Boston expansively and inclusively,’ ‘whose voices,’
‘whose stories’ is just refrigerator poetry.”
“So many words saying so very little.”
“Boston loves their musicians. No one goes to the symphony to see administration talk about their strategic plans.”
“Is anyone convinced by this crap?”
“Get this guy out of here.”
“His
condescending tone and his highly curated ‘CEO speak’ make him
difficult to listen to. He acted secretly with the head of the board,
gave no notice to the orchestra, and is now on a PR tour to save his
job.”
“This
is what happens when we let glorified hedge fund managers take creative
control of our cultural institutions. This dude doesn’t care at all
about the community, just his 7-figure paycheck. The artistic decisions
should be made by the musicians and the conductor, not the board or any
other paper pushers.”
“A need for alignment? Why does this guy use
the language of DEI and corporate layoffs to discuss the crown jewel of
Boston’s arts? This is a shortsighted executive who knows nothing about
the sacred relationship that Boston has curated over decades, between
orchestra, conductor and audience, rooted in deep mutual admiration,
which Andres brought back into a golden age they have not had since
Seiji Ozawa.”
“Whose voices are heard, whose stories are told??? This is Woke Virtue Signalling.”
“Get the boots out, it’s rising rapidly.”
“This is nothing but noise.”
“This sounds like running backwards to me.”
This
is some excellent heckling that probably isn’t heard in America’s
boardrooms, and it gives you faith in the wit and creative sarcasm of
the American people. Great phrases like “refrigerator poetry” and “woke
virtue signalling” and the classic cry GET THIS GUY OUT OF HERE that was
heard in the time of George III and James Buchanan and now ever more
loudly with the Current Occupant, even though he has single-handedly
raised the level of American satire to an all-time high.
Poor Chad
Smith. He was hired to run the BSO and he left off the O. Look up the
video of the WGBH interview and see if you can’t find sympathy in your
heart for the anesthetized man who keeps trying to find alignment. I
think alignment is fine so long as it’s designed to be mindful of the
bottom line and combines cohesiveness and continuity and is both
structural and strategic and prioritizes synchronicity and synergy, but
in order to find new voices telling new stories, we have to be all on
the same page to finally move forward, and if you can’t sign on, then
sit on it and spin.
An ousted maestro, an angry orchestra, an uncertain financial future. The BSO faces the music.
The fight over the future of a preeminent orchestra is not going well.
Hallowed Symphony Hall has been the site of a fateful struggle over the future of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.Christian Kantosky for The Boston Globe
Two
years. That’s how long it’s been since Andris Nelsons, conductor of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, has had a meaningful conversation with the
orchestra’s chief executive Chad Smith. In fact, the two barely speak at
all.
Symphony Hall, a marvel ofacoustic
excellence for 125 years, has continued to radiate elegant melodies,
and audiences still gather on the lawns at Tanglewood to sip Sancerre
and delight in dreamy summer evenings of sweeping orchestral works.
But
behind the music and traditions that make every BSO performance feel
like an occasion, the ensemble is locked in a momentous struggle: How do
you transform a beloved institution while preserving the legacy that
made it special? Ordinarily, this clash — between tradition and
innovation, past and future, old and new – is confined to discreet
meetings behind closed doors. But today the conflict is on spectacular
display in Boston, as the existential crisis of a preeminent orchestra
echoes around the musicworld.
Andris Nelsons, conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in 2025.Winslow Townson
That
might imply there’s a high-minded debate going on inside Symphony Hall.
To some extent, there is, but it’s also colored by a different reality:
Oneof the world’s great orchestras has become a hornet’s nest
of recriminations, with Nelsons and a majority of the musicians on one
side, and BSO trustees and Smith on the other. While prestigious
orchestras elsewhere are taking bold steps to remain relevant and reach
broader audiences, Boston is bickering.
Behind
the scenes — simmering for years — there have been allegations of
verbal abuse, Trumpian theatrics, explosive meetings, arrogance, poor
preparation, and obstinacy. Amid this cacophony of complaints, BSO
attendance is down 23 percent since the pandemic and by 40 percent over
the past two decades. The orchestra’s significant endowment is being
drained at an alarming rate — in 20 years, leaders have drawn an
additional $100 million — and expensive upkeep costs for the orchestra’s
treasured venues continue to mount.
The
way forward? The current infighting makes any movement hard to imagine.
On March 6, the BSO board surprised — and outraged — its own orchestra
by issuing an off-key statement announcing it would not renew Nelsons’
contract. After 13 years, the renowned maestro was out. (Or, awkwardly, will
be out – after the 2027 Tanglewood season.) In protest, musicians first
sounded off on social media and are now waging a velvet revolt by
wearing red boutonnieres to show support for their embattled leader.
Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians greeted music director Andris Nelsons when he arrived at Symphony Hall on March 17.Courtesy of Boston Symphony Players Committee
This
is what the public sees. But dozens of interviews with symphony
executives, musicians, trustees, staff members, former employees,
patrons, and financial supporters — many of whom signed
non-disparagement agreements, and some of whom are speaking publicly for
the first time — reveal an organization riven by factions and fragile,
if outsized, egos.
Symphony
Hall is a house divided. The BSO isn’t merely at a crossroads, it’s in
crisis — a collision of cultures and personalities whose outcome will
determine the futureofone of the world’s most storied ensembles.
“I
have never seen this before,” said Deborah Borda, a former CEO of both
the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics. “It appears to be
unprecedented.”
The maestro
Nelsons can be effusive with the baton, but he’s rarely forthcomingin
person. In interviews, the 47-year-old conductor, who grew up in a
musical family in Latvia, can be circumspect, more comfortable opining
about his orchestra than himself.
When
BSO trustees announced in March that his days as music director were
numbered, Nelsons was restrained, saying only it was “not the decision I
anticipated or wanted.” That was it. A man fluent in four languages
offered no other words. But the message was clear: Nelsons didn’t want
to leave. One of the world’s most lauded conductors was being forced
out.
In
the months since, attempts to speak with Nelsons, who lives in Lucerne,
Switzerland, with his wife, have been rebuffed. Contacted for this
story, the maestro’s manager again vetoed an interview request and
instead emailed a short statement in response to specific questions and
claims made by others.
“I
am appalled and disappointed by the levels of inaccuracy and
misinformation being presented both in the media and beyond, and stand
by my original statement unwaveringly,” Nelsons said.
In other words, he still isn’t talking, which speaks volumes.
The
trustees’ email announcing the split with Nelsons was, at best, opaque:
The music director and his overseers “were not aligned on future
vision.” In reality, Nelsons had been at odds with BSO leadershipeven before Smith was hired in 2023, and those tensions had only increased.
The
new chief executive arrived with ideas, endorsed by the board, to shake
up Symphony Hall — primary among them a belief that the BSO could grow
its audience by adding more adventurous music to its repertoire. That
strategy worked well at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where Smith was
CEO for four years before coming to Boston.
“One
of the strengths I’ve always had as a creative is taking risks,” Smith
said in a recent interview, “and I got it right more than I got it
wrong.”
Chad Smith, CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (left), with music director Andris Nelsons in January of 2024.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Nelsons
is first and foremost a proponent of traditional orchestral music. He’s
regularly commissioned and premiered contemporary pieces, but excels at
the sort of massive, symphonic works that harness the full power of the
orchestra — think Mahler, Shostakovich, Brahms. In rehearsal, he
commonly refers to contemporary compositions as “funny pieces,” a
coinage that’s raised eyebrows among some in the Boston orchestra.
But
his skills on the rostrum remain, for the most part, unquestioned. In
concerts and recordings, the conductor has wrung intensity and opulence
from the orchestra in equal measure, winning multiple Grammys and,
recently, the 2026 Opus Klassik Award for Conductor of the Year.
Nevertheless,
some wonder privately if Nelsons – whom the BSO pays $1.7 million
annually — is overextended. He is also music director for the Gewandhaus
Orchestra in Leipzig, Germany, and he maintains an active schedule as a
guest conductor elsewhere, regularly leading other ensembles, including
the elite Berlin and Vienna philharmonics.
While
many conductors have multiple posts, some BSO musicians say Nelsons has
at times arrived at rehearsals underprepared. In one 2018 instance, he
had to be shown a YouTube video to recollect a section of a Leonard
Bernstein ballet. And last summer at Tanglewood, Nelsons rehearsed a
piece by contemporary composer Gabriela Ortiz at less than half its
normal tempo because he was still learning it. Even in rehearsals,
musicians say, it’s uncommon for a maestro to be so unfamiliar with a
work.
The
difficulties have occasionally resulted in frustration. In January,
during a rehearsal of the Samuel Barber opera “Vanessa,” Nelsons became
unsettled when principal BSO oboist John Ferrillo asked to repeat a
particularly tricky section. Accordingto musicians, the
conductor stepped off the podium and extended his baton. “You want to
conduct?” he demanded. “You want to conduct?” (Nelsons later apologized,
arriving at rehearsal the following day with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot
champagne for the oboist.)
Some music critics have taken notice. Reviewing the BSO’s performance of “Vanessa,”
a New York Times critic described Nelsons as “running through a work
with which he was clearly not intimately familiar, stooping over his
score to a perplexing degree.”
“These
are the kinds of details that are the difference between a merely good
orchestra and the great one that Boston ought to be,” the Times critic,
David Allen, wrote in January. “Here was confirmation, for the umpteenth
time, that the Boston Symphony has a problem.”
Piccoloist
Cynthia Meyers, among other BSO musicians, believes such criticism is
unfair. Meyers said Nelsons has a deep understanding of symphonic music
and credits him with leading the orchestra through some of the most
memorable performances of her career.
Music director
Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, two
weeks after news that the BSO and its conductor would part ways.Winslow Townson
“No
conductor does every aspect of the repertoire equally brilliantly,”
Meyers said, a sentiment echoed by others in the orchestra.
Nelsons
has likewise struggled with some contemporary social issues. At the
peak of the #MeToo movement in the fall of 2017, a radio host asked the maestro if sexual harassment has been an issue in classical music.
“No,” Nelsons replied.
He
went on to say that “many things are, I think, artificially exaggerated
or made too important [than] they are.” The comment provoked an angry
response online, prompting a BSO spokesperson to walk it back with a
clarification on the conductor’s behalf.
Off stage, Nelsons has kept a low profile
in Boston, rarely showing up at charity galas or other gatherings where
prospective donors could be charmed into writing fat checks. Indeed,
the maestro has demonstrated a limited appetite for gladhanding or the
sort of public showmanship displayed by former BSO conductor Seiji Ozawa
or the Boston Pops’ Keith Lockhart.
On the day he was introduced as the BSO’s 15th music director in 2013,
a trustee confidently declared Nelsons would be more visible and
involved in the community than his predecessor, James Levine, who was
often away at his other job with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
“Boston is [Nelsons’] primary location and primary interest,” said
Robert O’Block, then vice chair of the board.
But after 13 years at the BSO, Nelsons’ primary residence remainsin
Europe. He never bought a house in Boston, bunking instead in a Back
Bay apartment paid for by the BSO. Going forward, it seems, the next
music director will be expected to be more than an intermittent presence
in the city.
“Boston deserves artistic leadership that is grounded in Boston,” said Smith.
The musicians
On
a Friday evening in early March, Meyers, the piccoloist, was in line at
Panera Bread when a musician friend in Chicago texted about the
dismissal.
“Just saw the news about Nelsons,” the friend wrote.
“What news?” Meyers asked.
Four
months later, Meyers, along with most of the 90-plus virtuoso members
of the orchestra, is still fuming over the removal of their prized
conductor. (Nelsons has detractors in the ensemble, but they’re in the
minority.)Not only were players shocked and insulted by how the
board informed them, via a terse email sent simultaneously to the media,
but the fact that they weren’t consulted beforehand felt like a
profound betrayal.
Meyers,
who joined the BSO in 2006, was staggered by the trustees’ tone
deafness; it was as if the musicians had no stake in who leads them. “I
went to bed on solid ground and woke up the next morning in quicksand,”
she said.
Many
musicians focused on the ambiguity of the board’s statement, which said
only that Nelsons and the board had divergent visions of the future.
What did that mean? Does leadership intend to shrink the BSO’s classical
offerings? Does it envision the orchestra as a sort of glorified house
band, fiddling movie soundtracks and backing avant-garde musical acts?
Or did they just not want Nelsons?
“We are tired of vagueness,” said Lorna McGhee, the BSO’s principal flute. “We need transparency and concrete examples.”
The
bitterness among musicians is evident on bulletin boards in the
Symphony Hall basement, where players have pinned Globe articles and
opinion pieces, including one editorial headlined: “BSO board can’t get out of its own way.”
Smith and the board have sought to allay the musicians’ fears, describing upcoming seasons that willinclude
symphonic cycles; festivals organized around broad, humanities-based
themes; and programs intended to appeal to more diverse audiences.
“These changes are neither radical nor even especially novel,” BSO leadership noted in an internal memo that outlined some of the changes.
All of which begs the question: How was Nelsons not aligned?
Nelsons rehearsed "Der Rosenkavlier" with the orchestra at Symphony Hall in 2016. The Boston Globe/Globe Freelance
The
maestro says he was just as stunned by his dismissal as the musicians.
According to a recently leaked email from the conductor’s
representatives to a member of the orchestra, Nelsons and BSO management
had “agreed in principle” to a renewed contract that would have
extended the conductor’s tenure in Boston.
The
terms “were in the process of being finalized,” Nelsons’ manager, Karen
McDonald, wrote in the email. There “were no discussions with Andris or
us about an exit at any point, nor did we have any indication a
termination was imminent.”
Similarly,
McDonald said, “BSO leadership have not explained to Andris in what way
they felt he was not aligned with the organization’s strategic vision.”
Smith
denies there was any agreement “either in principle or otherwise” on a
new contract and said negotiations had reached an impasse.
The lack of clarity has only deepened musicians’ frustrations with BSO leaders.
They
have “yet to provide a compelling, coherent explanation [of] why they
got rid of Andris,” said Elizabeth Klein, the orchestra’s associate
principal flute. “They’re hiding from answering these really difficult
questions.”
The
anger within the ensemble has become an uprising of sorts. Beyond
wearing red flowers (the flag of Nelsons’ native Latvia is red and
white), principal clarinetist William Hudgins has begun stomping his
feet and leading a chant of Nelsons’ name at the end of concerts. At
least a few Symphony Hall observers have likened the spectacle to a MAGA
rally.
The resistance has gained traction. Two BSO patrons have designed a website — StandWithAndris.org
— that includes testimonials from acclaimed pianist Lang Lang and
conductor Simon Rattle, and a petition, signed by more than 3,000
people, requesting a sit-down with trustees. (The site also sells merch:
Frisbees, playing cards, and picnic blankets with a Shepard
Fairey-style image of Nelsons clutching a bouquet of red flowers.)
An ad in The Berkshire Eagle supported Andris Nelsons.handout
The
website’s creators are spreading the gospel of Andris using social
media and yard signs. They’ve hung posters in a vacant Stockbridge
storefront and placed half-page ads in The Berkshire Eagle encouraging
concert-goers to wear red flowers to Tanglewood this summer: “For
Andris. For the Musicians. For the Future of the Boston Symphony.”
“This
is about the musicians having a voice in artistic planning and future
vision,” said George Whiting, a massage therapy student and one of the
website’s creators. “The precedent this sets is pretty scary in terms of
taking away the musicians’ artistic voice.”
The
sturm und drang enveloping Symphony Hall makes this a perilous moment
for BSO leadership. David Callahan, author of “The Givers: Wealth,
Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age,” said large, established
arts institutions such as the BSO rely on a pyramid of donations — some
enormous, many quite small — and that every one is essential.
“If you piss anybody in that pyramid off, you’re courting trouble,” he said.
Historically,
BSO musicians have not been timid about making themselves heard. The
players, among the most accomplished in the world, have a strong union:
The average salary in the orchestra is $250,303, and players get nine
weeks of vacation per year. The musicians, many of whom also play for
the Pops, enjoy considerable influence in the organization; under
certain circumstances, they can evenhire new colleagues.
Much
of that is thanks to Mark Volpe, who was a champion of the orchestra
and its conductor during his 23 years as BSO president and chief
executive. Today, Volpe, who remains extremely close with Nelsons, still
casts a shadow at the BSO, five years after he retired. Since the
Nelsons announcement, he’s continued to visit Symphony Hall, meeting the
maestro in his dressing room and speaking with the orchestra in their
backstage tuning room. During one performance, musicians on stage
observed Volpe sitting in the first balcony alongside Nelsons’ wife and
manager. The former president’s continued presence has struck some as
odd and stoked speculation, at least among the conspiracy-minded, that
he is encouraging the orchestra’s resistance.
“It’s like he’s cosplaying being CEO again,” said one BSO employee.
Volpe declined numerous requests to comment.
Thissupreme
confidence of BSO musicians has occasionally been perceived as
entitlement. Players have sometimes quarreled with guest conductors.
Most recently, in April, the Finnish maestro Susanna Malkki encountered
resistance and outright hostility from some in the orchestra, according
to musicians who were present. At one rehearsal, a player questioned the
timing of the conductor’s “stick” (baton) in a manner that some
colleagues viewed as disrespectful. Later, during a performance at
Symphony Hall, a different musician played a piece at his own tempo,
without watching Malkki. According to BSO musicians and others at
Symphony Hall, the conductor later complained to the orchestra’s
personnel director.
Contacted
by the Globe, Malkki’s manager said his client was unavailable for
comment, but that “she enjoyed her recent week with the BSO.”
The
discord created by the Nelsons decision comes at a complicated time for
the orchestra, which is in the midst of negotiating a new contract with
the musicians. Todd Seeber, who’s at the bargaining table as head of
the Players Committee, said musicians are seeking a greater voice in
artistic matters, including selection of the BSO’s next music director.
At present, musicians play an advisory role, holding five of 11 seats on
the music director search committee.
“This
is our road map back to trust and building a strong institution going
forward,” Seeber said. “With the current process in place, they could
choose a music director the orchestra doesn’t want.”
Nelsons, shown at Tanglewood's Koussevitzky Music Shed in 2024, has the support of most of the musicians of the BSO.Hilary Scott
The
strife shows few signs of relenting. Over the past weekend, board
members met with musicians at Tanglewood in search of common ground and
the results, predictably, were mixed. Musicians voiced their
frustrations and board members tried to explain their actions, making
clear, however, that Nelsons is not coming back.
Seeber called it a “difficult meeting.”
He
added the power imbalance between board members and players contributed
to the meeting’s tensions. “It’s not a level playing field when the
people who write your paychecks are sitting there,” he said.
Meanwhile, in an email obtained by the Globe, BSO board chair Barbara Hostetter called the summit an “important step.”
“Many
of you asked thoughtful, candid, and important questions,” she wrote,
addressing the musicians. “At the same time, there were other moments
when conversation veered off course, with personal attacks and rhetoric
directed towards leadership that fell well short of the standard of
civility this institution deserves.”
The board chair
On
a frozen February afternoon, in a conference room on the 35th floor of a
downtown office tower, Barbara Hostetter huddled with her fellow
trustees. Negotiations on a new contract for Nelsons were at a critical
juncture, and the board was about to make a major decision: Cut the
famed conductor loose or stay the course.
Under
Hostetter, the board had been driven by twin ambitions: Reverse the
orchestra’s financial slide and revitalize its offerings, transforming
Symphony Hall into a destination, a lively venue that would attract a
diverse and engaged crowd. By early February, however, it was clear to
board members that Nelsons was not the person they believed was able or
willing to lead the charge.
Smith
and others not involved in the board vote left the room. Then, one by
one, the trustees spoke. “There was a gravity to what was being
discussed,” said board member Tom Kuo. “It was, ‘Hey, we know this is
what has to be done.’”
In
the end, it wasn’t even close: With more than 30 of the BSO’s 42
trustees present, the vote not to renew the maestro’s contract was
unanimous.
Chad Smith, with BSO board chair, Barbara Hostetter.HANDOUT
Hostetter,
the billionaire philanthropist who has chaired the BSO board since
2021, hoped the break would be amicable — a conscious uncoupling
presented, at least publicly, as a friendly parting of ways. Now, seated
in her office on Lewis Wharf, Hostetter acknowledged missteps, but
sounded resolute.
“If
we could do one thing over again, it would be the announcement to the
orchestra,” she said. “It didn’t roll out the way we hoped. It rolled
out abruptly, and, in the end, it was costly and painful.”
As
co-founder of the progressive Barr Foundation, Hostetter is regularly
lauded for her contributions to arts and culture in New England.She
and her husband, Amos, co-founder of Continental Cablevision, have
disbursed more than $1.5 billion through the foundation across the
region, supporting arts groups, environmental projects, and educational
initiatives. (The Barr Foundation supports the Globe’s reporting on
education and inequality.)
Hostetter
also led the effort to reimagine the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a
stately house museum with strict rules that prevent any changes to the
collection. After enlisting famed architect Renzo Piano, the museum now
boasts a striking contemporary addition
that helped transform it into a magnet for a younger crowd, hosting
music performances, temporary exhibitions, and upscale parties.
But
to some, the uproar surrounding Nelsons’ ouster has cast Hostetter in
an unfamiliar role: villain. There have been calls for her to step down;
most of the orchestra and some in the audience are incensed with her,
and she knows it.
“This
isn’t personal for me. It’s a commitment to stewarding an institution,”
she said. “I try to get up above it and think longer-term.”
In
person, Hostetter is understated and chooses her words carefully. She’s
at once cerebral and also accessible. The shelves in her office brim
with art books, and the walls are arranged with paintings purchased on
foundation trips to Uganda, Haiti, and Ethiopia.
Hostetter
said the board is determined to address declining interest in the BSO.
Attendance for classical music concerts at Symphony Hall has dropped
by 23 percent since 2019, subscriptions are down sharply, and operating
deficits have curtailed growth of the BSO’s $600 million endowment.
(While enormous, the bulk of the orchestra’s endowment has restrictions
and cannot be used for operations.)
Seats are stored in the basement at Symphony Hall.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Hostetter
has had plenty of challenges as board chair. When she took over, the
organization was still reeling from the pandemic, and she clashed with
Volpe, then the CEO, over how to navigate the social justice movement
that arose after the killing of George Floyd.
“She
just saw [Volpe] as not being progressive enough,” said one former BSO
executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe personal
conversations.
Hostetter
put it in terms of governance, problems she first noticed when she
joined the board in 2017. “There were major issues that were not
transparent,” she said. “It’s all on the business side.”
In
her office on a recent Monday, Hostetter said she wanted to clarify
something: It was the board’s decision, not Smith’s, to cast out
Nelsons. She said the goal had been a graceful, mutually-agreed-upon
exit that would enable the acclaimed conductor to return periodically to
lead the orchestra. “We hoped to give him a title,” she said. “We
thought it was a good deal, and it didn’t happen.”
The board’s clumsy announcement of Nelsons’ dismissal, and the trustees’ subsequent silence, has led to rumors about what’s really
going on. None of them is true, Hostetter insisted, least of all the
suggestion that the BSO will cease playing the sort of music for which
it’s famous.
“We
are deeply committed to the orchestra in terms of what it does best,
and that is the Western canon,” she said, referring to the warhorses of
Beethoven, Brahms, et al. “There’s no intention to do anything but
support that.”
She added, however, that “we know it’s a declining audience . . . and there are so many ways you can be innovative.”
The CEO
Chad Smith knew what he was signing up for — or at least he should have.
His predecessor, Gail Samuel,
was the first female CEO of the BSO in 2021, succeeding Volpe, whose
retirement was hastened by clashes with Hostetter and the board.
Like
Smith, Samuel was an alum of the LA Phil, an orchestra widely
considered to be the most artistically daring and financially stable in
the country. But in Boston, she took over an orchestra buffeted by the
pandemic, and her relationships with musicians, some longtime BSO
employees, and Nelsons, especially, were uneasy.
Gail Samuel served as CEO of the orchestra for about 18 months, starting in 2021. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
“It
was clear to everyone within the first month that she didn’t like
Andris,” said the former executive, characterizing conversations with
Samuel.
The feeling, apparently, was mutual.
“Andris
didn’t want to be in the same room with Gail,” said Lynn Larsen, former
vice president of orchestras and production at the BSO and a critic of
the board’s handling of Nelsons’ departure.
After
18 fitful months, Samuel, who did not respond to multiple interview
requests, abruptly resigned. Trustees have never said why she left, but
it’s clear that conflicts with Nelsons played a part. Since leaving,
Samuel has received some $2.7 million from the BSO, including $1.5
million in severance, according to tax filings. Volpe, similarly,
received nearly $1.4 million after he left, according to tax filings.
Predictably,
perhaps, Smith was viewed with suspicion when he showed up at Symphony
Hall. To anyone who’d listen, he talked about forging partnerships,
reinvigorating the BSO’s aging concert halls, and updating the
repertoire. A risk-taker in commissioning and performing new works,
Smith likes to say the greatest classical music has yet to be written.
But
in an interview in his Symphony Hall office, Smith also sought to ease
concerns that he intends to seize artistic control in Boston as part of a
top-down reinvention.
“There’s
a fear that I’m going to take the BSO in a radical direction,” he said.
“What I was able to do in Los Angeles is not the same thing we’ll be
able to do here.”
Still, Smith said he took the job because of the BSO’s long history of innovation, a mantle he wants itto
reclaim. (The BSO was a pioneer in televising concerts. It broke new
ground with the Pops and Tanglewood. It has commissioned many important
works and was the first US orchestra to tour the former Soviet Union and
China.)
“The BSO is arguably the most innovative orchestra in history,” he said. “That’s gone dormant.”
President and CEO of the BSO Chad Smith looked over Symphony Hall in 2024.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
At
the LA Phil, Smith had a knack for luring audiences with unconventional
programs: performances with pop stars such as Billie Eilish and Diana
Ross, and offbeat events including the Fluxus Festival, which featured a
performance artist who chopped vegetables to the beat of live music and
then served a massive salad to the audience. Such offerings, with a
major assist from conductor Gustavo Dudamel, one of classical music’s
biggest stars, helped attract large, diverse crowds, while also creating
partnerships with renowned conductors, composers, and the local
community.
This mix of mainstream, provocative, and pop programming not only created buzz but also grew the LAorchestra’s
bottom line. When Smith left for Boston, the LA Phil’s board chair said
the ensemble was in the best financial shape in its 104-year history.
A
Pennsylvania native who grew up in a small town near Gettysburg, Smith
studied at Tufts (European history) and the New England Conservatory
(vocal performance). He played trumpet as a teen and was in the choir at
the Presbyterian church his family attended. In college, Smith focused
on becoming a classical singer and spent two summers studying at
Tanglewood. Although steeped in classical music, he’s a product of the
MTV generation. Smith is a fan of the sound and spectacle of such ’80s
pop acts as Madonna and Depeche Mode; the first album he ever bought was
Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual.”
In
2000, after a brief stint as a backup singer for Harry Belafonte, Smith
took a job as personal assistant to conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. It
wasn’t glamorous. Thomas was then artistic director of the New World
Symphony, a training ensemble for young musicians. Smith was his gofer,
fetching the conductor coffee and taking his dog to the groomer.
But
Smith also sat in on meetings with record executives, agents,
musicians, and managers. The experiences helped shape his view of
classical music.
“It’s not some moribund thing that has to be preserved,” he said. “It’s actually an art form that is ever evolving.”
Studied
and articulate, Smith can command a room. His keen interest in history
is evident in conversation; he often cites artists and events from the
past to make or refute a point.
He’s
also conversant in pop culture in a way Nelsons is not. Yet Smith’s
relationship with the maestro was initially cordial. Publicly, he
lavished praise on Nelsons, who nodded along happily. Speaking to The
Berkshire Eagle, Smith said the conductor was “giving one great concert
after another, and the orchestra has been playing at a level that is
just so exciting.”
But the good vibes didn’t last. By 2024, Boston’s odd couplerarely
spoke about artistic matters, and tempers eventually flared. One
meeting, about a key hire, became so heated that both Nelsons and Smith
left the room. Communication between the two eventually broke down
altogether, and they haven’t had a substantive conversation about
programming for two years.
“I don’t have animus for Andris,” Smith said. “What I do have is a lack of a collaborative working relationship.”
By
his own admission, Smith does not lack self-confidence: He can
sometimes sound like a caffeinated marketing executive pitching big
ideas for the orchestra.
The
approach doesn’t always land well, and numerous former employees have
complained Smith’s management style can be abrasive. For instance,
Larsen, the former BSO vice president, said Smith “belittled and
berated” him and other colleagues during meetings. It became so bad, he
said, that in 2024 he complained to human resources about Smith’s
treatment of Anthony Fogg, the BSO’s vice president of artistic
planning.
“It
was just beyond the pale,” said Larsen, who retired in 2025. “That’s
ultimately why I left. I didn’t want to spend my days in that
environment anymore.”
Fogg did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked
about those complaints, Smith grew agitated. He said he was hired to
shake up the status quo at Symphony Hall and not everyone has been happy
about that.
“We’ve had to make leadership changes,” he said. “Those leadership changes are hard.”
Hostetter said she’s aware of “rumors” about Smith’s management style, but supports her chief executive.
“Chad
is two and a half years in, and the progress is immense,” she said.
“Every CEO that enters this complicated world that we live in,
especially, needs and deserves the support of everyone in the
institution.”
Minutes
after the Feb. 2 vote to dismiss Nelsons, the board relayed the result
to Smith, who had been waiting outside the room. That night, the CEO
boarded an overnight flight to London to meet with Nelsons’
representatives and, he hoped, craft an amicable separation. The
discussion was productive, and Smith was optimistic he might be able to
continue on to Lucerne to meet face to face with the maestro.
The
aim, he said, was to hammer out an agreement that would be satisfactory
to all involved, a parting that might include residencies, tours, and
an emeritus title for Nelsons.
But the meetingwith Nelsonsnever
materialized, and Smith flew home without speaking to the conductor. In
the end, the two sides could not even agree on the wording of the press
release announcing Nelsons’ departure.
The present
What
now? Fence-mending, for sure. The public relations fallout has been
extreme, prompting the BSO to enlist a Washington, D.C.-based crisis
communications firm. Last weekend, for example, the glittery Tanglewood
gala kicking off the orchestra’s summer season — an annual fund-raiser
that in the past was open to the media – was declared private and off
limits to reporters.
Making the media rounds lately,
Smith had kind words for Nelsons. But he also repeated his belief that
the conductor and the board were no longer playing from the same score.
He’s suggested the maestro was unwilling to do what’s necessary to
broaden the BSO’s audience, which Smith considers imperative to the
orchestra’s survival.
“We
have to believe that what we’re doing is right,” he said, seated at a
large wooden table in his Symphony Hall office. “We have to take the
slings and arrows and then get to the other side.”
The artistic leadership board inside Symphony Hall.Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
For
his part, Nelsons will continue to lead the BSO even as the search for
his successor gears up. “I would like to reiterate my love for the
orchestra, our audiences, and our community,” he said in a statement
sent by his manager. “We will continue sharing the beautiful
music-making of the BSO.”
Audiences
will get a fresh taste of that when Nelsons leads the players in a
series of performances throughout July. The concerts, heavy withcrowd pleasers by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart, will no doubt play to the maestro’s strengths.
But
perhaps more telling will be an event scheduled for later this month at
the Tanglewood Learning Institute. The program will feature Smith in
conversation with Esa-Pekka Salonen, the acclaimed Finnish conductor
whom some consider a front-runner for the new BSO job.
The talk’s title: “Shaping Sound: The Future of Orchestras.”
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