He landed on his feet

CSO names new president Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati.Com

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Remember Trey Devey?

He was the last executive director of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. He presided over the FPO's bankruptcy and demise in 2003.

I occasionally wonder what happened to him. I'm pleased to see he has resurfaced, this time in Ohio, in a promising and much more stable new orchestral environment.

But in 2002, he arrived in Florida with a swamp to drain. The FPO had some, as it turns out, insurmountable problems: financial desperation going back many years; the recent loss, after 15 years, of its founding music director (James Judd); and subscription series in three South Florida cities, none of which would claim the failing group as its own.

Worse, I suspect some shenanigans or perhaps just a convenient if not ulterior motive born of desperation and exhaustion. Whatever the reasons, the FPO's failed fund-raising attempts ultimately led to the Cleveland Orchestra (!) becoming a 10-year "resident" of the now-Arsht Performing Arts Center in Miami.

I had hoped that Devey, then a new father and personable young administrator, would land on his feet. But clearly, it would not be in South Florida.

Music Critic Janelle Gelfand, in a Cincinnati Enquirer article published on Friday, Nov. 15, announced that Devey will now make Cincy his new home. Along the way were stops in Chicago (with the Boston Consulting Group) and six months in Birmingham (the Alabama Symphony Orchestra).

Cincy, my old stomping ground from conservatory days, has a fine, 113-year-old orchestra with a budget far larger than the FPO could ever imagine. And you know what they say: New level, bigger devil.

But I certainly wish Trey all the best -- and far more credit than he could garner from his time served in the tropics.