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By Matthew Westphal
19 Sep 2006
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| Armin Jordan |
The conductor Armin Jordan collapsed in the orchestra pit on Friday during a performance in Basel and had to be evacuated and hospitalized.
The 74-year-old Swiss maestro was leading the opening night (September 15) of a production of Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges at Theater Basel when he suffered a fainting spell, according to SDA-ATS News Service. He was quickly taken to the hospital by ambulance; after a pause of about 15 minutes, he was replaced by Lutz Rademacher, who finished the performance and will conduct the remainder of the opera's run at the theater.
Doctors told SDA-ATS on September 17 that Jordan's life was not in danger and that he would be able to return home shortly.
Jordan has been active for decades as a symphonic and opera conductor in Europe and North America. He is best known for his tenure as music director of the Geneva-based Orchestre de la Suisse Romande from 1985 to 1997. In 2001 he contracted pneumonia while in New York to conduct Wagner's Ring cycle at the Metropolitan Opera, and since that time he has scaled down his commitments and traveling.
He is also the father of the fast-rising young conductor Philippe Jordan.
Armin Jordan had been scheduled to conduct the Orchestre de Paris on September 20 and 21 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris and September 23 in Besançon; the 43-year-old French conductor Frédéric Chaslin will step in. Chaslin was specifically requested for these dates by composer Henri Dutilleux, whose cello concerto Tout un monde lointain is on the program.
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