Music director

Such authoritarian rule, once expected and even thought necessary for a symphonic ensemble to function properly, has loosened somewhat in the closing decades of the 20th century with the advent and encouragement of more power sharing and cooperative management styles (with the orchestra musicians themselves, the administrative staff, and volunteer board of directors).

In the 1920s and 1930s, the term musical director began to be used, in order to delineate the fact that the person in this position was doing much more than just conducting, and to differentiate them from guest conductors who simply led one particular program or concert.

George Szell, for instance, was appointed as "musical director" of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1946, and his position was so named until his death in 1970.

Their roles also entail arranging, mastering, mixing and supervising recording of film music with conducting and orchestration.

This music director is often also the vocal coach, may also be involved in arranging material for new works, or collaborate on underscoring.

In the modern era, the sound of a studio recording is often impossible or impractical to reproduce on stage, and it is the music director's job to assemble musicians and arrangements to adapt that material to a live setting (which may or may not include playback of prerecorded tracks).

[11] Generalmusikdirektor is a title given by larger towns to a person typically responsible for a symphony orchestra and the opera.