The New York Philharmonic has chosen Alan Gilbert, the 40-year-old son of two Philharmonic musicians, as its next music director, making him the first native New Yorker in the position and a rare American in the job:
The Philharmonic Picks New Music Director. Gilbert's mother, Yoko Takebe, is a violinist, and his father, Michael Gilbert, also a violinist, retired in 2001. Asian kids everywhere, take note. It does pay off to practice that violin.
