St. Louis Symphony gets stand-in for sick director

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has been getting increased attention after its music director, Hans Vonk, fell ill recently.

Ticket sales were higher than expected for a show scheduled for Friday night in New York. The orchestra was to be without Vonk, suffering a relapse of Guillain-Barre syndrome. The orchestra landed on its feet when it got David Robertson as a last-minute substitute.

Vonk's illness generated national publicity for the financially troubled ensemble, apparently increasing the interest of concertgoers.

"That's the ironic thing," Robertson said Thursday. "The nature of events is such that it's hard to make people aware of our concerts under regular circumstances."

Vonk had to leave the stage in the middle of the orchestra's concert last Friday night at Powell Hall in St. Louis. The conductor, whose relapse of Guillain-Barre syndrome became public last December, found himself unable to turn the page of a difficult score. Associate conductor David Amado took over on the next number, and Vonk, after a 45-minute rest, returned and conducted the second half of the concert.

The following night, Vonk decided not to risk a repetition, and Amado conducted the entire program at Powell Hall. On Monday, the orchestra decided that Robertson would take over in New York.

The syndrome attacks the peripheral nervous system and temporarily weakens the muscles to the point of paralysis.

A private man, Vonk reportedly has found the media attention on his health disconcerting. He has declined to talk to the press.