Two things are for certain as the Utah Symphony opens its season this coming weekend: the formidable strengths of Andre Watts, a world-class soloist, playing Beethoven’s best-known piano concerto (“Emperor”). Beyond that begins the secretive search for Keith Lockhart’s successor who will be leaving at the end of the 2008-09 season.

A two-year search for a new conductor is not unusual. In fact, some orchestras endure much longer searches. And, there are those who question the wisdom of the Utah Symphony’s decision to not reveal which guest conductors over the next two years are candidates for the job.

As a professional musician and one who has researched rather extensively the work and impact of music critics, especially in the daily press, I can see some of the reasons for proceeding with the search under discreet circumstances. Not only do you have the musicians involved as the stakeholders but also you have boards of directors, trustees, the press, liaison committees, and members of the musical world far off from the orchestra in question.

Any one or combination of a number of scenarios can be manifested. Internal politics play a role as some groups argue for one candidate over another. Music critics can and will speculate endlessly. Tender egos can be bruised as details leak of how a particular well-known personality did not relate well to the musicians.

In other words, a “stealth search” might help minimize these concerns. This happened recently when the Los Angeles Philharmonic selected Gustavo Dudamel, a Venezuelan conductor still just in his 20s, to succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen, who was just barely 30 when he took the helm in 1992. Evaluations of guest conductors were collected and reviewed with an artistic liaison committee so the musicians had their input but they didn’t necessarily know which of the guest conductors were actual candidates for the job.

Another part of the search involves orchestral administrative personnel traveling the music world to see how the guest conductor works in other venues and what drives his or her general philosophy as a music director. To do this in a tightly knit industry where everyone essentially knows everybody else’s business and to do so without pointing the spotlight toward a particular candidate make for a Herculean challenge.

Some might argue that full disclosure would be appropriate from a public relations perspective for an organization such as a symphonic orchestra that relies so heavily on community support in many forms. However, there is nothing here that suggests extra discretion would be inappropriate. At the right time, the disclosure will be essential.

Selecting the Utah Symphony’s next musical director carries paramount importance in this contemporary environment of classical music. Today’s orchestras must also deal with the blunt realities of a flattened world. Historically, they have been among the most conservative of organizations and, most notably, for quite a few American cities, a strong emblem of cultural pride. Yet, many struggle to stay financially viable, as a gradually growing segment of a community’s population is skeptical of the institution’s indispensability as well as its capabilities for being artistically relevant to a young audience nourished on dramatically different forms of entertainment.

Split between the solid, generally reliable support of aging concert subscribers comfortable with the usual diet of the great classics and the demands for fresh music and artistic perspective, orchestras find change painstakingly difficult. A music director who can prove his or her willingness to navigate that treacherous channel to the mutual appreciation of the musicians, management, and public will indeed be a welcomed candidate.