THE WHAT AND THE WHO
South Berkshire County drivers can not have helped but notice the new red and blue lawn signs popping up along roadsides and in medians. Using the Obama “Hope” style of artist Shepard Fairey, the signs say “Stand with Andris” and “Reinstate Andris” and feature the smiling image of twelve-year Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Andris Nelsons. His contract, as announced on March 6 in a statement from the BSO's board of trustees, chaired by Barbara Hostetter, was not renewed beyond 2027, with the explanation that he and the orchestra “were not aligned on future vision.” Since then there’s been an energetic and sustained effort to restore Nelsons to his job, and it involves thousands of signs, posters and cheap red flowers procured by devoted fans, dispersed first in Boston and now, as the BSO has moved to its Berkshires summer home, in the small towns in and around Lenox. The movement…
