The Many Stories of Bill Fitzpatrick: Being invited to conduct in South Africa

It was 1986, in Paris, when I got a call from a concertmaster friend from Capetown South Africa. He asked me if I would consider conducting Gianni Schicchi and Cavalleria rusticana with the orchestra. I was reluctant so he set up a call for me to talk to a US diplomat in South Africa. So later I was eating in a restaurant alone when a South African couple asked to join me. I told them about my offer and they said don't do it and I listened. Later I explained it to a marketing friend and he said I should do It, then go to a New York agency and tell them I'm the one everyone is talking about... But finally I decided to decline the offer as I didn't really didn't want to be a byline in a Stevie Wonder song. As well if I had done it, my grandmother would have never spoken to me again.

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