Jeff1225, over the years, I've had season tickets for symphonies in LA, Philly, St. Louis, LA, Dallas, Ft. Worth and NY when I called each city "home". As far as I know, there is no example of a music director that conducts their home town band full time. They all have multiple commitments. However, your numbers for Dudamel conducting 4/48 times in a season seem unusually low. Might it have been because of the specific series you had? I have no idea what the right percentage should be for conducting one's home symphony, but that's a contractual issue that probably varies from orchestra to orchestra.
I would be thrilled to hear some conductors just once (as a guest conductor). Carnegie is unusual because it does not have its own symphony but hosts the greatest orchestras in the world, each with talented conductors. Rather than lament how may times I may or may not see Dudamel in NY doesn't concern me. I choose my attendance based on programming, not conductors. In addition, hearing a live performance is always a special treat. Watching a performance of the highest caliber of this art form in real time is always a thrill whether the baton is held by Dudamel or someone far less known. Sometimes those folks are the superstar conductors of tomorrow. It's all good!!
Here's an example. Let's say you show up at a concert for the LA Phil and Dudamel is off in some far away land and they stick you with some 27 year old kid Finnish conductor named Klaus Mäkelä. Do you pine over the loss of Dudamel for that evening, or do you say "hmmm, maybe this kid has got the goods, let's see what he can do"? I suggest it's more productive to take the latter approach. Turns out that kid was just appointed the music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, one of the world's greatest, which has only had 8 conductors in their 125+ year history. I think we can safely say the folks in Amsterdam aren't lamenting about not seeing Dudamel!
