Archive - 2011

1
Through the worm hole
2
Justice for extras
3
The Language of Music Advocacy
4
Remembering Len Leibowitz
5
Philly out of the AFM-EP Fund?
6
Unleashed
7
How to kill a mediation
8
Louisville: a local view
9
How to Sell New Music
10
Idea Formation, Entrepreneur or Career Exploration

Through the worm hole

The management and board of the Louisville Orchestra have apparently transported themselves to an alternate universe – one without unions, labor law, or audiences: Citing a breakdown in negotiations with its musicians, the Louisville Orchestra said Monday that it would “begin the process of hiring permanent replacements for our musicians” as early as next week.[…]

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Justice for extras

Drew McManus analyzed the effect of the new collective bargaining agreement in Philly on the relative compensation of the Philadelphia Orchestra musicians in a post at Adaptistration. His conclusions were not positive: Philadelphia Orchestra’s recent agreement places it firmly below traditional peers, including the Cleveland Orchestra. For the first time in the history of the[…]

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The Language of Music Advocacy

In a recent class I was teaching on music entrepreneurship, during an idea/feedback section of the class, I became mystified at many students’ inability to express in words the importance of music. Their ideas were wonderful: full of social impact, ca…

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Remembering Len Leibowitz

The memorial service for Len Leibowitz was held on Sunday afternoon on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It was moderated – if that’s the right word – by Steve Flamhaft, a lawyer who had grown up with Len in Brighton Beach and had gone to high school, Bucknell and law school with him as[…]

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Philly out of the AFM-EP Fund?

This is potentially a very big deal: The American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Fund (the “Fund”) said today that an agreement reached by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association is the culmination of a strategy to avoid its obligation to pay the Fund contributions of up to $35 million it owes for benefits earned by[…]

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Unleashed

I am sure we’ve all had evenings when we arrive home from work exhausted and brain-dead, not having the energy or concentration to do anything more than switch on the TV and go semi-conscious.  And of course, sleep comes pretty … Continue reading

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How to kill a mediation

Something quite unusual happened in Louisville last week; a mediator called one of the parties to the mediation a liar in public. It was, of course, phrased more diplomatically than that: Mediator Henri Mangeot presented both sides with a contract proposal Thursday that was ultimately accepted by the orchestra’s board and management, but rejected by[…]

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Louisville: a local view

This was sent as a letter to the Louisville Courier-Journal but not published. Unfortunate, as it is a very thorough look at the situation from an experienced local observer: One really doesn’t know whether to laugh or to cry in response to Chuck Maisch’s column about the Louisville Orchestra that appeared in the Courier-Journal on[…]

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Idea Formation, Entrepreneur or Career Exploration

Dear Taylor,
Last Monday, at the end of the class on entrepreneurship you asked a difficult question, how do I develop ideas? I have thought long and hard about this and have come up with suggestions for you – and others. And after I developed these…

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