Author - Ann Drinan

1
A Conversation with the 2013 Bruno Walter Conductor Fellows
2
Telling It Like It Is – An interview with Julie Landsman
3
League of American Orchestras’ 2013 Conference
4
The Memphis Model & the Director of Innovations
5
Wu Man and Her Pipa
6
New York Philharmonic Young Peoples’ Concerts
7
The Getty Health and Wellness Programs
8
The Role of the Orchestra Committee vs. the Local
9
League Conference 2013: Learning from New Ensembles
10
NEA Under Attack Yet Again

Telling It Like It Is – An interview with Julie Landsman

Julie Landsman, French hornist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 25 years until her retirement in 2010, is the subject of a wonderful interview in Allegro, the  magazine of AFM local 802.  She explains how she developed her career plan: My first horn teacher was Mr. Howard Howard – yes that is his actual name![…]

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The Memphis Model & the Director of Innovations

A few years back, the Memphis Symphony was suffering a misunderstanding about their operational structure that became known as “the Memphis model.” Musicians around the country were under the impression that Memphis musicians were working in the office as part of their musician contracts — a “service conversion” situation. When I went to investigate, I[…]

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Wu Man and Her Pipa

The Hartford Symphony had opening night concerts this past Friday and Saturday, featuring our beautiful Austin organ with a Bach Toccata (we were joined by the Connecticut Youth Orchestra) and the Saint Saens Organ Symphony. But in between we played the Lou Harrison concerto for pipa and string orchestra, featuring Wu Man. It was a[…]

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New York Philharmonic Young Peoples’ Concerts

In 2009 I attended a New York Philharmonic Young Peoples’ Concert, conducted by my friend and colleague Delta David Gier, and was exceedingly impressed by the quality of the concert — it’s concept, execution, script, dancing, repertoire choices, etc., but mostly by how incredibly good it was. I asked David Gier and Tom Dulack, the[…]

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The Getty Health and Wellness Programs

The League of American Orchestras had a session titled “Getty Health and Wellness Session: Health, Wellness and Music.” The session was moderated by Jessica Balboni, Director of Learning Programs at the League. She introduced the panel: Dr. Cynthia Briggs, Director of the Music Therapy Program at Maryville University in St. Louis; Lisa Dixon, Executive Director[…]

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The Role of the Orchestra Committee vs. the Local

An interesting musician session at the League’s June conference featured a panel discussing “The Role of the Orchestra Committee and the Local Union.” The panelists were Robert Levine, Principal Violist of the Milwaukee Symphony, Senior Editor at Polyphonic and former Chair of ICSOM; Tom  Jöstlein, Associate Principal Horn of the St. Louis Symphony, and Chris[…]

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League Conference 2013: Learning from New Ensembles

Moderated by Norman Ryan, Vice President of Composers and Repertoire at Schott Music Corporation, the panel for this session included Amy Garapic, Co-Executive Director of Contemporaneous; Beth Perdue Outland, Vice President of Community Engagement  and Strategic Innovation, Indianapolis Symphony; Jen Richards, Managing Director, eighth blackbird; and Julia Rubio, Executive Director of the Black Pearl Chamber[…]

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NEA Under Attack Yet Again

I received an email today from Americans for the Arts about pending huge cuts to the NEA budget. Today, the U.S House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved its initial FY 2014 funding legislation, which includes a proposed cut of $71 million to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This would bring funding of[…]

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