Author - Ann Drinan

1
Yo-Yo Ma’s Address to the Americans for the Arts Summit
2
The Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship
3
The Role of the Orchestra Librarian
4
Protect Your Hearing
5
Getting to Know Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin
6
Ron Bauer’s Course on Orchestra Finances
7
Gerald Elias: Violinist, Author & Blogger
8
A Timpanist’s Memoirs
9
Kim Kashkashian, Violist Extraordinaire
10
A Violinist’s Voyage

Yo-Yo Ma’s Address to the Americans for the Arts Summit

On Monday, April 8, 2013, Yo-Yo Ma, along with former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum and Damian Woetzel, former principal dancer at New York City Ballet and the director of the Aspen Institute Arts Program, participated in the Americans for the Arts Summit in Washington DC, discussing the need to develop strong public policies[…]

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The Role of the Orchestra Librarian

Karen Schnackenberg of the Dallas Symphony has been a contributor to Polyphonic for many years. I’d like to pay tribute to her in this Editor’s Choice blog post. The article I’m calling attention to was about librarians as copyists, and included some comments from my own librarian in the Hartford Symphony, Ron Krentzman. When should a[…]

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Protect Your Hearing

Mary Plaine, Principal Librarian with the Baltimore Symphony, recently posted a New York Times article  by Jane Brody on Orchestra-L, ICSOM’s list-serve, about what causes hearing lost. (Thank you, Mary!) The article cites a new book by Katherine Bouton, “Shouting Won’t Help: Why I — and 50 Million Other Americans — Can’t Hear You.” According[…]

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Getting to Know Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the new Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra who lives in Montreal, has been garnering lots of positive press, especially after his triumphant debut with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall on October 23 performing Verdi’s Requiem. He held the silence at the conclusion of the work for many, many seconds – so many that[…]

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Ron Bauer’s Course on Orchestra Finances

As I was thinking about which article (or series of articles) to spotlight in my Editor’s Choice, I thought of Ron Bauers and all that he did for orchestras in his role as a financial analyst and an avid musician/AFM member. And then I saw that Ray Ricker has also selected a financial article to[…]

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Gerald Elias: Violinist, Author & Blogger

Jerry Elias, former violinist with the Boston and Utah Symphonies and author of four murder mysteries with a blind violin pedagogue as the protagonist, has agreed to be an occasional blogger for Polyphonic. In addition to writing mysteries Jerry has much to say about classical music, performance practise, playing violin, and much more. His fourth[…]

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A Timpanist’s Memoirs

Thomas Akins, Principal Timpanist with the Indianapolis Symphony from 1965 to 1991, has published his memoirs, Behind the Copper Fence: A Lifetime on Timpani. His book is filled with reminisces about his many years with the Indianapolis Symphony, his training as a timpanist, including seven summers (1960-66) in the League’s Institute for Orchestral Studies with[…]

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Kim Kashkashian, Violist Extraordinaire

As I’m sure most of you know, violist Kim Kashkashian won the Grammy for “Best Classical Instrumental Solo” for her album Kurtag and Ligeti of works by Hungarian composers Gyorgy Kurtag and Gyorgy Ligeti. When the announcement was made, a huge buzz went through the viola world — both because a violist had won the solo[…]

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A Violinist’s Voyage

Local 802 has again published a fascinating interview of one of its older members by a younger colleague in their monthly magazine, Allegro. Kuan Cheng Lu, who joined the orchestra in 2004, interviewed Newton Mansfield, who joined the orchestra in 1961.

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