Author - Cheryl Fippin

And the Band Stopped Playing is an account of the demise of the San Jose Symphony, written by Thomas Wolf of Wolf, Keens & Company and Nancy Glaze of the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, who funded the research for the book.

When the Hartford Symphony received a complimentary copy of the book, my Board President, David Roth, purchased a copy for every HSO Board member because he believed that the book told an important and timely story about our industry, and because the Hartford Symphony, like so many orchestras, is in the process of trying to figure out how to restructure itself. I asked David to write a review of the book, given how strong his reaction to it was.

Because the topic is so vitally important, I then asked Cheryl Fippen to write a review as well. Cheryl was a cellist with the San Jose Symphony at the time it ceased operations, and is a former Vice President of ROPA.

Both reviews discuss the merits of the analysis presented, and both concur that much was amiss with the SJS management. Cheryl corrects some mis-assertions she found in the text, and both point to the possibility of a conflict of interest vis-à-vis the Packard Foundation. David strongly recommends that the book be required reading for anyone involved in the symphony industry because it raises such valuable questions.