If one wishes to contribute to the conversation about how to expand the audience base for American orchestras, then one must talk about what those orchestras are presenting — and right now that’s a taboo subject. The fact is that the discussion about WHAT exactly orchestras are presenting has never taken place. The arbitrary distinction[…]
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Orchestras need to offer compelling reasons for millennials to make live symphonic music a part of their lives. After all, millennials are the largest generation in human history, and at nearly 90 million people they will very soon make up the vast majority of our orchestras’ stakeholders, constituents, audience, staff members and supporters – and[…]
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It was recently announced that John Williams will compose the music for Star Wars: Episode VII. This is great news for fans of his music all over the world, and it could be great news for smart orchestras too. A new Star Wars movie is the sort of cultural event that has largely untapped possibilities[…]
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Just like Rip Van Winkle, American orchestras have been asleep for twenty years. Season after season of the same repertoire, played again and again for generations until the idea of an orchestra participating in modern musical life seems outrageous. Last week, the League of American Orchestras focused their annual conference around the idea of “Imagining Orchestras in[…]
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Half of the fun of watching Mad Men is observing how dramatically American society has changed since the 1960’s. The characters’ constant drinking and homophobia make us blush, and we notice how far attitudes have shifted towards everything from smoking to sexism. Our lives in America have changed so thoroughly since then that looking back[…]
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Go out to hear an orchestra concert tonight and chances are the orchestra will be playing Beethoven. The most recent Orchestra Repertoire Report, from ’09 – ’10, details that 137 orchestras in America performed Beethoven’s music 457 times that season. His ninth, seventh, and fifth symphonies were ranked first, second and third respectively among the[…]
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My assumption would be that 'score' here refers to the musical portion of the recorded soundtrack, and not the written…
History is filled with people who have tried to define art. They have all been wrong, and there is no reason to suspect we are any better at it than they were. Changes to what experts call “Art” happen all the time. There was a time when people questioned whether photography constituted fine art. Some[…]
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Orchestras should raise their voices to be heard amid the din of noisy modern culture and promote themselves as socially conscious public institutions. They need to embrace a more inclusive posture in society, and demonstrate an identity more nuanced than silent anonymous conservative tuxedo-clad white male. While the price of participating in American culture[…]
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Another bit of good news from Detroit. http://tinyurl.com/ce3aw2k
In the American system, the arts are funded mostly through indirect subsidies. Our government’s tax policies toward charitable giving elicit billions of dollars in contributions annually. The beauty of this system is that it not only allows the citizens to determine which not-for-profits benefit a civil society, but also it does not require the government[…]
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MOMA now includes video games as Art. http://tinyurl.com/bm88dal
A recent missed opportunity for orchestras in New York City came in late October in the form of Comic Con. The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television. Comic Con is an event that brings more than 100,000 people[…]
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I'd point out that American Composers Orchestra commissioned and premiered Mr. Elfman's first concert piece Serenda Schizophrana at Carnegie Hall…