Author - Robert Levine

1
When Bruce Willis meets Richard Wagner
2
A tribute to Fred Zenone
3
What a crisis looks like
4
A cautionary fable
5
A crisis of analysis
6
Getting displaced by an orchestra that doesn't exist
7
Emily can't save the (Philadelphia) Orchestra
8
Was it worth it?
9
Downsizing for stability?
10
A question to which I don't know the answer

When Bruce Willis meets Richard Wagner

Heard on a small Indiana public radio station: Next, we’ll hear the overture to “Die, Meistersinger!” by Richard Wagner.

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A tribute to Fred Zenone

It is only one measure of the unique position that Fred Zenone held in our field that both the League of American Orchestras and ICSOM are honoring his memory at their respective conferences this summer. I was asked to make the presentation of the Gold Baton, the League’s highest recognition, to Pat Zenone, Fred’s widow,[…]

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What a crisis looks like

Anne Midgette at the Washington Post points us to a country where the orchestra industry is shedding jobs at a pace über alles: According to the book  Musical Life in Germany,  an informational publication put out by the German Music Information Center (MIZ) that just landed on my desk, there were 168 publicly financed[…]

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A cautionary fable

One fine day, a sailboat (not the M/V Minnow, although their experience was relevant) set sail from port with its trusty crew for a nice sustainable sail across the ocean. The weather was beautiful. As the crew gained confidence in their ship and the conditions, they raised more sail until their trusty S/V AmericanOrchestra was[…]

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A crisis of analysis

Tony Woodcock gave us a classic example of the “dinosaurs falling from the sky” genre of industry analysis on this blog last week. Before I try to dismantle his analysis, I should say that I don’t think he’s entirely wrong. Certainly the field has faced an unprecedented challenge since the beginning of recession in 2008.[…]

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Getting displaced by an orchestra that doesn't exist

This business about cheap Russian touring orchestras is getting out of hand: The Web site photograph depicted an elegant array of orchestra musicians in a glowing hall. A video clip showed an earnest young conductor leading players in a Tchaikovsky symphony. Below the picture, an official biography described the “Tschaikowski” St. Petersburg State Orchestra as[…]

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Emily can't save the (Philadelphia) Orchestra

We did a kiddie concert with the Platypus Theatre today. The show, Emily saves the Orchestra, had a very timely feel to it, being a show about a monster by the name of Boardus Dismemberus Cacophonus who hates music and wants to put an end to the orchestra. I wasn’t the only person on stage[…]

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Was it worth it?

There is a famous (although possibly apocryphal) story about Richard Nixon’s visit to China. Reportedly, Kissinger told Nixon that Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai was a student of the French Revolution. So Nixon asked him, during their first informal meeting, what he thought the impact of the French Revolution on the course of history had[…]

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Downsizing for stability?

The Syracuse Symphony board is giving up because it’s just too damned hard: Syracuse Symphony s board of trustees will file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, likely next week. Interim Executive Director Paul Brooks made the announcement Tuesday following a 2  hour SSO board meeting. Board chair Rocco Mangano, seated next to Brooks in a conference room[…]

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A question to which I don't know the answer

Playing an instrument well is really, really hard. Playing together with other people is not much easier. But playing the dynamics on the page is quite easy. So why do so many people in orchestras do so well at the first two and so badly at the last one?

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