Author - Robert Levine

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Detroit Update 1/23/2011
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More Detroit
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A press blackout with a very short lifespan
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Are we figments of Mahler's imagination?
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AFM wins in court; won't matter much
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An orchestra of 300 million
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What's the difference between practicing and child abuse?
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Movement in Detroit: PS
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Movement in Detroit?
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CSO Live (not sure about the conductor, though)

Detroit Update 1/23/2011

According to the Detroit Free Press, there were negotiations today: The musicians and management of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra returned to the bargaining table this afternoon to try to settle the contentious strike that enters its 17th week on Monday. DSO board members received an e-mail from management today saying that talks had resumed, said[…]

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More Detroit

The war of words heated up during the time I was writing the previous post: Musicians’ spokesman Greg Bowens disputed the $40.1 million figure, saying, “That must be another example of the fuzzy math that got the orchestra into the deficits it’s in now.”… Bowens declined to address most other issues in management’s Saturday morning[…]

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A press blackout with a very short lifespan

Detroit Symphony management and musicians met all day Thursday under a press blackout: The status of contract talks between the musicians and management of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra remained unclear early this afternoon in the midst of a news blackout by both sides in the dispute. The parties met all day Thursday in an effort[…]

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Are we figments of Mahler's imagination?

Norman thinks that Mahler invented the American symphony orchestra. He makes a good case: Mahler split the Carnegie season into four subscription blocs, each with a thematic base, something no conductor had tried before. As well as a Regular Series, he put in a Beethoven cycle “for the education of lovers of classical music, for[…]

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AFM wins in court; won't matter much

The AFM (or at least its lawyers) had a good win in labor law land the other day: The AFM has won a significant victory affecting orchestra media negotiations. The AFM has consistently taken the position that orchestra managements who are signatory to AFM media agreements (such as the Symphony, Opera or Ballet Audio Visual[…]

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An orchestra of 300 million

Last Saturday I was on my way to New York, which in practice is pretty much an all-day business. So I saw almost nothing about the Tucson shootings until I heard about them during the League seminar I was helping out with on Sunday. What I heard then caught me off-guard; apparently one of the[…]

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What's the difference between practicing and child abuse?

It’s not very often that practice techniques make the Wall Street Journal. It’s even less often that they become the stuff of vitriolic debate, but that’s what’s happened in response to this: A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many[…]

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Movement in Detroit: PS

It’s understandable why the musicians might be wary in light of DSO management’s public statements regarding their new “offer”: DSO officials said it would up the orchestra budget to $36 million, $2 million more in player pay and benefits than its late November offer. But the offer is contingent on musicians accepting work rule changes[…]

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Movement in Detroit?

Maybe: The striking musicians and management of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra traded barbs and accusations on today while a settlement to the 15-week-old strike remained elusive — even as management appeared to sweeten its offer for the first time since November. The musicians called a news conference to accuse management of threatening to cancel the[…]

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CSO Live (not sure about the conductor, though)

In honor of yesterday’s inaugural broadcast to movie theaters of “LA Phil Live,” here’s what cutting-edge media technology looked like 50 years ago. I love the downbeat to the third bar.

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