Blog

Michael Kaiser: wisdom or bromides?

An article in the June 28th edition of the New York Times discussed Michael Kaiser, the advice he gives, and some negative reactions from the field: At a time of many questions in the world of culture, Mr. Kaiser is regarded by many as the man with most of the answers, a miracle worker credited[…]

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League Conference: Russell Willis Taylor – How to put your organization out of business

Thursday afternoon’s general session began with a performance by the ASO brass quintet. Jesse Rosen then recounted an experience he had playing bass trombone in the NYU orchestra. He was preparing his part for Brahms’ Requiem and was pleased to see that he had a lot of notes, including a few melodies. At the first[…]

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AFM Election Results

Election results from the AFM Convention can be found here.

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League Conference: Musicians' Session

On Thursday we had a musicians’ session, with Bob Wagner moderating. Bob is the principal bassoon of the New Jersey Symphony, a board member of the League, and former ICSOM rep and Orchestra Committee chair of the NJSO. There were perhaps 15 of us: we talked about a lot of things: I asked about the[…]

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Live-blogging the AFM Convention

Orchestra musicians are fortunate that what happens to their union is important enough that they should care about it; most American workers are not so lucky in having a collective voice of any kind. So for those of you who do care about what’s happening in – and to – the AFM, I’m live-blogging the[…]

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League Opening Session Part 2

The keynote speaker at the conference opening session on Wednesday, June 16, was Ben Cameron, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Fund. He is the former executive director of Theatre Communications Group. Excerpts from his address follow (he’s a very fast talker so this is not verbatim): According to Bill Moyers,[…]

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League Conference Opening Day

The League of American Orchestra’s annual conference opened on Wednesday, June 16. Musicians, conductors, artist administrators, and music publishers were invited to an open rehearsal of the Atlanta Symphony at Woodruff Arts Center for the Atlanta School of Composers concert to be held on Friday, followed by a luncheon with comments by Music Director Robert[…]

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Michael Kaiser's 10 Commandments

Michael Kaiser, CEO of the Kennedy Center and author of The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations, has been travelling the country, speaking in all 50 states about how non-profit arts organizations can weather the current economic downturn. On June 10 he came to Connecticut; I attended his New Haven session[…]

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League Conference in Atlanta

The League of American Orchestras’ annual conference is next week in Atlanta, June 16 to 19. I’m attending and will be blogging every day about what’s going on. Reminder that any musician in a member orchestra (which I’d imagine includes all professional orchestras) can attend the League’s conference for free, registering as a musician. They[…]

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Musician Performance Rights–Pending Legislation to Benefit Musicians

Yesterday I received another email from AFM President Lee.  Unlike the video the previous day, which had a “please join the union message,” this one was all business.  It tells of the legislation before Congress right now that would benefit musician’s works that are played on terrestrial radio.  Here’s part of the email. One of[…]

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1
Michael Kaiser: wisdom or bromides?
2
League Conference: Russell Willis Taylor – How to put your organization out of business
3
AFM Election Results
4
League Conference: Musicians' Session
5
Live-blogging the AFM Convention
6
League Opening Session Part 2
7
League Conference Opening Day
8
Michael Kaiser's 10 Commandments
9
League Conference in Atlanta
10
Musician Performance Rights–Pending Legislation to Benefit Musicians