Blog

Gender and orchestras – another datapoint

A fascinating article in the latest edition of Allegro, the official publication of Local 802 (NYC), adds some more data to the subject of gender balance in orchestras: Each year for Women’s History Month we crunch the numbers to see how our male and female members are represented on various contracts. The data below is[…]

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Musician Plays Violin as Surgeons Operate on His Brain

Here’s a wonderful, positive story about Roger Frisch, the Minnesota Orchestra Associate Concertmaster, who underwent brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic to correct tremors.  His story was featured  on national news with Diane Sawyer.  Find it here. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/fiddling-brain-10142847

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Reading the tea leaves in Detroit

Breaking news on the Detroit Symphony today: Talks to renegotiate the Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians contract have ended without a deal, a surprise since a spokesperson for the musicians earlier said that they were “expecting and hoping” to be part of the solution to the DSO’s budget crisis. “The DSO management team and orchestra are[…]

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Oops

The New York Times raises the question of just who benefits from a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall: Christoph Eschenbach will conduct Sunday at the benefit featuring the Chinese pianist Lang Lang, top, and Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. Even if the event’s nearly $200,000 worth of tickets sell out, less than $8,000 from the sales will[…]

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The Cult of Youth

Mathew Gurewitsch had an interesting article the other day in the New York Times on The Cult of Youth: IN the world of the contemporary symphony orchestra, youth is not so much a stage of life as it is a battle cry. Youth orchestras! Young conductors! At times it begins to seem that nothing else[…]

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NHMF and the Union

The March 2010 edition of the International Musician, the official publication of the AFM, contained news of the AFM’s most recent success in influencing a recalcitrant employer: Several managers and directors of New Hampshire Music Festival (NHMF) have left their posts, following overwhelming opposition to their plans to implement a “new artistic model” for the[…]

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Klemp, you talka too muich

That was the punch line of what is likely an apocryphal story about an interaction between the great German conductor Otto Klemperer and an Italian principal oboe. Sadly, Klemp is not alone. It must be hard to be a conductor, and I don’t mean that sarcastically. But one of the hardest things – judging by[…]

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Depreciation of Musical Instruments

Original question:Linda Ayres, March 6, 2010 Dear Mr. Hunt, I’m an amateur musician. I don’t really earn any money playing the violin, but I play in a community orchestra that plays four or five concerts a year. We are very serious and we sound pretty good. I have the funds to purchase a better violin.[…]

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Musician Tax Questions

Original Question: Adam Franklin, Posted March 7, 2010 at 4:37 PM Hi, My wife works full time for an orchestra and receives all the benefits of such – predictable schedule, a contract for the year, insurance, etc. She receives a W-2 from them every January. She is for all intents an employee. However, she also[…]

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Does the Vienna Phil discriminate?

The Vienna Philharmonic is touring the UK, and The Independent has re-visited the question of whether the orchestra discriminates on the basis of gender or national origin: Bernstein called it “that unbelievable orchestra, which plays like one hundred angel-fingers growing out of my hands”. Yet once Stravinsky immolates into silence, pause, for before you is[…]

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1
Gender and orchestras – another datapoint
2
Musician Plays Violin as Surgeons Operate on His Brain
3
Reading the tea leaves in Detroit
4
Oops
5
The Cult of Youth
6
NHMF and the Union
7
Klemp, you talka too muich
8
Depreciation of Musical Instruments
9
Musician Tax Questions
10
Does the Vienna Phil discriminate?