Blog

Don’t dilute your product in order to make money

Here is a little followup to my last post about starving artists.  In talking to Maria further, she made another interesting observation.  In her opinion, a mistake that many artists make in trying to figure out how to make money, is to underestimate their audience.   She commented that some musicians seem to think that if[…]

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Management by waving (sticks) around

The Globe and Mail apparently believes that conductors have something to teach the corporate world: As a rookie conductor, Roger Nierenberg thought his job as leader was to tell people what to do. But in 14 years as director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida, he learned that being overly controlling is destined to[…]

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Noises off

So there we were, in the middle of the introduction to the first movement of the Beethoven 7th on Saturday night, when we heard a loud noise from backstage that sounded as if someone had dropped a kitchen sink from a very great height. I’ve played thousands of concerts, but never heard anything quite like[…]

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Department of Conductorial Humor

Overheard at work this morning: Keyboardist: Edo, did you say something to the piano? Conductor: More like to the pianist. But the piano will follow you. And all these years I thought the Dutch were a humorless sort. Edo has proven to be quite the opposite. What’s more impressive is that he uses the humor[…]

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Orchestra (but not money) can go to Cuba

US policy towards Cuba has claimed another victim: The New York Philharmonic scratched its planned trip to Cuba at the end of October because the United States government was barring a group of patrons from going along, the orchestra said on Thursday. Without them and their donations, the Philharmonic said, it could not afford the[…]

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American Orchestras Summit at the University of Michigan

Several organizations, including the League of American Orchestras and the University of Michigan School of Music, have banded together to present, “American Orchestras Summit at the University of Michigan: Creating Partnerships in Research and Performance.”  The conference purpose is to attempt to launch a permanent dialogue between the scholarly community and the symphonic community.   As[…]

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Philly hires a new CEO

It’s official: Allison B. Vulgamore, president of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 1993, will take over the Philadelphia ensemble at a time when it has been badly shaken by financial turmoil. She is expected to start work as president and CEO no later than Feb. 1. “I think that we have found a leader who[…]

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A rather blunt headline

The press in Montana does not mince words.

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Fun with audition ads

I’ve been reading audition ads in the International Musician for a long time now, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that caused me to scratch my head quite as hard as the one placed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in the September 2009 issue of the IM for “Viola Substitute Pool.” I’ve seen ads[…]

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Maybe we're doing OK after all

A view from across the Atlantic: In my article on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last week, I said that in recent years more than a dozen US orchestras had ‘gone to the wall’. I am glad to say this was wrong. 13 orchestras did in fact file for bankruptcy protection between 1986 and 2008, but[…]

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1
Don’t dilute your product in order to make money
2
Management by waving (sticks) around
3
Noises off
4
Department of Conductorial Humor
5
Orchestra (but not money) can go to Cuba
6
American Orchestras Summit at the University of Michigan
7
Philly hires a new CEO
8
A rather blunt headline
9
Fun with audition ads
10
Maybe we're doing OK after all