Category - Miscellaneous

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A Tale of Two Audiences
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Fred Zenone
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Why conductors live longer
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YouTube Symphony–Year Two Coming
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A Musician's Friend–Mark Morris Gets It
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MacArthur gets one right
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The Lakota Music Project
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Actions have consequences
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A bad excuse to get out of a tough dilemma
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Sarah's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad dilemma

A Tale of Two Audiences

A Tale of Two Audiences Let’s talk about programming, shall we? Any music director of an American orchestra, when programming a season, is striving to create balance. What does the orchestra need to play in order to grow artistically? What does the audience want to hear? What do they need to hear in order to[…]

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Fred Zenone

Sir Isaac Newton, generally regarded as the most influential scientist in human history, once said “if I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Those of us who make a living playing in orchestras stand on the shoulders of giants as well. One of them, Fred Zenone, died on[…]

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Why conductors live longer

It’s not because they make more money, or have all that power, or gets lots of aerobic exercise from moving their arms so much. Apparently it’s because they get to stand up while working: In academic papers with titles such as, “Your Chair: Comfortable but Deadly,” physicians point to surprising new research showing higher rates[…]

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YouTube Symphony–Year Two Coming

Here’s an article that appeared in the Entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times last week. The author says she is cynical and that is apparent, but I’m even more cynical about the article itself.  It’s definitely representative of “old school” thinking.  See if you agree. Culture Monster All the Arts, All the Time The[…]

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A Musician's Friend–Mark Morris Gets It

Here’s an interview with Mark Morris, the well-known choreographer, that appeared recently in the Boston Globe. In the first part of the interview he hits the nail on the head in his answer to the question, “Why is live music so important to you in performance?”  Ballet and dance company musicians out there, remember this[…]

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MacArthur gets one right

Some of the choices that the MacArthur Foundation has made in the past when awarding their “genius grants” to people in our field have struck me a little… odd. A few years ago, a MacArthur award went to Marin Alsop, and I remember feeling at the time that it might have had more to with[…]

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The Lakota Music Project

Yesterday the South Dakota Symphony played its Lakota Music Project at Crazy Horse Memorial near Custer, SD in the Black Hills. http://crazyhorsememorial.org/info/‘lakota-music-project’-highlights-native-americans’-day-at-crazy-horse/ It was Native American Day in South Dakota (Governor George Mickelson renamed Columbus Day in the 1990, part of his Common Ground initiative). The Lakota Music Project has been over five years in[…]

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Actions have consequences

… as Sarah Chang has just been sharply reminded. My personal definition of “grown-up” is someone who not only understands that actions have consequences but doesn’t complain about the fact. Very, very few people pass that test consistently. But one of the times it is most often forgotten in our industry is during labor disputes.[…]

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A bad excuse to get out of a tough dilemma

Sarah Chang has canceled her Detroit recital scheduled for Monday, according to the Detroit Free Press: Some of the e-mails Chang told DSO management she received through her Web site, www.sarahchang.com, crossed the line from expressing displeasure to physical threats and career intimidation. Chang’s Los Angeles-based manager Jenny Vogel declined comment. DSO president Anne Parsons[…]

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Sarah's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad dilemma

Orchestra strikes always cause collateral damage, from lost work for stage hands to lost income for restaurants. The strike in Detroit looks to hurt someone aside from the usual suspects, though. The DSO was supposed to have its opening concerts of the season this weekend with soloist Sarah Chang. Of course the concerts are off[…]

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