Category - Uncategorized

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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
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America's other professional orchestras
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What happened in Vegas…
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Baltimore and Alsop Might Be On To Something
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Detroit implements
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What's Detroit about?
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And now for something completely different…
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Internal disconnects
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Another take on gender discrimination

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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America's other professional orchestras

When asked about the difference between American and European orchestras, most observers would first point to the fact that American orchestras receive comparatively little government funding. A segment on NPR’s All Things Considered yesterday reminds us that there is actually quite a lot of government funding of large-ensemble performance in the US – and how[…]

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What happened in Vegas…

is now online! To be more precise, an analysis of what happened at the AFM Convention in June has been published in Union Democracy Review, the newsletter of the Association for Union Democracy, and can be read here. Also at that address are links to articles on some of the issues that dominated the Convention.[…]

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Baltimore and Alsop Might Be On To Something

In my February 1, 2010 blog I wrote about the Baltimore Symphony’s plans for a  fantasy camp, (my words) for adults, and how the amateur musicians would be working with the pros of the orchestra.  It is the brainchild of Marin Alsop and apparently it has legs.  Two hundred fifty amateur musicians, now called “Rusty[…]

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Detroit implements

While not unexpected, this is not good news: Eleventh hour talks on Friday to head off a work stoppage at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra failed to settle a rancorous labor dispute between management and musicians…No further negotiating sessions are scheduled and DSO President Anne Parsons said Friday afternoon that management is now implementing the terms[…]

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What's Detroit about?

Anne Midgette writes (or, more fairly, implies) in the Washington Post that the Detroit negotiations center on …a proposal that involves not only a hefty salary cut, but a formal redefinition of the job of an orchestral musician, making outreach, teaching, and chamber concerts a part of the deal. As Stryker points out, most musicians[…]

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And now for something completely different…

The bad news arrived on such a regular basis this summer that it was a shock to see two bits of very good news arrive last week with a day or so. The first item was news of a startlingly successful fundraising campaign by the board of the New Jersey Symphony. The NJSO is an[…]

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Internal disconnects

Orchestras are different in lots of ways from most institutions in our society. But there are commonalities. One was brought home to me today when I read a blog post by a UC Berkeley prof on the tension between academics and university administrators: …university administrators and ordinary academics have totally different ideas of what counts[…]

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Another take on gender discrimination

Strings magazine has an article on gender discrimination in its most recent issue that’s worth a look. While the writer, Rory Williams, focuses on the ongoing saga of how many women have really been hired by the Vienna Philharmonic, there is also quite a bit on the situation in the US as well: The latest[…]

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