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From One of the Masters: Basic Principles of Orchestra Management
It’s conference season again, and musicians attending the League of American Orchestra’s annual conference this week in St. Louis will have the chance to learn some of the basic principles of orchestra management from one of the masters, former San Francisco Symphony and St. Louis Symphony CEO Peter Pastreich. Those not lucky enough to hear
Read This Post →2013 ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming
The League of American Orchestras announced today the winners of this year’s ASCAP awards for adventurous programming. ASCAP and the League present the awards each year during the League’s conference to orchestras of all sizes for programs that challenge the audience, build the repertoire, and increase interest in music of our time. The winners for
Read This Post →Working Together: Orchestra Musicians, Boards and Management
The Wall Street Journal for Friday, June 7, 2013 carries an article in the “D” Section, “After Orchestras Strike: A Tale of Two Cities” by Terry Teachout. The article compares the ways in which two orchestras – The Minnesota Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony – are dealing with their financial problems. In Minnesota there is
Read This Post →What Were They Thinking?
What Were They Thinking? For most music students the transition to the professional world does not usually happen abruptly. A switch is not thrown and voila, you’re a pro. The normal course of events involves a period of time when some gigs are well paid , some not-so-well and some not-at-all. It’s these not-so-well and
Read This Post →Labor of Love: A Primer in Symphony Orchestra Musician/Management Relations
You might think musicians would be at the top of a symphony orchestra’s food chain. So did I. When I joined the Boston Symphony violin section in 1975 at the tender age of 22, fresh out of college, bursting with enthusiasm, I was under the naïve misconception that the management of the orchestra worked for
Read This Post →Some Good Orchestra News (for a change)
It’s common for the general public, and even musicians to dwell on the negatives when speaking about the current state of orchestra affairs. Of course it’s not all gloom and doom. Here’s a positive. Pittsburgh Symphony settles contract with musicians a year early By Sally Kalson and Andrew Druckenbrod / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette At a time when major
Read This Post →Jazz Fights For Justice
Classical music organizations and musicians are not the only ones facing labor disputes, contract negotiations, and pension issues. This recent article from the AFM‘s International Musician tells the story of New York City jazz musicians who are trying to convince jazz clubs to pay into pensions for their retirement. Click here to read the article.
Read This Post →Nashville – WTF?
The situation in Nashville is beginning to seem worrisome: Foreclosure proceedings have been initiated against the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and an auction of its landmark Schermerhorn Symphony Center has been scheduled for June 28. Formal notice of the foreclosure was issued by Bank of America, the lead lender on the $82.3 million still owed on
Read This Post →Flora, Fauna, and Fiddles: Which Ones Require International Permits?
An on-demand webinar is now available providing an introduction to the special permit process required for international travel with certain musical instruments containing protected species, such as ivory, rosewood, tortoise shell, and other material. On May 14th, the League of American Orchestras, in partnership with the American Federation of Musicians, The Recording Academy, and NAMM,
Read This Post →Île de Saint-Louis: An Homage for Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013)
It was the First Symphony (1951) of Henri Dutilleux, a composer who was entirely new to me then. I came to know the work well and it started me along a road of discovery of one of the finest composers of the 20th Century.
Read This Post →Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids 2013 Spring Bash!
I traveled down to Baltimore last week to spend some time with the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program and experience their final concert for this academic year — their Spring Bash. I first observed the OrchKids program, the BSO’s after-school intensive El Sistema program, in 2010 when they were in their second year at the Lockerman-Bundy
Read This Post →Another take on job satisfaction
The question of job satisfaction in our field has long been an interest of mine, both for obvious personal reasons and because the sources of much dissatisfaction lie in an area of research – stress – I heard lots about over family dinners. So I found this article in yesterday’s New York Times to be
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Working Together: Orchestra Musicians, Boards and Management
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