Musician Plays Violin as Surgeons Operate on His Brain
Posted on March 19, 2010 at 11:03 am by Ramon Ricker
in General
Tags: health
No commentsHere’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
(more…)
Reading the tea leaves in Detroit
Posted on March 18, 2010 at 4:50 pm by Robert Levine
in General
Tags: money, Negotiations
Breaking news on the Detroit Symphony today:
No commentsTalks 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 not currently engaged in discussions on the current contract which runs through August 2010,” the parties said in a statement. “Although discussions that began last year were amicable, both parties were not able to mutually agree on methods to modify the current contract.” (more…)
Oops
Posted on March 18, 2010 at 12:06 pm by Robert Levine
in General
Tags: money
The New York Times raises the question of just who benefits from a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall:
No commentsChristoph 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 go to the cause. The concert, though, is expected to raise some money, thanks mainly to a $50,000 subsidy by the Montblanc company and $10,000 by CAMI Music, the concert’s presenter and Mr. Lang’s management agency. Montblanc had promised to help pay for the concert well before it was transformed into a benefit, a decision made at Mr. Lang’s request. The performers, including Mr. Lang, are waiving their fees. (more…)
The Cult of Youth
Posted on March 16, 2010 at 8:05 am by Robert Levine
in General
Tags: Conductors
Mathew Gurewitsch had an interesting article the other day in the New York Times on The Cult of Youth:
1 commentIN 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 counts.
Last December in Vienna, Christoph Koncz, a cherubic ex-concert master with the training orchestra at the Verbier Festival, in the Swiss Alps, and now, at 22, a principal second violin with the Vienna Philharmonic, recalled the Salzburg Festival debut of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra under the fire-eating Gustavo Dudamel, then 27, in 2008.
“The atmosphere was fantastic,” Mr. Koncz said, unwinding after an ill-starred premiere of Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Vienna State Opera. “The audience went wild. It was like a party.” (more…)
NHMF and the Union
Posted on March 15, 2010 at 7:42 am by Robert Levine
in General
Tags: NHMF
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 orchestra beginning summer 2010. Musicians opposed the new model because it created an implicit threat to their long-held positions with the orchestra.
Management personnel who have stepped down include Festival Director Henry Fogel, newly appointed Artistic Director Johnny Gandelsman, President David Graham, Vice Chairman Susan Weatherbie, and several other board members. With their departures, it has been determined that NHMF will continue to pursue the traditional orchestral approach that the musicians and community favored and fought for.
NHMF Orchestra Committee member Joseph Higgins of Local 9-535 (Boston, MA) says that the committee is working to establish new terms in the orchestra’s personnel policy, which would make musicians’ jobs with the festival more secure. “When we clarify some of these things, I think that the musicians will be ready to throw their full support behind the festival again and help in whatever way we can,” Higgins adds. “We love this festival and want it to succeed.”
Though not news to readers of this blog, this is obviously good news for the musicians of the Festival. But you could read the article over and over without noticing that, despite its publication in the AFM’s official journal and the mention of Local 9-535, this good news had nothing at all to do with the efforts of the AFM. (more…)
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Klemp, you talka too muich
Posted on March 12, 2010 at 1:21 am by Robert Levine
in General
Tags: Conductors
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 how few conductors have mastered it – is the art of not saying too much. No doubt the tradition (or myth) of the omniscient maestro, teaching the ignorant and faceless mass of musicians in front of him about the greatness of the art and getting them to play far beyond their innate musicality, is the source of much of the problem. Teaching involves a lot of talking, after all.
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Depreciation of Musical Instruments
Posted on March 11, 2010 at 12:41 pm by Bill Hunt
in Taxes
Tags: Depreciation, Taxes
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. Would I be able to depreciate the instrument on my taxes? I also know that old string instruments generally appreciate in value. Am I able to depreciate the violin even if it appreciates? Thanks for your help.
Lynda Ayres
Linda
Because you do not play your instrument as an income generating activity, your performing with the community orchestra would be considered a personal activity or a hobby rather than a business activity. As such, you would not be able to claim any expenses related to playing in the community orchestra, including depreciation on the violin. However, if the organization is listed with the IRS as a qualified not for profit organization, then you could deduct mileage to and from rehearsals and concerts as a charitable donation. Please note that persons engaged in a hobby that does generate some income can deduct expenses for that hobby up to the amount of income.
If you do find yourself in a situation where you are playing your violin professionally and earning income from this activity, then you could depreciate the instrument, but please read my article on polyphonic.org for more information, especially regarding older string instruments.
Thank you for your question and good luck with your next concert!
Bill Hunt
Musician Tax Questions
Posted on March 11, 2010 at 12:27 pm by Bill Hunt
in Taxes
Tags: Taxes
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 subbed for another much larger orchestra in another state this past year for about 12 weeks. These were anywhere from 1 to 3 week engagements. When she worked there, she was responsible for her expenses of travel, lodging, food. This added up to about 2500 miles round trip, a couple of flights, and around 70 days of meals. She received a W-2 from this group, even though she really didn’t enjoy any of the benefits of being an actual employee – she had no guarantees of work, no contract beyond 3 weeks, and definitely no benefits package. She did have taxes taken out and I believe pension contributions under the groups’ CBA.
What I am wondering is if she can treat this work and its expenses as any kind of self-employment and take above line deductions rather than fall under the unreimbursed employee business expense category, which creates a much more complicated situation – we would have to itemize her travel and costs for every ensemble rather than just the one she subbed with and a festival.
Does the Vienna Phil discriminate?
Posted on March 10, 2010 at 2:10 am by Robert Levine
in General
Tags: discrimination, Hiring, Vienna Philharmonic
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:
No commentsBernstein 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 a bald fact: an orchestra almost exclusively male and white. No other internationally ranked orchestra has so few women and non-whites: respectively three percent and zero per cent. The belief system surrounding classical music seems to reach its most conservative apotheosis in Vienna. The Philharmonic’s maleness and whiteness seems to remain as inviolable a part of its identity as the liquid legato of its Vienna horn. (more…)
I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends
Posted on March 5, 2010 at 11:35 am by Ramon Ricker
in General
The article that follows my comments is from The Minnesota Daily, the newspaper of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul. It’s the first in a series profiling drug use on the UMinn. campus, and they start with music students.
Since the readers of Polyphonic.org are familiar with the orchestra world, it will be no surprise to you to be reminded that some musicians use beta blockers to calm their nerves in performance. It is well known that there is stress related directly to performance and playing an instrument. (more…)
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