Posted on March 31, 2010 at 7:35 am by Ann Drinan
in General |

I read with interest the thread that went through Orchestra-l recently about many symphony musicians who feel that orchestras just dress too formally to relate to their public.

Well, I have the absolute opposite opinion — many of us dress way too informally.

Yes, white-tie and tails are an anachronism from another century and perhaps should be replaced by at least the tux, but formal black dress for women is elegant and, I think, part of the concert-going experience for our audience. If you’re paying $100+ for a ticket in the orchestra section, you should expect the folks on stage to look worthy of that price.

My complaint is with the women (men have no choice — tux or tails means something very explicit). What makes some women (usually young) think that wearing a pair of spandex black pants and a skin-tight black top, with boots, is appropriate when you’re sitting next to a man wearing tails??? Our contract states something about women wearing something like ‘equivalent to the attire of the men.’

Personally, I hardly ever wear a skirt as a “civvy,” but I wouldn’t consider performing a Masterworks concert without wearing formal attire, always a skirt. It’s “my uniform,” just like the men have their tails and tuxes. (I do wear velvet pants and a very fancy top for Sunday matinees.)

One of my female colleagues wears pants — the type I’d wear to a business meeting — with loafers and a nice blouse and she figures she’s dressed up — sitting next to a man in tails! I want to scream, sometimes.

I don’t know how to educate people about this. My orchestra was hired to play a New Year’s Eve performance a few years ago with the group that was doing those Vienna concerts around the country — I, as then OC Chair, had to go around and personally ask every woman to wear a skirt — to get dressed up! Some were really angry with me. My point was to try to get us rehired next year — if we looked bad on stage, they wouldn’t ask us again. (Most complied and we were indeed rehired the next year — some women wore beautiful gowns, but almost everyone wore a skirt.)

But why couldn’t they have done the same thing the next week, when we had a Masterworks concert, in terms of getting dressed up? It’s a continuing problem and I don’t have any answers. I welcome your comments.

Yvonne Caruthers wrote an article about dress codes a while back, and she quoted one of my colleagues in the HSO, Carole Olefsksy, who is a vigilante about trying to maintain our dress code.  Sadly, I think we’re just where we were when Yvonne and Carole talked about this a few years ago.

Performing is really a bit  about show biz, no? So we should dress the part!

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Posted on March 30, 2010 at 10:12 am by Robert Levine
in General |

The board of the Charleston (SC) Symphony has decided to call it quits for this season:

A significant drop in fundraising dollars, exacerbated by the recession’s “strong headwind” has forced the Charleston Symphony Orchestra to suspend its operations, effective immediately, board president Ted Legasey said Sunday.

It is the first time in the orchestra’s 75-year history that a performance season has been disrupted because of acute financial difficulties, and next season’s fate is far from certain…

Symphony management will downsize its staff and develop a restructuring plan with the hope that bankruptcy can be avoided and the organization can regain its footing in time for next season, he said.

“The recession has taken a fragile economic enterprise and put it in a vise,” Legasey said.

The drastic move was caused by a decline in major gift giving of 60 percent compared to last year, he said.

So what happened? The board blames the lack of a good business model: (more…)

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Posted on March 29, 2010 at 1:04 pm by Ann Drinan
in General |

So the Vienna Philharmonic finally recognized that women really can play the violin (or whatever instrument) and appointed a woman as Concertmaster.

In honor of this occasion, which shouldn’t really have to be an occasion (if the Vienna Philharmonic lived in the same decade, or even century, as the rest of us), I asked a few women colleagues across the globe to comment.

“Wow!  That is fantastic!” is certainly appropriate, given how long it took Vienna to appoint a woman to anything.

“Aren’t they worried their quality will suffer” was a cynical comment from a string player in a major orchestra.

And I think all of us would agree with: “It’s just ridiculous that it took Vienna so long, but it proves that there was nothing to fear all along.”

Personally, it makes me think of those women who play with Andre Rieu, who must wear these gossamer evening gowns as they play and are not allowed to perform elsewhere (last I heard – I could have old info). Just how outdated are a few of our musical institutions? I believe the rest of us have long since discarded such arcane thinking. I can’t remember the last time I was confronted with sexism in auditions for symphony positions (it certainly does exist elsewhere, I fear), so this announcement is stunning in its non-news.

Robert Levine has done some analysis of gender in orchestras — my own orchestra is probably about even. Announcing a female concertmaster just should not be international news.

Julie Ayer of the Minnesota Orchestra, and author of  More Than Meets the Ear, How Symphony Musicians Made Labor History, wrote to me:

This wonderful news of the concertmaster position going to a woman is stunning only because of the history of the Vienna Philharmonic. They have been under international pressure for many years to “use the creative potential of the other half of humanity and prove its responsibility for a modern open society,” according to chancellor Viktor Klima. It was not until 1997 that the VPO ended its 155-year-old exclusion of women by admitting harpist Anna Lelkes, who had performed as second  harpist for more than twenty years.

In her position as concertmaster, Ms. Danailova has obviously earned the respect of her colleagues. The all-male club is no longer relevant and this historic appointment is celebrated by colleagues worldwide. Finally the VPO has joined the 21st century, and hopefully many more women will be joining the Vienna Philharmonic in the near future.

Many congratulations to Ms. Danailova!

Here, here, Julie!

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Posted on March 26, 2010 at 10:54 am by Robert Levine
in General |

Coverage of the impact of concessions on musicians is not usually as explicit as in this article by Tim Smith for the Baltimore Sun:

Musicians of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra have agreed to take yet another salary hit in an effort to help the organization weather the continued effects of the recession. The players accepted a freeze for the 2010-11 season and a 16.6 percent reduction for the two seasons after that. By the 2012-2013 season, base pay for BSO members will be $67,600 — essentially the same as it was in 2001.

“We’re devastated,” said Jane Marvine, an English horn player and spokesperson for the Players’ Committee. “In the last decade, two times we had great contracts that were unfulfilled. This sets us back a decade. We have everything going for us. The talent is on the stage and in the [administration]. We have a music director committed to expanding the orchestra as a resource for the community. We have a collaborative spirit. So it seems impossible to us that we have not been able to thrive as a major American orchestra in one of the wealthiest states.” (more…)

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Posted on March 23, 2010 at 8:54 am by Robert Levine
in General |

There doesn’t seem to have been anything in the press or blogosphere about the effect of healthcare reform (as of last night, and pending the signature of the President, the law of the land) on orchestras. One would think that the effect of HCR on 0.00002% of the national economy would be bigger news.

No doubt now that HCR is passed the League and perhaps the AFM will be looking at its potential effects on our field, and will come up with something definitive and helpful. But I think taking a look at it now is useful, even in the absence of a lot of detail to analyze. (more…)

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Posted on March 22, 2010 at 12:15 pm by Robert Levine
in General |

A fascinating article in the latest edition of Allegro, the official publication of Local 802 (NYC), adds some more data to the subject of gender balance in orchestras:

Each year for Women’s History Month we crunch the numbers to see how our male and female members are represented on various contracts. The data below is for the period Jan. 1, 2009 to Dec. 31, 2009. You’ll see, for instance, that in 2009 there were 1,064 men listed on Broadway contracts as compared to 330 women. We find that all of the male/female percentages have stayed about the same since the last time we ran the numbers. (more…)

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Posted on March 19, 2010 at 11:03 am by Ramon Ricker
in General |

Here’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…)

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Posted on March 18, 2010 at 4:50 pm by Robert Levine
in General |

Breaking news on the Detroit Symphony today:

Talks 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…)

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Posted on March 18, 2010 at 12:06 pm by Robert Levine
in General |

The New York Times raises the question of just who benefits from a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall:

Christoph 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…)

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Posted on March 16, 2010 at 8:05 am by Robert Levine
in General |

Mathew Gurewitsch had an interesting article the other day in the New York Times on The Cult of Youth:

IN 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…)

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