Posted on April 19, 2010 at 11:57 pm by Robert Levine
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I don’t know that this has ever happened in an orchestra bankruptcy before:

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris yesterday denied the Honolulu Symphony Society’s request to extend the period in which it alone could submit a plan for its reorganization.

The decision allows the symphony’s musicians and other parties to submit competing plans for the troubled organization’s emergence from bankruptcy. Until yesterday, the symphony society had the exclusive role of coming up with a reorganization plan. (more…)

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Posted on April 18, 2010 at 11:33 pm by Robert Levine
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For anyone who still believed that there was significant money to be made in selling recordings online, this chart will come as an unpleasant reality check. A dissenting point of view can be found here.

Fortunately, more and more people in our business are realizing that the real value of electronic media to our institutions is, in the broadest sense of the word, promotional. It’s a good thing we’re non-profits.

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Posted on April 15, 2010 at 11:49 pm by Robert Levine
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A discussion has erupted on another online forum regarding the use of cell phones at auditions. My orchestra has had some very limited discussion about a related issue; the use of electronic devices by committee members, albeit in the context of doing anything at auditions other than listening. But that discussion (which manifested itself in a request by one of our internal committees to audition committees) did not raise an issue that apparently has come up in other orchestras; that of maintaining the confidentiality of the audition process. (more…)

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Posted on April 13, 2010 at 1:41 pm by Robert Levine
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“The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men,” Charles de Gaulle once famously remarked. A rather public discussion of whether music directors can be indispensable is happening over the physical health of James Levine and its impact on the institutional health of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony.

At some point the absence of the music director of an opera company or a major orchestra — even from day-to-day performances, let alone major artistic initiatives — becomes debilitating for the institution. That point may have arrived, certainly at the Boston Symphony and possibly at the Met.

Since it was announced last month that Mr. Levine, 66, must undergo surgery for a painful herniated disc, Mark Volpe, the managing director of the Boston Symphony, and Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Met, have made candid statements about the need to have serious talks with Mr. Levine to assess what he can realistically commit to. (more…)

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Posted on April 12, 2010 at 8:09 am by Robert Levine
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Most orchestra musicians, in addition to loving the repertoire they play (or most of it, at least), like other music as well – although just what they like varies greatly from person to person.

My secret vice is Scottish folk music. So I was saddened to hear that the great Scottish tenor Kenneth McKellar died a few days ago:

His Handel’s Messiah with Joan Sutherland became one of Decca’s best-sellers, and his Decca recording of Handel Songs and Arias prompted Sir Adrian Boult, who had conducted the sessions, to describe McKellar as “the best Handel singer of the 20th century.” (more…)

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Posted on April 10, 2010 at 4:02 pm by Robert Levine
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I don’t know if the New York Times has done this kind of profile on an orchestra musician yet; we may need to be content to see one on an orchestra manager. At least they picked a good one to profile:

In early 1990, I got a call from the New York Philharmonic, which was looking for an executive director. I felt as if I had been named president of Harvard. (more…)

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Posted on April 9, 2010 at 12:14 pm by Robert Levine
in General |

The Atlanta Symphony board has decided to hire someone without all that old-fashioned orchestra management baggage:

The heavy odds were for an insider — a career symphonic administrator who’d already led one of the nation’s top orchestras and was looking for a lateral move.

Instead, the board of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is naming Stanley E. Romanstein, 54, as its new president. For the past nine years he has been president and CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center in St. Paul and has never led a performing arts organization. He starts with the ASO on May 3. (more…)

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Posted on April 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm by Robert Levine
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Musicians don’t talk much about focal dystonia; perhaps it’s a superstitious avoidance akin to trying to ward off the Evil Eye. For dystonia really is a horror show; arguably the leading career-killing disorder of all. (more…)

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Posted on April 5, 2010 at 12:14 pm by Robert Levine
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It’s often forgotten that the core concept behind the World Wide Web (as opposed to the Internet, with which the Web is often confused) is the hyperlink. A hyperlink is that underlined word or phrase or image on a Web page on which one clicks to go there and find out more. The power of hyperlinks lies in their ability to instantly take one to resources which, 15 years ago, would either have required hours of research to find or would simply have not been there at all.

I was reminded of that this morning when I was reading an Andrew Sullivan blog post, which took me to a Felix Salmon blog post, which took me to a Clay Shirky blog post, which led me to read more of his posts, During that process, I found a gem about the differences between men and women when it comes to self-promotion:

So I get email from a good former student, applying for a job and asking for a recommendation. “Sure”, I say, “Tell me what you think I should say.” I then get a draft letter back in which the student has described their work and fitness for the job in terms so superlative it would make an Assistant Brand Manager blush. (more…)

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