Peter Pastreich held the position of Executive Director of the San Francisco Symphony for 21 years, retiring in 1999. By all accounts that I’ve seen or heard, he is one of the most respected orchestra managers—maybe it’s because he’s retired now. Anyway–the article that follows is an account of his 2009 presentation at the League
Read More →Polly Kahn, Vice President for Learning and Leadership Development at the League of American Orchestras, asked Polyphonic to post information about the upcoming February 1st deadline for applications for their prestigious Orchestra Management Fellowship program. The Orchestra Management Fellowship program is the League’s premier leadership training program, and is designed to launch executive careers in
Read More →Except that, of course, it’s the same conspiracy theory, only this time in the hallowed web pages of the Huffington Post: It’s the voodoo. That horrible, Kuru-inducing zombie voodoo. These are heady times for the League of American Orchestras (LAO) and their ilk. True, their suits have grown a tad more maggot-ridden since their early
Read More →The opening Plenary Session on June 7 presented three speakers discussing “Creating an Environment for Innovation.” Larry A. Wendling, Ph.D., VP of the Corporate Research Laboratory at the 3M Center in Minneapolis opened the session with a historical video of the evolution of 3M from a failed mining company to a highly successful, large multi-national
Read More →The Plenary Session on Wednesday morning, June 8, was titled Red Alert and began with a most interesting address by Jesse Rosen, President and CEO of the League. Below are highlights from Jesse’s speech; his speech will be published separately as an article. You can watch a video of the entire plenary session by clicking
Read More →It is only one measure of the unique position that Fred Zenone held in our field that both the League of American Orchestras and ICSOM are honoring his memory at their respective conferences this summer. I was asked to make the presentation of the Gold Baton, the League’s highest recognition, to Pat Zenone, Fred’s widow,
Read More →Say “Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra” to an orchestra activist and the discussion will likely turn to that orchestra’s innovative approach to hiring and firing musicians without the institution of the Music Director. But more important to our field has been their approach to the problem of ticket prices, as described in an article in the
Read More →On Thursday we had a musicians’ session, with Bob Wagner moderating. Bob is the principal bassoon of the New Jersey Symphony, a board member of the League, and former ICSOM rep and Orchestra Committee chair of the NJSO. There were perhaps 15 of us: we talked about a lot of things: I asked about the
Read More →The keynote speaker at the conference opening session on Wednesday, June 16, was Ben Cameron, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Fund. He is the former executive director of Theatre Communications Group. Excerpts from his address follow (he’s a very fast talker so this is not verbatim): According to Bill Moyers,
Read More →The League of American Orchestra’s annual conference opened on Wednesday, June 16. Musicians, conductors, artist administrators, and music publishers were invited to an open rehearsal of the Atlanta Symphony at Woodruff Arts Center for the Atlanta School of Composers concert to be held on Friday, followed by a luncheon with comments by Music Director Robert
Read More →The League of American Orchestras’ annual conference is next week in Atlanta, June 16 to 19. I’m attending and will be blogging every day about what’s going on. Reminder that any musician in a member orchestra (which I’d imagine includes all professional orchestras) can attend the League’s conference for free, registering as a musician. They
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