Here are things that I hope don’t occur or take place or become more prevalent in the coming decade. The naughts have basically sucked for everyone (unless you’re in one of the surviving financial giants, that is), and the teens have got to be better.
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Things aren’t looking good up north at the Seattle Symphony, with the musicians and management far apart on numbers for a new contract between the two parties. According to this Seattle Times article, a vote to authorize a strike action from the negotiation committee was approved by the rank and file.
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I came across quite a few cool people and things in 2009, and as the end of the year approaches I’d like to share a few of them with you. Enjoy!
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Hi all! Hope you had a great holiday weekend (ok, Christmas weekend, Bill O’Reilly!). I’ve been asked to write a guest blog post for the Portland Youth Philharmonic’s website, and my query is for my fellow professional musicians. I’m cooking up a list of things that I know now that I wish I’d known when
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See you after the New Year – hope that your holidays are safe and happy, and the new year brings success and joy.
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Many of you are aware by now that I am a total coffee aficionado – I love coffee in most all of its forms. Anyone who is a coffee lover also knows about Andrea Spella’s espresso cart on SW Alder and Park in downtown Portland. Andrea is doing espresso in the authentic Northern Italian tradition,
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Looks like some good came of the bruhaha over the VSO-as-mime orchestra situation in Vacouver, B.C.: Saturday, after Tovey and the orchestra received a two-day, standing-ovation-like response for turning VANOC down, 2010 officials issued a statement apologizing “for putting the orchestra in an untenable position regarding the opening ceremonies.” They now say the orchestra will
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Saturday, December 19th, the quartet played the Newport Performing Arts Center in Newport, Oregon as part of the Newport Symphony’s 2009-2010 season. We were invited by the NSO’s music director Adam Flatt, who Heather and I know well from his years as an apprentice conductor with the Oregon Symphony over a decade ago. He asked
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Good for them! The Vancouver Symphony has pulled out of plans to record music for the 2010 Winter Olympics for other musicians to “play sync” to outdoors. VSO conductor Bramwell Tovey was asked to conduct the recording session, but was told another conductor would perform his actions at the ceremonies. “My participation at the opening
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This morning I made a comment about a scheduling issue that came up this week – we had two rehearsals for a concert that takes place next Monday, with the dress rehearsal taking place on Monday morning. No other orchestral services take place in the intervening time period. I said that this seemed very silly
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This weekend brought two events that ostensibly revolved around the religious message of the Christmas season, but couldn’t have been more different. Friday through Sunday nights were occupied by the 11th annual Oregon Symphony Gospel Christmas extravaganza. I had taken time off during this set of concerts for the past couple years, so it was
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Recently, I was forwarded a document from a professional symphony orchestra which describes the demands and duties of the symphonic violinist. At first, the description seemed ludicrous to me, but as I reflect on it, it in fact turns out to be a pretty accurate dissection (or deconstruction, if you will) of what the day-in
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Arts patron and philanthropist Louise Nippert has given an astonishing $85 million to the Cincinnati Symphony and other Cincinnati arts groups ($75 million to the symphony and $10 million to other arts organizations that use the symphony to provide live music for their productions). It’s a gift that may never be surpassed in both its
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A great article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the baton that most (but not all) conductors use to conduct the orchestra. And a reminder that we have a world-class baton maker right here in Portland, Oregon: Alan Pierce, former bass trombonist of the Oregon Symphony, who makes batons for OSO music director Carlos Kalmar
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Fellow classical music blogger A.C. Douglas (Sounds & Fury is his blog) has taken delivery of his first (4lb!) order of Badbeard’s Symphony! Blend coffee ($2 from every pound you order goes directly to the Oregon Symphony) and the results are in: he likes it! Read it all here.
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