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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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Sam Bergman over at the Minnesota Orchestra has a great post about the apparent double standard between opera companies and symphony orchestras. In brief: orchestras are constantly being berated for having structural deficits and are forced to produce more and more for-profit-like business models, while opera companies lose tremendous amounts of money on high-tech experiments [...]
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Here’s some more news from around the orchestra world as organizations attempt to stem the tide of red ink as contributed and earned income continue to fall across the nation:
Phoenix cuts all salaries 17% across the board.
Charlotte gets arts funding cut 50%, told to improve financial plan.
Chicago Symphony cuts musician pay 2.5% across the board.
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Ask almost any symphonic musician what works they love to play, and among the most often mentioned pieces will be those by either Richard Strauss or Gustav Mahler. Why is this? Well, to put it simply, these pieces constitute exactly what modern players are prepared to perform. Our entire musical education is essentially geared to [...]
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Seattle Symphony Starts Music Director Search [crosscut.com]
San Diego Arts Groups Suffering Cuts [sdnn.com]
San Francisco Symphony Launches Social Network [washingtonpost.com]
San Francisco Opera Cuts Millions From Budget [bizjournals.com]
Baltimore To Get New Opera Company? [washingtonpost.com]
Dallas Symphony Postpones European Touring [dallasnews.com]
Baltimore Symphony Musicians Volunteer $1 Million In Concessions [washingtonpost.com]
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Edmonton Symphony music director Bill Eddins has another great post up today on his blog. Â It concerns the still pervasive elitist attitude in the symphony orchestra world. Â Here’s his opening salvo:
Strangely, I have lately run across a certain mentality in the orchestra business that I thought was heading into extinction. Â Silly me.
With a heavy sigh [...]
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The news around the world has certainly been dismal lately. I find myself hearing about the latest bad financial news, rising unemployment rates, people turned out into the streets, and watch as my anxiety level starts to rise, with my blood pressure in quick pursuit.
Then, I think of the quartet concert I played in Astoria [...]
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Carlos Kalmar – Photo: Oregon Symphony
In case you missed it, the Oregonian ran a story about our music director Carlos Kalmar taking part in a brain study at OHSU. It involved Kalmar being put into an MRI machine, then listening to a movement of Dvorak’s Sixth Symphony (which he was rehearsing that week) while being [...]
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…must come to an end, and so, today is the last day of work for us at the Oregon Symphony until the 2008-2009 season begins in late August. Fittingly, tonight’s concert is a thank you to all of our hard working donors and volunteers who have helped to keep the OSO in business for yet [...]
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I’m here in La Grande, Oregon with the Oregon Symphony, in case you’re wondering. And it’s been a busy first day. Yesterday my wife (a freelance cellist who plays often with the orchestra) and I arrived here at around 9:00 p.m., enjoying the great change of scenery and ecosystems that we continually marvel at when we [...]
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I was taking part in a meeting this past Wednesday of a task force of players, board members, and management personnel which has met off and on for the last 7 months to discuss the future of the Oregon Symphony. It’s been a pleasure to serve on this committee, and there have been no [...]
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I read with interest an archived review by Stephen Marc Beaudoin from the Willamette Week of the OSO’s last classical subscription concert, which featured the works of MacMillan’s The Confession of Isobel Gowdie and Mendelssohn’s Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was nice to hear that the MacMillan was appreciated (I even [...]
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The Kansas City Star reports that the Kansas City Symphony’s subscription sales for next season are up over last year’s record increases, and that major new outreach plans are in the works to revitalize the orchestra.
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Photo credit: Koichi Miura
Photo courtesy of Frank Salomon Associates
Junichi Hirokami, the music director of the Columbus Symphony (who I hear is fantastic), has been interviewed by the Columbus Dispatch and made some telling remarks about the situation there.
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