I just happened upon this short article about the departure of the executive director of the Tacoma Symphony (which was my first professional gig when I was in undergrad at the University of Puget Sound) - here, you read it in its entirety, and tell me what jumps out at you:

Amy Wigstrom, executive director of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, has resigned the position she has held since 2003. Wigstrom leaves to become the executive director of the American Heart Association in Tacoma.

[Read more →]

It will feature a loch, a castle, the Beastie Boys and, its organisers hope, 20,000 “discerning music fans” who like their festivals with “a little more comfort” and can overlook the risk of drizzle.

The promoters behind the Glasgow music festival T in the Park last week announced they were launching a new festival, called Connect, to take place in Inveraray Castle in Argyll and Bute in September.

It followed the launch a few days earlier of Fflam, another new event, scheduled for Swansea in July and featuring Keane, the Manic Street Preachers and Placebo. 30,000 tickets are now on sale.

The new events are merely the latest in what has become an increasingly packed festival calendar. Festival-going has been growing sharply in recent years, but this year, say music industry insiders, the demand for tickets and new events is unprecedented.

It is estimated that as many as 450 festivals, large and small, will be taking place around the country this summer.

Just caught this article from the Guardian newspaper in the UK. It tells of the huge increase in the number of music festivals (mostly popular music) in that country. It makes me think about the naysayers who say that the death of the industry is near, and the proof is in declining sales of recordings. I wonder how many of the millions of music fans that go to these festivals will have been drawn to the groups that play them by sound files that they downloaded, either legally or otherwise? I also wonder how much money the artists will make vs. their record companies? Then I wonder if the clamor over declining album sales and illegal downloads is about keeping the money flowing away from artists and into the pockets of the label moguls.

It also makes me think about things that musicians in the classical realm can do to promote their activities. Why aren’t the vast majority of U.S. orchestras putting music (live or studio recordings) on iTunes, for example? Because we’re hung up over “monetizing” the product. Management doesn’t want to spend money, and the musicians don’t want to lose any money that they might get up front. Meanwhile, we don’t make any recordings and we don’t get any more money than we would have in the first place. Maybe recordings ought to be considered as marketing tools rather than alternative income streams. Then we’d have marketing that actually brings in patrons who are excited about the whole experience that they got the smallest taste of by buying a concert online for $9.99.

We musicians can wait for the second “golden age” when we’re making serious money from recording residuals, but I think that we’ll be into our next generation of musicians and still awaiting that Shangri-la. Clearly, we have to have the courage to step up and make some unpopular decisions, which might include “giving away” some of our property in the form of recorded performances or studio recordings. I think that what we might get in return would make all of us - artists, managers and patrons - happier in the future.

Just caught this photo from the Baltimore Symphony musicians’ website - enjoy!
My orchestral repertoire class was taught by the great Rick Field, principal viola of the BSO.

courtesy of the BSO musicians page

We had a visit from ICSOM (International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians) President Bruce Ridge today (as part of a three-day residency), which included a presentation and Q&A session with members of the OSO. The most interesting part of his remarks was that we musicians have a very powerful positive message to send out to our communities, large and small.

The arts are not dead, or even injured, in America - on the contrary, they are doing as well as they ever have. Public perception (and among those in the industry) centers on an imminent death of classical music, but there is in fact a thriving and vibrant classical music scene in Portland.

The other interesting part of his presentation centered on the fact that we are the only industry that sees its product (music) as the problem, not the marketing of the product. It seems obvious enough, but I hadn’t thought of it that way before he pointed it out. Orchestra managers and musicians are bending over backwards to cater to different demographics, bringing in video cameras, having casual concerts, changing concert nights and times in the hopes that more people will magically appear.

The idea that we’ve got something great here in Portland (and other cities of similar size) and that we need to get the word out as loud and as proud as possible, just hasn’t been done. The Portland Youth Philharmonic has more institutional presence, as does the Portland Opera and the Portland Art Museum. This needn’t be the case: the OSO is the state’s largest arts organization, and we are the best, truly world-class.

Let’s get the word out - tell a friend.