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the year ahead

Most bloggers took a look back at 2008, but I’d like to look forward, instead.  I’ll take some chances and make a few predictions of what I think will happen in 2009, and also talk about some things that I’d like to happen in 2009 as well.

First, my predictions:

1. The Oregon Symphony will finish its 2009 fiscal year stronger and in better shape than we’ve seen for at least five years.  This will be a result of Portland weathering the recession a bit better than other cities, and because of strong efforts to get people in to the hall to see the orchestra through programming and marketing strategies.

2. A critical mass in performers and presenters of new and contemporary music will start to take shape, resulting in a golden age of new kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration between organizations representing all of the arts.  Unfortunately, this will be a small ensemble phenomenon for now, so don’t look for the Portland Art Museum, Oregon Ballet Theater, Oregon Symphony, or Portland Opera to jump on the bandwagon just yet.

I’m pretty lame at predicting things, so I’ll leave my prognostication to those two areas, and cut my potential losses.

Now, my wish list:

1. For the Oregon Symphony to make a recording in an affordable fashion, distributed via 21st century methods, of the concerts featuring Thomas Svoboda’s new commission for the OSO, Vortex, as well as Brahms’ Third Symphony and Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with Freddy Kempf and Carlos Kalmar.  It would be a great way to get the OSO out into the national and international eye with great repertoire, a great guest artist and conductor, and a brilliant premiere by a local composer.

2. A locally organized chamber music series featuring top local musicians in an acoustically friendly hall.

3. That people, when they find out I’m a musician in the OSO, don’t ask if it’s a full-time job, and how to I really make my living.

I’m sure that I could come up with a lot more stuff to wish for, but those are my top concerns for now.  Let me hear about your wish lists for the year ahead, musically speaking, and get the comment thread buzzing!

3 replies on “the year ahead”

I’d like to wish colleagues who have felt discriminated or unfairly treated in various orchestras, or those facing financial upheaval, better luck in the coming year. There are so many ways for artists to contribute to society; sometimes it takes a whole different approach, a new avenue to explore. But it can be accomplished.

I wish the city would start planning for a brand new concert hall for symphonic music.
I wish the San Francisco Symphony would visit Portland on their way to Seattle in 2 weeks.
I hope global warming makes Portland’s weather resemble southern California’s, drought and all.
(Is that too much to ask, note I refrained from wishing the Concertgebau Orchestra visit Portland, which is my deep down fantasy…)

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