{"id":5086,"date":"2010-07-25T23:39:44","date_gmt":"2010-07-26T06:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=5086"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:04:52","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:04:52","slug":"misc-snippets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/07\/25\/misc-snippets\/","title":{"rendered":"misc snippets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oregonian<\/em> reports that Oregon Symphony and the other major arts organizations in Portland have managed to stay in the black in this tough year, largely due to belt-tightening in their budgets. <\/strong><\/p>\n

For the first time in five years, the Oregon Symphony balanced its budget, although the exact numbers won’t be known until an audit in September, said Carl Herko,\u00a0 a symphony spokesman. In the past three years, the Oregon Symphony posted deficits of $1.5 million (2007), $594,000 (2008) and $488,000 (2009). The orchestra has balanced its budget only four times in the past 20 years. Salary cuts to orchestra musicians and staff, furloughs, lower fees to guest artists and fewer marketing costs reduced the symphony’s most recent budget to $14 million, $1 million less than the previous year.<\/p>\n

In addition to budget cuts, donations helped push the orchestra into surplus territory, including three gifts over $250,000 each. On the downside, ticket revenue fell $1.1 million from last year, due partly to four fewer performances. The number of paying customers per performance dropped 11.9 percent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

David Stabler has the complete news here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Shreveport Symphony has reached an agreement with its musicians, a two-year contract with a 45% pay cut for the players.\u00a0 The contract was reached after an 18 month strike after an initial proposal from management which was based upon a 75% pay reduction. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em> reports that orchestras and other cultural institutions are reaching out to patrons new and old via text messages. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Before the New York Philharmonic<\/a> presented a concert in Central Park last week, the executive director of the orchestra had an announcement: Audience members could vote for an encore from the evening\u2019s soloist by text message. The choices were a Chopin<\/a> \u00e9tude or, in honor of the guest musicians from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, a traditional Chinese melody.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here’s the story link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

City Journal<\/em> posits that we’re living in a new golden age for classical music.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyone inclined to lament the state of classical music today should read Hector Berlioz\u2019s Memoires<\/em>. As the maverick French composer tours mid-nineteenth-century Europe conducting his revolutionary works, he encounters orchestras unable to play in tune and conductors who can\u2019t read scores. A Paris premiere of a Berlioz cantata fizzles when a missed cue sets off a chain reaction of paralyzed silence throughout the entire sorry band. Most infuriating to this champion of artistic integrity, publishers and conductors routinely bastardize the scores of Mozart, Beethoven, and other titans, conforming them to their own allegedly superior musical understanding or to the narrow taste of the public. …<\/p>\n

The caliber of musicianship also marks our age as a golden one for classical music. \u201cWhen I was young, you knew when you heard one of the top five American orchestras,\u201d says Arnold Steinhardt, the first violinist of the recently disbanded Guarneri Quartet. \u201cNow, you can\u2019t tell. Every orchestra is filled with fantastic players.\u201d Steinhardt is ruthless toward his students when they\u2019re preparing for an orchestra audition. \u201cI\u2019ll tell them in advance: \u2018You didn\u2019t get the job. There are 250 violinists competing for that place. You have to play perfectly, and you sure didn\u2019t play perfectly for me.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The declinists who proclaim the death of classical music might have a case if musical standards were falling. But in fact, \u201cthe professional standards are higher everywhere in the world compared to 20 or 40 years ago,\u201d says James Conlon, conductor of the Los Angeles Opera. A vast oversupply of students competing to make a career in music drives this increase in standards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Story Link<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oregonian reports that Oregon Symphony and the other major arts organizations in Portland have managed to stay in the black in this tough year, largely due to belt-tightening in their budgets. For the first time in five years, the Oregon Symphony balanced its budget, although the exact numbers won’t be known until an audit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[143,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1k2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12750,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/01\/oregon-symphony-balances-budget-for-fourth-consecutive-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":5086,"position":0},"title":"oregon symphony balances budget for fourth consecutive season!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We won't know the numbers until an official audit is done, but the Oregon Symphony has declared that they have balanced the 2012-2013 budget - the fourth season in the black for the organization. This is tremendous news, as it means that we will keep our $1 million grant from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "fundraising"","block_context":{"text":"fundraising","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fundraising\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12738,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/28\/oregon-symphony-closes-in-on-balanced-budget\/","url_meta":{"origin":5086,"position":1},"title":"oregon symphony closes in on balanced budget","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There is over $1 million at stake - if the Oregon Symphony is able to balance out budget by the end of this fiscal year - which is June 30 - we will receive a $1 million grant from the Miller Foundation. Needless to say, this is a critical moment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12631,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/01\/mayors-proposed-budget-cuts-oregon-symphony-waterfront-concert\/","url_meta":{"origin":5086,"position":2},"title":"mayor’s proposed budget cuts oregon symphony waterfront concert","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As feared, Mayor Charlie Hales' proposed budget cuts all of the funding for the annual Oregon Symphony Waterfront Concert, which hosts up to 20,000 people each year at the opening of our season. Though it says that the line item is cut for one year, it is hardly likely that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7953,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/18\/oregon-symphony-cancels-second-carnegie-hall-appearance-due-to-budget-concerns\/","url_meta":{"origin":5086,"position":3},"title":"oregon symphony cancels second carnegie hall appearance due to budget concerns","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oregon Symphony Association today announced that as part of a series of belt-tightening measures meant to ensure the continued viability of the organization, the planned trip to Carnegie Hall in May 2013 has been cancelled \"with great regret\". In addition, upper level staff members were asked to take a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5117,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/07\/28\/to-cut-or-not-to-cut-that-is-the-question\/","url_meta":{"origin":5086,"position":4},"title":"to cut, or not to cut, that is the question","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It shows how quickly the blog-based news cycle moves, that I delay a response to something I've read and I'm beat to my reply by a fellow violist (or as Robert Levine would put it: Bratsche Blogging Brother) in Minneapolis! David Stabler wrote an article on July 25 in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "administration"","block_context":{"text":"administration","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/administration-the-orchestra-world-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/saw.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6323,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/06\/more-coverage-for-carnegie-visit\/","url_meta":{"origin":5086,"position":5},"title":"more coverage for carnegie visit","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The New York Times' music critic James Oestreich has written an article today about the Spring for Music Festival, which is presenting the Oregon Symphony and six other orchestras from around the US and Canada starting this evening with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Here's the excerpt about the Oregon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/iStock_000005888672XSmall.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}