{"id":511,"date":"2007-11-02T08:14:33","date_gmt":"2007-11-02T15:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/02\/more-ink-on-the-oso\/"},"modified":"2013-02-07T18:19:08","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T02:19:08","slug":"more-ink-on-the-oso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/02\/more-ink-on-the-oso\/","title":{"rendered":"more ink on the OSO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Marc Beaudoin just wrote a piece for Crosscut which is entitled “Can Anyone Fix the Oregon Symphony?<\/a>“.\u00c2\u00a0 Squarely in his sights is the newly-formed collaboration with Pink Martini front man Thomas Lauderdale.\u00c2\u00a0 Clearly, Beaudoin does not know of Lauderdale’s training as a classical pianist, for he seems to find Lauderdale lacking in his knowledge of classical music and for some reason, as a person who wouldn’t deign to stay for the entire length of a concert that he just introduced.<\/p>\n

Thomas Lauderdale skipped onto<\/strong> the Schnitzer Concert Hall stage to thunderous applause. It was opening night of the Oregon Symphony<\/a>‘s new season. Lauderdale \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Portland band Pink Martini<\/a>‘s sassy spike-haired leader \u00e2\u20ac\u201c trotted out, flashed a big grin, and gushed breathlessly about the Symphony’s season ahead.<\/p>\n

The audience roared its approval. Lauderdale disappeared into the wings. Conductor Carlos Kalmar took the podium.<\/p>\n

But as I listened to the symphony play a respectable if safe season-opening concert, I wondered what Lauderdale’s enthusiastic endorsement of the symphony really meant. Why was this Portland pop star<\/a>, the city’s current cultural ambassador to the world, being pimped as a spokesman for our increasingly conservative and debt-saddled flagship orchestra?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Aside from that, Beaudoin has reiterated points presented here and elsewhere about the current viability (or near lack thereof) of the Oregon Symphony.\u00c2\u00a0 We know that James DePreist was\/is a titanic figure of Falstaffianly-proportioned charisma.\u00c2\u00a0 We know that Carlos is not.\u00c2\u00a0 We also know that the Oregon Symphony has missed the mark in producing programming that is fresh and exciting to a whole range of concert goers (see my post of a few days ago<\/a>):<\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re damned if we do and damned if we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in some quarters. First we play too much \u00e2\u20ac\u0153new\u00e2\u20ac\u009d music, then we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play enough. But maybe we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play enough of the right \u00e2\u20ac\u0153new\u00e2\u20ac\u009d music (I put the quotes because my view of new music is music written in the last decade, not pieces written only since 1930). We can be responsible while also being provocative – instead of commissioning Kevin Walczyk<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Corps of Discovery Symphony<\/em> for the anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, why not commission a piece from a native American composer, or at least seek a piece written from a sympathetic point of view to native Americans? Imagine the conversations that could be stimulated by such a commission! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just one example, but thinking big idea-wise rather than just small budget-wise can create \u00e2\u20ac\u0153buzz\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and excitement – that something is cooking over at the Oregon Symphony – rather than business as usual playing dead white European music in the same tired format.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The problem with armchair quarterbacking, however, is that you only see the public side of the story.\u00c2\u00a0 When you’re bringing an institution of the size and stature of the OSO back from the brink, there are system-wide changes, some subtle, some not, that must be made.\u00c2\u00a0 Most everyone (myself included) is focusing on what goes on front-of-house.\u00c2\u00a0 I would argue that what goes on in the back office is equally important.\u00c2\u00a0 And changes are happening, I just can’t say what they are – yet.\u00c2\u00a0 I think that the way the symphony presents itself to the community will change drastically, but over time, not overnight.<\/p>\n

I for one applaud the decision to embrace Thomas Lauderdale’s collaboration with the symphony: the OSO gave him (via Norman Leyden) his big break with orchestras (including a Rhapsody in Blue<\/em> performance on Norman’s Sunday afternoon concerts), and he’s giving back to the institution that made some of Pink’s biggest high-profile (Boston Pops, Hollywood Bowl) concerts possible.\u00c2\u00a0 Thomas has always been keenly interested in the OSO – in what was being played, how the orchestra sounded, and the health of the orchestra.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s finally being given a hand in helping us out, and not a moment too soon.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t think that it’s a move made out of desperation, but rather a long-overdue but welcome partnership that should have been undertaken years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Marc Beaudoin just wrote a piece for Crosscut which is entitled “Can Anyone Fix the Oregon Symphony?“.\u00c2\u00a0 Squarely in his sights is the newly-formed collaboration with Pink Martini front man Thomas Lauderdale.\u00c2\u00a0 Clearly, Beaudoin does not know of Lauderdale’s training as a classical pianist, for he seems to find Lauderdale lacking in his knowledge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[115,2],"tags":[67,86,55,3666,3662,62,3660],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-classical","tag-conductor","tag-orchestra","tag-oregon","tag-portland","tag-symphony","tag-viola"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-8f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3851,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/19\/songs-for-haiti-benefit-thursday\/","url_meta":{"origin":511,"position":0},"title":"songs for haiti benefit thursday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the first local, large-scale benefit for victims of the Hatian earthquake that I know of, organized by local dynamo\/musician\/blogger\/organizer Stephen Marc Beaudoin. \u00a0It's called Songs for Haiti, and it features a who's who of local Portland's classical and non-classical musicians. \u00a0And it benefits Mercy Corps, which is notable\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":5890,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/01\/the-thomas-lauderdale-effect\/","url_meta":{"origin":511,"position":1},"title":"the thomas lauderdale effect","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"We had our last iteration of this past weekend's classical series concerts, but we took it on the road to Salem, Oregon. Normally, a trip to\u00a0Salem can be like the last mile of a forced march. Everyone's tired, most likely we had a rehearsal the same morning, and we are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/5490738581_d870d381f8_b-400x285.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":516,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/06\/oso-president-responds-to-crosscut-article\/","url_meta":{"origin":511,"position":2},"title":"OSO president responds to Crosscut article","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"[This was forwarded to me by OSO president Elaine Calder - a truncated version will be published at Crosscut.com.] Response to: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can Anybody fix the Oregon Symphony?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stephen Marc Beaudoin Crosscut Seattle Friday, November 2nd, 2007 Of course it will take more than an endorsement from Thomas Lauderdale to fix\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":979,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/19\/crosscut-article-full-interview\/","url_meta":{"origin":511,"position":3},"title":"crosscut article: full interview","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As you may know, I was recently profiled as part of a Crosscut article about Portland arts advocates. It was ably written by Portland music writer and musician Stephen Marc Beaudoin. It was an honor to be included, and I was happy with the article as it was published. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bloggers"","block_context":{"text":"bloggers","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/bloggers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5862,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/23\/last-minute-substitute-for-oregon-symphony-concerts\/","url_meta":{"origin":511,"position":4},"title":"last minute substitute for oregon symphony concerts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Just got this news from the Oregon Symphony press office: Guest conductor Alondra de la Parra has been forced to withdraw\u00a0from the Oregon Symphony\u2019s \u201cThomas Lauderdale Plays Grieg\u201d Classical series\u00a0concerts Feb. 26-28 for personal reasons. Young British conductor Michael Francis \u2013\u00a0who is quickly earning a reputation as the man to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/AlondradelaParra1web-e1265005004666.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2609,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/30\/pink-martini-concerts-almost-sold-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":511,"position":5},"title":"pink martini concerts almost sold out","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Word from Elaine Calder is that the series of three Pink Martini concerts this coming week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday evenings) have sold in excess of $500,000 worth of tickets.\u00c2\u00a0 Amazing!\u00c2\u00a0 It really is a tremendous gift to the Oregon Symphony that Thomas Lauderdale decided to use the Oregon Symphony to\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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","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=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}