{"id":5802,"date":"2011-02-14T10:01:53","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T18:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=5802"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:36:34","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:36:34","slug":"why-orchestras-struggle-kaisers-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/14\/why-orchestras-struggle-kaisers-view\/","title":{"rendered":"why orchestras struggle – kaiser’s view"},"content":{"rendered":"

Orchestral administrator-to-the-stars Michael Kaiser has a new mini-essay<\/a> up on the Huffington Post<\/a>, in which he outlines the reasons he believes that orchestras are having a tougher time than ever making ends meet. \u00a0It would be great to have a New Yorker style 30,000 word article on the topic, but this is what we’ve got so far. \u00a0Let me know what you think about his conclusions in the comment thread.<\/p>\n

1. Supply of orchestral performances in most communities expanded as management and labor agreed on expanded contracts over the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

2. But demand has fallen for many reasons: Ticket prices have become too high for many, programming has not met the interests of a new generation, arts education has been neglected for most, and new, inexpensive substitute forms of entertainment are available with the touch of a button, or mouse.<\/p>\n

3. The high fixed costs of producing symphonic performances means that orchestras are less flexible than theater or dance ensembles. A theater company can perform smaller works when things get tough, orchestras contract for a fixed number of musicians.<\/p>\n

4. The death of the recording industry has led to the loss of our major marketing partner. We no longer have celebrity soloists and conductors being created for us to exploit in our ticket sales and fundraising campaigns.<\/p>\n

5. Fewer people are able to commit to subscriptions, the continuation of a 40-year trend. This means that every program has to sell itself which is expensive and which discourages adventuresome programming.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orchestral administrator-to-the-stars Michael Kaiser has a new mini-essay up on the Huffington Post, in which he outlines the reasons he believes that orchestras are having a tougher time than ever making ends meet. \u00a0It would be great to have a New Yorker style 30,000 word article on the topic, but this is what we’ve got […]<\/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":[1783,2],"tags":[2535,2534,2533],"class_list":["post-5802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-administration-the-orchestra-world-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-essay","tag-huffington-post","tag-michael-kaiser"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1vA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8086,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/11\/michael-kaiser-cutting-is-not-the-answer\/","url_meta":{"origin":5802,"position":0},"title":"michael kaiser: cutting is not the answer","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Kaiser has a new column entry for the Huffington Post today - here's the gist of it: Too many of our great arts institutions have migrated from the typical challenge of balancing the annual budget to a far deeper evaluation of their very viability. Earned income has failed to\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":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7088,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/11\/28\/oso-surplus-in-huffington-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":5802,"position":1},"title":"OSO surplus in Huffington Post","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center in D.C., is a regular contributor to the online left-leaning news site The Huffington Post. Turns out his most recent column concerned a certain Portland-based orchestra that has run some recent surpluses - click here for his take on the recent successes of\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":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":778,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/02\/15\/henry-fogel-on-how-orchestras-look\/","url_meta":{"origin":5802,"position":2},"title":"henry fogel on how orchestras look","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Henry Fogel, former administrator of the Chicago Symphony, has a post about the visual aspect of orchestral performance.\u00c2\u00a0 Not much new ground covered, but some interesting questions raised. I do not believe that the intense involvement physically demonstrated by the Berlin Philharmonic or the Vienna Philharmonic or other European orchestras\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":2113,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/11\/more-orchestral-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":5802,"position":3},"title":"more orchestral cuts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot of belt-tightening going on with orchestras around the US. Pittsburgh Symphony Lays Off Nine Administrators - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Grand Rapids Symphony administration, senior staffs take pay cut to balance budget - Grand Rapids Press Notes of Distress and Discord from the Esteemed Philadelphia Orchestra - New York\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":33,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/03\/25\/orchestras-and-itunes\/","url_meta":{"origin":5802,"position":4},"title":"orchestras and iTunes","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I have the following reaction when I read that the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic were going to offer downloads of complete recent concerts via iTunes: it's about time! Both orchestras are part of a new initiative by the Universal Music Group built on its Deutsche Grammophon and\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":7684,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/21\/these-kids-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":5802,"position":5},"title":"these kids today","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I got a link to this video in my in-box today, and it made me smile more than a little bit. It features the varied talents of the members of the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio, which is led with style and expertise by my long-time friend, Troy Peters (who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "fun"","block_context":{"text":"fun","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/lUhs6fq401E\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5802","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=5802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}