A Bombshell In New Jersey

In yesterday’s edition of the New Jersey Star-Ledger they broke a story that asserts some of the violins Herbert Axelrod sold to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra may be fakes.  That’s big news.

The Star-Ledger article also goes on to claim that the then NJSO executive director, Lawrence Tamburri, exaggerated claims made by one violin appraisal expert to help validate the deal to purchased the instruments. The article continues by pointing out that Tamburri was able to secure the top executive post at the much larger Pittsburgh Symphony based on his being one of the architects of the Axelrod violin deal.

Last May 3rd, nearly three months ago to the day before the recent Star-Ledger article was published, I posted a piece here at Adaptistration entitled Why the NSJO Strad Fiasco is Bad For Pittsburgh that claimed Tamburri’s reputation had been artificially enhanced by this scam and the entire debacle would have a detrimental effect on the orchestra management industry.

I even wrote another article at my column over at The Partial Observer on May 10th entitled Playing The New Jersey Symphony Like a Fiddle that detailed how the Axelrod scam will have several long range negative effects on the orchestra industry.

But here what’s really important

I think we should all take the time to realize that what’s most important is not that these issues were written about here three months before appearing in the Star-Ledger, but that a “here” even exists.

Before the emergence of culture blogs, you would have had to wait until a major print outlet like the Star-Ledger decided to put tens of thousands of dollars into a story like the one they published yesterday.

Not only were many of the same issues discussed here at Adaptistration earlier, but you the reader have always had the opportunity to write in with your opinions and continue the discussions as well as move it in new directions.