Drew McManus on the orchestra business.
I recently received word from San Antonio Symphony musician and union representative Ron Noble about the results from their New Year’s Gala concert. He said the event had such a large turnout that the gala made money, the concert paid for itself, and all of the musicians were paid their regular union wages. So it appears that the San Antonio public is behind the orchestra, I hope the board will get …
In response to the orchestra in-school program entries from earlier in the week, I received an email from Beth, a cellist in a southwest orchestra. She related her experiences growing up as a public school student and having been exposed to the orchestra through an education initiative. However, her experiences didn’t include in-school programs, only traveling to the concert hall for performances. It made a lasting impression that influences the assessment …
Orchestra musicians are better than they have ever been in this country. And it’s high time everyone started to recognize that higher level of artistic excellence. It’s also high time for us to establish a system of artistic evaluation. Awhile back fellow AJ blogger Greg Sandow wrote about the idea of orchestra competitions. And not the type of soloist competitions that we’re all used to, but between individual orchestras. I think …
Welcome back to Part II of our interview with Marianne Lockwood, the Executive Director for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Budget Issues With an annual budget of $4.3 million dollars, St. Luke’s is a mid-sized orchestral organization. Like many organizations, they try to have a small positive balance at the end of their fiscal year. Marianne indicated that St. Luke’s must have a 1% surplus at the end of their …
Listening to her voice over the phone, you’d never guess that you were talking to a cultural warrior. Her British accent flows with a composed, steady pulse that gives it a maternal quality. At the end of 2003, I had the pleasure to talk with Marianne for a few hours discussing her tenure as executive director for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. I became interested in St. Luke’s and their success …